2009 Goat News from Welbian Farm
It has been an eventful year here at Welbian Farm. Glen has finally retired and it is wonderful having him here at home as he worked out of state for the past 10 years. We are now playing catch up on all the things he was just never able to do. He has really missed being home with us and really enjoys the goats! We have even been able to go to a few more shows.
We have more time to enjoy our younger grandchildren, Tyler, Zachery , and Kylie who are 6,4,and 4 respectively. They enjoy visiting Grandma and Grandpa and all the animals! Our grandson Teddy is now 12 and is at that age where he is just sprouting up at an amazing rate, just like Jack and the Beanstalk. Our three older grandchildren Kelly, Randi, and MacKenzie are all grown up now. Seems like yesterday they were running around in diapers.
We have added a few animals other than goats this year. We had horses for 27 years along with the goats but when our youngest daughter Rebecca moved to Florida, she and her husband Steve took her two horses with them. I really did miss those morning whinnies. I now have a wonderful 10 year old Appaloosa mare who happened to be bred when we got her. So, now we have two, Treasure and her daughter Seeker born last December.
We have also added a Great Pyrennes named Navaho to live with the bucks and he is great. We never had a guardian dog before and if they are all like Navaho, I would not hesitate to get another. I also decided that as we were getting “older” we might enjoy those cold winter nights with a little “lap” dog for company. As usual, Glen thought I was getting senile and said no dogs. Well, we now have two little Peek-a Poo sisters and they are the joy of our lives! Never thought little dogs could be so loving. We have always had Pointers. Then, the unexpected happened--our daughter and son-in-law asked us to take their dog as they no longer have children at home and they lead busy lives and the dog was so lonesome. So Reggie has come to live with us --all 210 pounds of Old English Mastiff!! The Pearce household has really gone to the dogs!
On to our goat udates:
Alpines: We finished our Waiilatpu doe, Cherubim this year and she Linear Appraised 91 EEEE. Now both she and her sister have the same LA scores. We also AI’d her to Sodium Oaks Sasin and she gave us 1 doe and 2 bucks. In the past year we also have purchased two purebred does from Cathy Mabie’s Roeburn herd. We attended the Convention in Buffalo and purchased the Kickapoo Valley Spotlight Sale buck Zeus Scandel. Along with our Munchin Hill boys , we feel we are off to a wonderful rebirth of our small Alpine herd.
Lamanchas: Our Little Rainbow doe, Singing Bird finished her championship and LA 92 EEEE. One of our two year old does, Sweetie Pie earned two legs. We are very pleased with what we have in milk out of Yes-Sir and are waiting to see how Attitude Adjuster’s daughters freshen. We had to say good bye to Little Rainbow FOB Maiden this year. We have scaled way back on our Lamancha herd as we were overwhelmed with them.
Oberhasli: We have dedicated most of our time this year to developing our Oberhasli herd. We do have Mike to thank for all his searching of pedigrees, etc. I never thought I would ever have one in my barn but as usual, I am eating my words. There are such delightful creatures. We feel that we are developing a herd of competitive animals and will be taking some to the National Show in Louisville. We have met some wonderful Oberhasli breeders who have been so helpful in helping us develop our herd. We had our first home bred doe go excellent. Hot to Trot LA 90 VEVE and went 7X BOB and 2X BIS this year . We also had the honor of being the Premier Exhibitor at the District II Oberhasli Speciality as well as at the Eastern States Expo. Michael also had our 1st Oberhasli Spotlight Sale consignment. Our daughter , Rebecca Mabe , now lives in Florida and has also started back into goats with our Oberhasli kid that was 1st place Junior Kid at the 2008 Nationals. Our thanks to Beth Kennelley for all the help she has given Rebecca.
Toggenburgs: These next few years will be a rebuilding year for us. We still have some of the old Little Creek does but they are all retired now. We said goodbye to some grand old does this year, Little Creek Magic, Snowbird and Madison’s sister Tara. Madison, of course, is still going strong, She will be 10 in March and is still the queen. We have revamped our breeding program introducing some of the Rowe Togg bucks. We are very very pleased with our first crop of kids out of Rendezvous and Rowantree. We also have reduced our Toggenburg herd to a more reasonable number. Unfortunately we had one our nicer three year olds get gangrene mastitis and she literally lost her entire udder !
Nigerians: These are mostly for our grandchildren to enjoy. Little things for little folks. We have three does and of course a buck!
Saanens: We are quite pleased with our McQuity Farms Victor son. Our one daughter in milk LA 87 as a yearling. We only have two does and three doe kids. I’m not sure if we will breed them all or keep one as a dry yearling.
Nubians: We thought we were out of Nubians but somehow they just keep creeping back into our barn. We only had one and now will soon be up to three. My Mom, who left us at 94 last October must be smiling up in heaven as she loved those Nubian babies.
Glen and Donna Pearce
Michael Binion
204 Davern Road
Peru, NY 12972