About Sparkling Acres

Welcome to Sparkling Acres Dairy Goats!  Sparkling Acres is located in Central NJ on a 90 acre fruit and vegetable farm.  Although we have raised dairy goats for over 20 years, we have raised Oberhaslis exclusively since 1997.  GCH Windrace Farm Jingle Sparkles was our first Oberhasli doe, and what a great start she was!  Most of the herd today can be traced back to her.  In 2004, Kristie purchased SGCH Little Orchard BR Lily, a foundation for her LaMancha herd.

We are members of ADGA, the Oberhasli Breeders of America and the Garden State Dairy Goat Breeders Association, and participate in the Linear Appraisal program.  Our 3 children, Tim, Kristie, and Kellie all play an active roll in the raising, handling and breeding of the animals and use them as their 4-H projects.  We attend a limited number of shows in our area each year and look forward to attending the National Shows that are within a reasonable driving distance.  The children looked forward to attending the ’08 National Show, but their dream was cut short when the does came home from a local show with a persistent upper respiratory infection.  We are looking forward though, to the ’10 Nationals!  Through our breedings we strive to create the “overall” Oberhasli…one who can excel in the show ring, in conformation, and in milk production.

Kristie getting ready for a show

2008 started off as a horrific year for us.  We had a few problems with select does over the last few years and knew there was something wrong, but neither we, fellow breeders, nor our vets could pin point what it was.  As kidding season came into full swing, we encountered one problem after another.  We lost Sparkling Acres Keep The Faith to a tough delivery and a torn uterus.  Days later, we lost GCH Sparkling Acres Kiara Twist after a cesearean, due to pregnancy complications.  The next day, we lost CH Sparkling Acres Simply Elegant, to what, after an autopsy, was ruled ketosis.  Upon getting bloodwork results after Ellie’s autopsy, we noticed her copper levels, although considered ‘within the norm’ were extremely low.  This confirmed our suspicions of a copper deficiency within the herd.  After doing additional research, we found that copper deficiencies are known to cause of multiple kidding problems, including ketosis, breech births, and more.  We also found, after talking to some of our fellow Oberhasli breeder friends, that many of them have started giving supplemental copper within their herds.  Needless to say, we were devastated to have lost such superior does.  We have since supplemented all our animals, experienced a successful ’09 kidding season, and are looking forward to our does reaching their full potential!

Herd health is of utmost importance to us.  All kids are raised on a strict CAE preventative program using heat-treated goat colostrum and pasteurized goat milk.  Our herd is tested each spring for CAE, and has been CAE negative since we started testing in 2002.  Our does are dewormed only as needed based on fecal testing.  All bred does receive their CDT and BoSe shots 4 to 6 weeks prior to kidding.  Bucks are vaccinated prior to the breeding season with CDT and BoSe.  Our herd is free of caseous lymphadenitis and sore mouth, and was tested negative for Johnne’s in 2007.  Any bucks brought back into the herd are thoroughly tested before they come back home.