SKYbird acreS
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(Left) Marigold 11th place 2 year old at the ADGA National Show in Columbus, OH. |
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(Right) Star 14th place 7 year old at the ADGA National Show in Columbus, OH. |
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Welcome to Skybird Acres! We are a small herd of ADGA registered Alpines and Nubians in Frederick, MD. We focus on breeding show and dairy quality Alpines, and our Nubians are more family pets than show goats. We typically keep only 10-14 does in milk through show season and dry them up once they are bred in the fall. We attend local shows in Maryland and Virginia, but this year we attended our first national show in Columbus, OH with four senior Alpine does. Marigold placed 11th in the cut out of 51 in the two-year-old class, and Star placed 14th in the aged doe class. We are very happy with how our does performed and will be attending more National Shows in the future.
Our "farm" is a two and a half acre piece of land on a hill. It is not ideal for a giant herd of goats, so we keep our operation small but effective. We have not been in this business for very long, but we have lived and learned how to do things the right way. You will not find a thin or frail doe in our herd. We spend as much time as we can just sitting with them, observing, and petting them. Since we do this, we know all of our does very well. We can tell when one is "off" and be able to treat it. We have gravel in their common area in front of their barn, so when the rest of our yard could be used for a mud bog, our goats' feet are kept dry on the rocks. So far, we have not had need for a milking machine. I hand milk all of our does in the morning and evening, and on the milking stand they get their grain. Each doe is feed separately and gets what she needs to be healthy.
This is our first year using AI on our does. We have invested in a tank and have bred our first does. All of our breedings have been carefully planned and weeks of consideration have gone into each of them. Our breeding chart has been recently posted in the "2018 Breedings" page.
Our "farm" is a two and a half acre piece of land on a hill. It is not ideal for a giant herd of goats, so we keep our operation small but effective. We have not been in this business for very long, but we have lived and learned how to do things the right way. You will not find a thin or frail doe in our herd. We spend as much time as we can just sitting with them, observing, and petting them. Since we do this, we know all of our does very well. We can tell when one is "off" and be able to treat it. We have gravel in their common area in front of their barn, so when the rest of our yard could be used for a mud bog, our goats' feet are kept dry on the rocks. So far, we have not had need for a milking machine. I hand milk all of our does in the morning and evening, and on the milking stand they get their grain. Each doe is feed separately and gets what she needs to be healthy.
This is our first year using AI on our does. We have invested in a tank and have bred our first does. All of our breedings have been carefully planned and weeks of consideration have gone into each of them. Our breeding chart has been recently posted in the "2018 Breedings" page.
