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Tuesday, March 28, 2011

Is there a limit to the number of black does you can add to your herd in one year?

We were already blessed with a black doe kid from Rosie this spring.  Last night, April blessed us with a second!  And, of course, we had planned on keeping an April daughter…so “Wish Upon A Star” is here to stay.  We had waited for April to kid all week…funny how a doe can look and feel like she is ready to kid, but hold off for a full week.  April must have gone from ‘zero’ to ‘done’ pretty quick…we saw no sign of labor at 9:00, but found the kids, who had been just born, at 11.  Star’s twin brother has been named “For Pete’s Sake”.   Pete, sired by Rebel, is available for sale.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Since when does Oberhasli x Oberhasli/LaMancha cross = Nubian??!

At 6:30, on my umpteeth barn check, I found yearling Rilee VERY uncomfortable with 2 little feet and a nose that were apparently ”stuck”.  “Mack” (as in mack truck) was delivered a few minutes later, after some pretty hefty pulls.  He’s a very handsome, and CORRECT!! boy…black with tan trim.  Imagine our surprise when we got him cleaned up…his ears are thicker and wider than any of our other kids….and he is 1/4 LaMancha!!  Maybe next year Rilee can give us such a cute, correct doe!!  Mack is for sale, as a pet. 

Saturday, March 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Tim!

How many kids get a newborn goat kid for their birthday?!  With a house full of 30 guests, DJ, one of our yearlings, gave Tim quite a little gift last night.  At least she waited until after the cake!  Kellie and cousin Chris went out to do a quick barn check at 9:15 and there was DJ, 2 little hooves, and a twitching nose.  With a few good pulls and cheers from lots of anxious and excited onlookers, we were blessed with a big, single doe kid.  It didn’t take us long to name her…DJ’s Party Girl!!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Rosie!!

Well, it took long enough!  Rosie appeared to be in labor at 1 pm.  At 5:30, her water broke.  Although she has been doing fairly well, I was afraid that if she laid down to kid, she may not be able to get up and clean off the kids, so I sat in the barn with her until after 9.  Cold and tired, we searched for, found, and delivered a beautiful little buck.  Shortly after, we delivered…backwards…quite a surprise.  A small little BLACK doe kid!!  Rosie came through her deliveries well, and we were thrilled with a son that we will keep as our Junior Herdsire and a daughter that Tim lovingly named ‘Sparkle’…a nice tribute to the little doe’s wonderful granddam that we lost 7 years ago.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Jac & Jewel…

And our weekend started off with a bang!  Apparently Julianna had enough of carrying around all that weight…and surprised us with her little bundles of joy a few days early.  She delivered Jac and Jewel, two big, healthy kids at about 3:00 this morning.  We got a good look at old Twist yesterday afternoon…GEEZ!!  I know she’s old and stretched…but she’s HUGE!  There’s got to be at least triplets in there, if not more!  Rosie’s still hanging in there…I hope she’s not too far off…

Thursday, March 10, 2011

We’ve Got Kids!!

What a start to our kidding season! Twin does from Sunny!!  We’ve all been anxiously awaiting our first kids, so it was a pleasure to have Kristie help with the deliveries at 6:05 & 6:20 this morning.  It’s funny how twins can look so different.  Ashlee is dark bay with thick black facial stripes while Amber is a little lighter with thinner stripes.  Both are available, as of now.  Rosie’s hanging in there and is doing quite well.  She should be the next to kid…she’s due tomorrow.  Julianna is due Monday….can’t wait!!  I can’t remember ever starting to kid this late in the year!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

We WERE getting close…But NOW, we’re getting closer!!   :)

Well, we STILL don’t have kids!!  Those first few due dates on the calendar came and went…BUT–the calendar says Rosie & Sunny are due 3/11 and Julianna is due 3/13…and those are the 3 does we have been watching for a while now…so we have faith in those dates!  We believe Rosie has a luxated patella, which is a sore stifle joint that is causing her quite a bit of pain.  We think it is from an old injury and was aggravated by all the snow and ice this winter.  So far, she is pretty stable and doing well, considering she is 8.  Old Twist, at age 10, is HUGE…of course we are hoping for triplets!  Most does are due the week of March 19.  Guess we better start thinking of names!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

We’re getting close…

We’ve been told, many times, to hand breed our does.  And we’ve tried that over the years…but many times our timing was off and the result was unbred does.  So, although we continue to pen breed each fall, each spring we continue to play the guessing game.  And, again this year, guessing we are!  Sammi and Twist are SUPPOSED to be the first does to kid.  Their udders are still small and they don’t look very close.  Julianna and yearling DJ, on the other hand, are looking like they may be the first to kid this year.  As we continue to wait and play the guessing game, there’s one thing we do know for sure:  Most of our does are still 3-4 weeks away from kidding…and they’re looking HUGE!!

Saturday, January 7, 2011

2011…A new year with new hopes!

As the snow continues to fall, we can’t help but wonder what the next few months will bring.  Bucks? Does? Red kids? Black?? Easy, uneventful labors? Problems? As excited as we are, we’re nervous too…I wish we could put that whole copper issue behind us.  WAY behind us!!  We’ve already got some cool names picked out and have quite a few kid reservations. Sammi is our first doe scheduled to kid, and Summer is the last doe due.  This year we’ll freshen 14 does…the most we’ve ever had to freshen. With Tim off to college, kidding season will be a challenge…but we’re anxious to meet our new little future champions…so, kidding season 2011…bring it on!!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Chasin’ Aces

It’s always exciting to hear about the accomplishments other breeders have with their Sparking Acres animals.  Sparkling Acres Chasin’ Aces currently resides in the Kori-Brook Herd of Centre Hall, PA.  Chase may have been the only Oberhasli at the DelMarVa Buck Expo last weekend, but that didn’t stop him from being named Best Buck in Show… in not only one ring, but in BOTH rings! (Judges were P. Kempe & A. McKeever-Clagget) Way to go Chase!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Appraisal Day

We’ve been wanting to start a blog, just haven’t made the time to do so.  We figured that today is as good a day as any to start!  Our appraiser was informative and educational and we learned a lot from her.  No matter how many times you appraise, we find that there’s always something to be learned.  ALL of our mature doe scores went up, as did our bucks, who are now both EX90…and we appraised all our kids…which were V’s and Ec’s.  We were disappointed with our yearling scores, but we see definite improvement in udders, so we’ll let them mature a little, give them a 2nd freshening, and see what next year brings!  Take a look at individual pages for our scores.