Better Late Than Never!

"Morning Glory"

"Better late, than never!"  has been my life motto.  Persistent, habitual tardiness was ingrained at a very young age, by my own mother.  It's a daily battle for me, that I WILL right for my children's sanity.  The blog, however, can wait a little longer.

"Milky Way"

We are finally getting a little reprieve from the diversified farm business and looking forward to some reflection on a successful year.  It's that season when you take a, very unforgiving, hard look at your production dairy and make tough management decisions.

Since we are working towards ADGA milking testing, I have been weighing my does' milk for two seasons and focusing our breeding program around those results.  I would love for my girls to earn the dairy stars they are so worthy of, but that testing has been elusive of my time and commitment.  My young children deserve more time, as well.  And there is only so much to go around at this stage.

So, my herd's loveliest, most productive milk award goes to (drum roll, please).....Andromeda!   She has consistently averaged +4 lbs through her peak lactation and after 10 months of milking is still tightly bagged at 3 LBS per day!!!!  I plan to milk her through the winter and into next summer, which will be a first for all of us.  While I can't rejoice at the prospect of new kids from her in 2017, her gorgeous 2015 doeling "Morning Glory" will freshen in early spring and 2016 doeling "Milky Way" will be a yearling first-freshener in late spring.  Happy New Year to All!!