Happy mid-Spring! Here on the farm it's the standard--mowing grass (when our mowers are working), finishing up school, dreaming of the beach, fighting constant rain and making plans for this year's hay selections. 

Mark has finished his third semester of grad school and he has all A's so far. We're half way through and so glad he has a break for summer. Bradyn files for graduation for his Bachelor of Arts in Music in a month at the age of 19. Declan is making plans for his first trip out to Arkansas for the Inspiration Fine Arts Colony Strings Camp this July. He has selected a lovely piece for his first cello recital. He's also been bass fishing with his granddad and enjoying every minute. The littles are all finishing their school year and heading into a summer curriculum of French, music, art and lots of outdoor play. That's life outside the barn. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had our linear appraisal very early this year, which was just perfect for us given the busy summer we have ahead of us. It was another year of tremendous surprise and the standard mega learning. Linear appraisal truly is my favorite "goat day" of the year. We had record rain and cold, but the girls did what they could and we brought out tents to keep us dry. All the scores can be seen on the girls' pages or on our summary on our Facebook page. But, everyone did very well and we had lots of trends, etc. to evaluate as we try to improve even more and to make our herd as consistent as possible. It was a great day!

So, what's with the title of this entry, right? (Besides that I'm a huge Gershwin fan.) With the arrival of spring comes the annual flooding of the market (especially in the Nigerian Dwarf world) of animals, particularly kids, for sale. Selling goats is the worst part of our farm life - and here's why--you say tomato and I say tomahto. Everyone sees these animals differently. And in this case, (unlike the pronunciation of a word) there IS a difference. Or is there? I guess it depends upon what one is looking for in a goat.

Without making this a rant, we invest a lot of money, time and thought in ADGA Performance Programs. Actually, we have for many, many years (check out the picture at the head of this post). Even before ADGA came out with Owner Sample DHIR test (we do not have access to an independent monthly supervisor), we found a way to test. The picture you see at the top is our participation in an unofficial milk test from the AGS DHIR Director through Ruminations magazine 7 years ago. While we had no way to test components, our very first year that we milked a full lactations with our does, we started on test. I know who milks what, when and how. I know who likes hot weather and who can't handle the cold. I know who needs heavier feed and who can milk on nothing but mediocre hay. And I know this for FULL lactations for years. And after years, I also know what lines produce what. We also have invested in linear appraisal for over a 4 year timeframe (3 appraisals). We have NO udders here that have less than a V. We have no scores less than an 86. Now, that WILL change. We are going to have young animals who score lower and mammary systems that are not up to what we want to see. But, these programs will help us KNOW that, eliminate bloodlines where needed and continue to make our herd a very consistent, producing herd, which allows us to sell said animals.

Meanwhile, the posts for a certain color goat, a certain eye color or those with claims of wonderful grandparents (whose genes are rather dilute) abound. And the animal in question has no dairy performance proof either for itself, the case of a fresh doe, or for its parents, in the case of a kid. And those animals sell like hot cakes. The commitment to true dairy production in the Nigerian breed is still lacking, in my estimation.  I think it always will. They are small and too pet like and can be so very, very colorful - that I think these issues are here to stay.

So, we do feel the frustration in the lack of appreciation for the performance of our herd. In the end, we have a choice---breed for dairy performance, or breed for an easy sale with lots of blue eyes and splash of color. These moments bring us back to why we do what we do and only bolster our commitment to our goals. We hope for customers that are looking for the kind of animal we breed. Every year, they seem to come and after spring, we rarely have a goat for sale. But, it certainly is interesting to see how people see the Nigerian breed and to see what is valued and what is not. So, you say tomato, I say tomahto---yeah, let's call the whole thing off. We'll still stick with what we value and we'll continue to learn what it takes to produce proven dairy goats. And we hope a long the way, we'll be able to help a few other people find some great dairy goats for their herds. Thanks, Gershwin--it's a great song! 

As for most in the 21st century, we tend to be more than busy here at Bannerfield Farm. All those previous posts about big changes were just precursors to the real tidal wave to come. 

Bradyn is now in his last semester of college. He won't actually graduate until September, but he will graduate with his Bachelor of Arts in Music as a 19 year old. That early timeframe also means a very compressed schedule. We don't see him much, but we are trying to enjoy every minute we do get. He plans to apply to graduate school and none of the potential programs are anywhere near Virginia. Not having him at home is something I truly cannot yet fathom, but its coming.

