Quarterly Herd Update: Meet the Doelings

We are more than half way through the year and it seems that so much has happened already.

As with much of California, we had an absolutely crazy winter and are finally feeling mostly recovered from the flooding and landslides that were caused by this year’s excessive rainfall.

Now that the ranch has dried out, we have been able to buckle down and get to the things that matter - selecting, naming, training (and spoiling) the doelings that will be added to next year’s milking herd! 

Some of this year’s doelings. From left to right: Buchu, Miso, Nina, Josephine May, Iris, Dendrobium (Denny), Doris.

This year we have decided to add more doelings to our herd than any prior year; we ended up choosing 17 doelings to add to the herd this year when we usually select fewer than 10!

This is due in part to the imminent retirement of many of our older does, who will likely retire into a life of being a beloved pet at the end of the 2024 milking season. It is also due to the fact that we had an extremely successful kidding season this year full of large, healthy doelings who we just couldn’t help but keep to add to our 2024 herd. 

Best buds Lucy (front), Aji Dulce (middle), Iris (back) snuggle in the shade on a warm July afternoon.

Because we have such a closely related herd, many of these ladies will be joining their moms, aunts, sisters, and grandmothers on the milking line next year. Right now however, they are still just babies, so their only occupation is to play, grow, learn, and explore. Now that we have finished selecting the 17 we are planning on keeping, we were able to choose names for each of these girls based on the theme of their mother’s lineage with some help from our goat sponsors.

If you do not see the name you submitted in the following list it means that we have added it to our list for next year’s names, so keep a look out next year as well. Thank you to all our sponsors who submitted name choices for these little ladies!

Amber and her friends love to climb the A-frame houses so they can jump off from the peak like wild mountain goats!