Mark started graduate school last year. That truly continues to impact the amount of work and repairs we can do on the farm. He cannot milk a large string and all other goat work falls to me. And so, the 2015 goal of cutting the herd hard will continue through 2016. We only retained 2 kids last year. I'm not sure how many we will retain this year, but it won't be many other than bucks.

I also have three children to home educate and Lilly, who is now 4, is slowly doing preschool work. We had hoped to attend the ADGA National Show this year, as it is being held in my hometown and at a location that I can navigate with my eye closed, as I showed horses there a lot growing up--The Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA. There is no way I can swing that this year. We will be back on the Linear Appraisal schedule this year as our LA falls in May - well out of the summer music festival and camps season. Declan is still progressing well with his cello and will probably be out of the state most of the summer pursuing cello studies. And as for me--I want to get to the beach with the littles! So, I continue to try to balance the herd with a busy family.

However, I am VERY excited about how well the herd is continuing to do. We're in the mode of watching the offspring of our proven animals start their own milking careers, We are also getting to the point where we are very familiar with most of the genetics here and really can start to count on what we will or won't see. in new kids. We had planned not to bring in an outside buck until 2017, but with the untimely death of Wild Card, we were lucky enough to add a wonderful Tiny Town junior buck to our herd last year. The girls continue to milk well, even on less than ideal local hay. I continue to work with balancing the mineral deficiencies inherent to our soil, as well as continuing to figure out natural parasite management and ideal breeding ages for our lines. I love that I am still learning! While we don't get around to fancy pictures and lots of shows, our girls are still milked twice a day, 365 days a year and stay on DHIR all year.

We had our first ever December babies this year--including Christmas Day babies from Elf (seriously...)! We had a mild December, so that worked out wonderfully. We have all but one doe due by February, which means I will spend Spring milking, watching and then deciding who to sell. We have an unprecedented 4 (and maybe 5) first fresheners in the string this year. They can't all stay, but I'm taking time to milk them and see what we have. 

Our fast lane of long days in Raleigh for music lessons, orchestras, etc., home education for 3 children and a preschooler, a husband in grad school (and he works full time) and just trying to get out a do a few things here and there is still very, very blessed life. Please feel free to comment or even swing into the farm to see what's going on. Happy 2016!

As always, it seems as though I can't get to updating about the farm and life around here as often as I would like. It was a hard winter here; at least for a southern area like ours. Winter seemed to drag on. I just washed my insulated coveralls and packed them away this week. 

Its the beginning of April now and we only have one more doe to kid. We may have one more due in June and then I hope to freshen all our yearlings in the fall. Kidding has gone well and so far, we have 7 does and 3 buck kids on the ground right now. Those are pretty nice numbers as kidding seasons go.

Personally, life is always buzzing here. Mark started graduate school in January and Bradyn began his second semester of undergrad. Our time has been full with school and home life, with little leftover for the farm but what I can do mostly on my own.

This is a very exciting time for us. Mark's semester is over in one week. He has a break for the summer, so we are hoping to catch up around here. Bradyn will be playing at a variety of summer music events and plugging along, with the hopes of having enough credits to be a junior by September. The younger children are spending more and more time outside. Declan will soon be finishing his "6th grade" work and Liam and Landon (ages 5 and 6), will be tying up their work that falls somewhere between the traditional first and second grades. Declan will attend his very first summer strings camp with his cello in June. We plan to do lots of nature study this spring and summer and simply enjoy our little family. 

The red buds are in bloom, Easter has come and gone and today its has reached 80 degrees. My mind, however, is on fall. 2015 is the year in my 5 year plan to cut my herd to an average of half what it is now. That plan was made before I knew about a husband in graduate school and my oldest son in undergraduate studies. So, what will be happening here at that farm and on our website are sales. Cuts are coming. So, if you are one of our goat followers, keeping watching. I will have a few pet quality animals, and the usual breeding stock and potential show animals up for sale from April until fall. I will sell half the yearlings that I freshen in the fall and probably all of their kids. Its time to have our herd where I can manage mostly on my own.

Meanwhile, I am truly enjoying the warmth and sun of this season. Winter was hard, but spring brings new hope. If the joy that this year's kid crop has brought is any indication--there is new hope indeed.

Its been awhile since I've posted here. I've gotten emails asking what is up with the herd and the farm. Fall is always busy time for us. With lots of grass to mow, etc., we rarely take summer vacations. We are also mountain lovers, and there is no better time to see the mountains than in fall. Our family visited the mountains for 3 days in the fall.

Mark and I headed to the mountains for our anniversary in October for 2 days. We also rode his Harley to Pennsylvania for my high school reunion in September. Then came November---holidays, Christmas orchestra concerts, decorations, shopping--the works.

Breeding season did occur here, even though I still have not posted a breeding schedule. I intentionally bred late, as I refuse to have babies here again in sub-freezing temps when my barn and kidding set up are not geared for it. We have one doe due in February and one in March. The rest are in April or May. I also have decided that the parasite load in June-August is too hard on kids here, and so for now, breeding season is over. I will send off blood work for pregnancy tests this month along with our annual CAE tests. It looks like I will plan for all 2014 juniors to be bred for fall of 2015, which will extend our winter milk supply.

On a sad note, old man Roulette passed on 12/23. We are very fortunate to have many daughters and two sons here, as well as many kids in performance testing herds across the country. We knew his time would not be far--actually purchasing him at such a late age was a risk. But he settled every doe we exposed him to and was simply a joy to have here. He is missed every day, but is fondly remembered in our memories, and in his offspring.

Our little herd as done well in 2014--with all but one fresh doe having earned AR milk stars. We attended one show, taking only seniors and our girls took Grand and Reserve Champion at that little show. Sunkiss and her daughter, Caprice earned their Superior Genetics titles---with Caprice being a yearling first freshener. We will continue on the ADGA Performance Plus program for its second year in existence. Linear Appraisal should be in June for us. We have two shows we may attend, depending upon our children's activities. May and June are busy times for strings camps and music festivals, and although performance programs will always be our focus, shows are just for fun and our children come first. We hope to get out to the shows to clean up our girls and visit with goat friends, but we'll see how it works out with life.

We wish a Happy 2015 to all! We thank all who have trusted us and bought goats from us in 2014. The joy in sharing our little dairy goats with others is one of the main reasons we do this. We are slowly getting to the performance consistency that we had hoped for when we started this venture. We hope to be able to continue to offer lovely hardy milkers and herd sires in 2015. 

Our summer started out looking as though, for the first time in 3 years, that we might have a normal or even dry summer. However, the last month has changed that hope. We have had tons of rain here on the farm lately, and most of it has fallen on Saturday, which is our major farm work day here. Mark works full time, so major repairs and work are relegated to the evenings and Saturdays. Our barn sits on a downward slope (no, we did not build it there--it was there when we purchased the farm) and so heavy rains often flood the barn. We have installed french drains, but to no avail.

So, what's up here at Bannerfield Farm? The grass!---and in a big way. So, our lives right now are about mowing, trimming and weeding and working on fixing the barn so that the threat of wetness is diminished during heavy rains. Its a jungle out there---but we are working to change that!

The goats are all well and some of the cooler nights have our does "in the mood for love". No way. I have decided that I will not do dead winter kiddings this year. Also, as I plan for next kidding season, I have come to the point where I can see a very busy spring for us. We are cutting the herd one year early now. We had always planned to cut to a very small number by 2015 (fall). But, with the early advent of college expenses for Bradyn and a variety of expenses needed to help launch him into his chosen career, we need to spend less on animals and more on our children. To our delight. Declan has asked to take cello lessons--and again, more demand on the pocketbook--but a good demand. So, while we are cutting the grass over the next few weeks, we will also be putting a lot of thought into cutting the herd, as well.

If you are a goat person--check out the sales page and keep checking. This is a very hard process for me and it is one that I will put great thought into. 

Welcome to the Jungle---hopefully soon we will have it tamed and be on to our next adventure.

I'm back! I had a fabulous trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma this past week. For once, flying went smoothly, minus a bag mix-up on my part (I can't recall a time when I have made such a mindless, stupid mistake) and it didn't completely wear me out. I drove a bunch, which if you know me, you know I really don't like driving anymore. But, the rental car had all the cool new gadgets and I enjoyed piping Joshua Bell through the stereo from my phone and the fabulous jazz XM station. 

The trip included a visit with my friend and mentor, Ellen Dorsey at Dill's A Little Goat Farm. One of her does kidded while I was there and it was neat be part of the ebb and flow of her farm and see her lovely goats in their home. I got to play with her boys, which helped stave off homesickness for my own children and simply enjoy her lovely family. Goats and good friends always means a good time.


Our cousins in Arkansas bought their first dairy goats during my visit, as well. They purchased two very nice Oberhasli does in milk. I was able to milk them and help get them set up. I love to teach and mentor and teaching family is even more special. I didn't have room for barn shoes or clothes, so I did get a kick out of myself - feeding and milking goats in sandals and street clothes.

The goat experiences were fabulous, but the main reason for my visit was musical in nature and all about my family. I was able to watch Bradyn and my Aunt Judy perform at the Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Their performances were fabulous, right along with all the other performers that night. I met Bradyn's teachers, his conductor and many of his new friends. It was a bit surreal. He's there--that age where he will soon be his own man. He had friends and teachers that I did not know and many experiences that changed him for the better. I am grateful that each person I met was a delight--he could not have been at a better place. And then  add the family element and I was just humbled at God's goodness to Bradyn and to me. 

Now we're back---and I am working to recover from little sleep and get us "back in the saddle". From a farm perspective, we are going to scale the herd back pretty sharply. Things are changing quickly here and we need less to do. For our goat followers--I will have a for sale page up in the next week or two. I may hold most of our juniors off for breeding, as I really do not plan to freshen a bunch of does next spring. Meanwhile, I'm hustling and trying to get us back into a routine here that keeps things running smoothly. Thanks to all who prayed for our safe travels. We're here---moving to the normal tune here, but the changes are coming, both in tempo and style--thanks for coming along for the ride.

If you aren't familiar with the title, you are probably one of my younger readers. If you are familiar with it--you are welcome--now Kool and the Gang will ring in your head for the day.

But, its an appropriate title for life on the farm this week. On Monday, we celebrated my birthday. For me, this birthday has been one of many surprises (its actually very hard to surprise me) and gifts from the hearts of those of gave--moments I am still pondering days later. My children made me cards and my 10 year old gave me the gift of cursive. Odd, I know--but if you knew how much he hates working on things that are hard for him, it would be clear what a gift it was for him to hide in his room and write a card for me in cursive. My oldest son texted me from Arkansas and my husband spoiled me all day. One of my best friends gave up her day to visit and chat; the day was a celebration of God's goodness to me.

On Thursday we will celebrate another birthday--one long awaited--the 5th birthday of our son, Landon James. Landon came into this world 14 days late--and only 1.5 hours away from being an August baby. Those days of waiting while the world told me to go be induced--days of stretching my faith--are still very clear in my mind. His arrival was a celebration then and so it continues to be. He has been counting down the days. We will celebrate with cake (a day early because he is leaving to visit his grandparents on his birthday), Planes 2 in 3D and a few How to Train Your Dragon gifts. Again, for me, a day to marvel at God's goodness to me.

And then I'm off to Arkansas to watch Bradyn at the Inspiration Point Fine Art Colony, where he is studying piano, violin, music theory and music history. Hearing bits and pieces of how the week is going is yet another celebration. His private teacher is a violinist in an amazing string quartet--someone I could never arrange for him to meet and learn under on my own. His great Aunt is there to guide him and arranged for another private lesson with a concert pianist. I also get to visit one of my dear friends who is also my goat herding mentor. These are all things that I have been celebrating all week. I dread leaving the farm---I have some goats with a cough from being at the show. I hate leaving Mark--its just the way I am. I love to travel, but I don't like doing it without him. Dropping the children with my parents is bittersweet--because I will miss them so deeply and yet, they experience so much love and fun with my folks. And yet--we will be one step closer to celebrating our entire family being reunited (yet another 80's song that we can all hear in our heads now...).

Those are the big guns---but each day there are infinite reasons to celebrate. I hope that you can see the reasons to celebrate in your life. If you'd like to share them--feel free to comment. I will be "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (whoa--we went back to the 60's for that one) and I would thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts while I am on my journey.

Well, I've finally done it---spent almost a whole day on the couch and started to migrate our very lovely website over to Weebly, where I can manage it on my own--with my limited time and web publishing ability. 

Our family loves music--and thus the theme to this website. But the music in this house mostly flows from our oldest son, Bradyn, who is a gifted musician. He hears music in everything. His love for music has added so much to our lives, just as his being our oldest and first born has done, as well. Ecclessiates 3:1 says, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." In our home and on our farm, the latest "season change" has not been spring to summer, but child to young man. Bradyn (said oldest son) is 17 and starting his college work in less than a month. He has spent most of the summer in a variety of states studying and performing music. With that change, comes a change in his ability to participate in the ebb and flow of the farm, in keeping his own herd and even in simply being here with us.


Instead of checking his homework, I am flying off to watch recitals, sitting with a luthier to evaluate a college-level violin and crunching numbers not for the latest alfalfa purchase, but for college fees. What an exciting and scary time for me and actually all of us here. We are a tightly knit family, and even Bradyn's younger siblings have had to adjust to his absence and change of activities.









On the farm, that means the remaining two does in his herd, Cole's Estate are now ours. That transfer has brought a tremendously exciting animal to us and lots more milk in the pail. It means that we have shifted many chores to the next two oldest boys and back to me, as well. Instead of heading to Nationals this year, as we had hoped, I stayed home while Mark flew Bradyn out to stay with family in Arkansas and attend piano and strings camp at the same place where his grandfather did so many years ago as a young man. So many things are the same; so many things have changed.

And this also means a new website. Our old website will stay up for awhile (www.bannerfieldfarm.com) and we hope to actually migrate this one to that URL in time. While I was a systems engineer in a former life, I have never been a desktop or web person. This change will be slow, but hopefully sustainable as we have had many comments from folks both far and near that our website is sorely out of date. Bradyn designed and programmed that site --another one of his talents--and I thank him for creating such a fine web presence for us. 

And so, here we are--thank you for coming along with us! Welcome to the new home of Bannerfield Farm Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats and the blog of the herd queen/concertmaster! I hope to keep things up to date and interesting for those who'd like to peek into our little world now and again.

So what else is new in this exciting season? Our homebred animals are finally maturing and really proving themselves in the pail, in linear appraisal and a bit in the show ring. We are working on a slogan to convey how much performance is behind what we do--not just the performance here on the farm, but in helping our customers and the herds that we mentor to understand what dairy performance really means. The internet is a world of smoke and mirrors and many folks never dig in and see what these animals not only can do--but how they do it over time. What do I mean by that? How about the line, "This doe is 5 pound milker." What does that mean to you? Lactations have curves and many folks are disappointed to get that 5 pound milker home to find that she is milking 2 pounds because that doe either doesn't sustain a lactation well, or quite simply, she is 8 months fresh and nearing the end of a "normal" lactation. Or--how about this--why should one care how large a does' nostrils are? Well, it matters, and if you have time to spend with one of few highly experienced and trained linear appraisers or a breeder that has been at this for decades---you will find these things out. They all relate to true performance. These are the things we hope to keep learning, proving in our herd and helping others to learn. That's performance here on the farm---and meanwhile we get to enjoy the performances of our oldest son in this ever-changing season. :-)

Welcome to my first blog entry. I've wanted to blog for years, but struggled with whether or not blogging is a wise thing for the private citizen, especially a wife and mother. I'm not sure I'm convinced of the wisdom, but I know that I have been so very blessed and encouraged by other blogs, that I decided to try a blog, while also integrating our farm website. What I hope to do is simply offer up what God is doing in our lives. What is found here may be informative, it may be inspiring, it may be entertaining and it may be many things that I cannot imagine at the moment.

Like many families, our farm exists to help us provide wholesome food and a natural lifestyle in a country where these things are mostly forgotten. America has "paved paradise to put up a parking lot". As a result, it is our hope to pass an agrarian lifestyle to our children for more reasons than I will list now. In that effort, we are learning everyday - for we were not raised this way. The battle for the family, freedom, farming is one that Mark and I were not raised to fight. In that midst, we have found a lot of wonder and joy, but also, a lot of chaos.

A distant friend recently observed that I "love chaos".  The opposite is quite true. I like order and for things to be simple and true. However, in trying so many new things, even at the most basic level of family life, I find that chaos may be more overriding than order. 

My oldest son has been quite an inspiration to me lately. In my past life, I was a musician - but left behind so much of my love for music as I entered the workforce, was married and became a mother. He has brought beauty into our home with his love, understanding and uncanny command of music; these infiltrate all that we do lately. He recently offered to me his definition of music - organized sound.

So, right now, while the mundane goes on - feeding the animals, acquiring "feed" - both animal and human, educating the children, playing, cleaning, crying, laughing; I find that what blesses and inspires me most lately is organized sound. It always has as far as I can remember and it still does. It inspires me to learn more of God's ways and more of His character and reflect that in my life. There is music all around - in goat bleats, in snow falling, in tractors humming, in children laughing - in all of life, there is music. God is a God of order and for today, I am ordering my life on a blog; in ones and zeroes on the web and hoping that those that visit here will enjoy the tune of our lives.