Thank you for your interest in our herd of Purebred Nubian (and a few LaMancha!) Dairy Goats. Along with my husband Scott, I maintain a small, productive herd on our 80 acre farm in Alexandria, Minnesota. We’re located on a beautiful section of land with rolling hills, silver maples and large ponds. It’s hot and humid in the summer, bitterly cold and snowy in the winter…but we love it here!

     We began raising and breeding dairy goats shortly after receiving a Saanen doe as a wedding gift. Although she is no longer with us, it didn’t take long for her to instill a true love for these amazing creatures. Our focus has always been to breed elegant, balanced animals that are strong in general appearance with well attached mammary systems who also have the ability to produce offspring as good as or better than themselves in those areas. In addition to correct type, we select for long, level lactations with high components, good health and easy going, friendly dispositions. We are very proud of the progress that our herd has made over the years.

    We had another very successful show season in 2010, adding four more animals to our permanent championship lineup; GCH Blissberry SM Victorious 3*M, GCH Blissberry F Aloha 4*M, CH *B Kastdemur's Most Wanted and CH *B Kastdemur's Freestyle.  Several other individual animals also earned championship legs during the show season.  At the 2010 Minnesota State Fair, our herd was once again named Premier Nubian Exhibitor, making this the eighth consecutive year we have received this honor.  One of our does, GCH Blissberry J Alibi 4*M was named Grand Champion, Best-Of-Breed, Best Nubian Udder and Best Senior Doe In Show, while GCH Blissberry F Aloha 4*M was Reserve Senior Champion and Blissberry Va Va Voom was Reserve Junior Champion, all at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair.  We also exhibited the 1st place Breeder’s Trio, 1st place Dairy Herd, 1st place Dam & Daughter and the 1st place Produce Of Dam.  One of our senior herd sires, CH *B Kastdemur’s Most Wanted, had the 1st place Junior Get-Of-Sire.

    In June of 2010 our herd traveled to the ADGA National Show in Louisville, Kentucky where they competed at their 6th National Show. We couldn’t be more pleased with how the does performed. Our National Show highlights included: 1st place/1st udder Two Year-Old - Blissberry Catch Me If You Can 5*M, 2nd place/1st udder Three Year-Old - GCH Blissberry J Alibi 3*M; 7th place Three Year-Old - GCH Blissberry SM Victorious 3*M; 12th place Four Year-Old - SGCH Blissberry FM Intangible 4*M; 6th place Five & Six Year-Old - SGCH Blissberry Fashion Show 3*M; 8th place Seven & Older - SGCH Lakeshore Farms Just-Tina 5*M, 3rd place Junior Kid - Blissberry She's So Fine; 4th place Junior Kid - Blissberry Va Va Voom; 11th place Junior Kid - Blissberry Devil Wears Prada; 4th place Intermediate Kid - Blissberry Boom Boom Pow; 8th place Senior Kid - Blissberry Rock On, 9th place Senior Kid - Blissberry Rockin' Good Time; 1st place Junior Yearling - Blissberry MW Terramisu, 9th place Senior Yearling - Blissberry Ain't She Sweet and 10th place Senior Yearling - Blissberry SM Jamaica.  CH *B Kastdemur's Most Wanted sired the 1st place Junior Get-Of-Sire.  Another big honor was having our own SGCH Lakeshore Farms Just-Tina 5*M receive the 2010 ADGA National Show Highest 305 Milk, Highest 305 Butterfat, Lifetime Milk and Lifetime Butterfat awards.  In addition to these individual awards and placings, we also exhibited the 2nd place Nubian Dairy Herd, 2nd place Best Three Senior Does, and 3rd place Dam and Daughter.

     We have participated in Standard DHIR testing for the past ten years and we are very pleased to have had all of our mature does earn their milking stars. We also have quite a few animals that have milked over 3,000 lbs and have several who received breed leader recognition the past couple years. Another performance program that we participate in is Linear Appraisal. This year we had four senior does and one buck receive scores of EX90 or higher, giving us an overall herd average of 88.8 including all senior does and bucks. We currently have a total of twelve animals residing in the herd with final scores of EX90 or above. We have always felt that dairy goats can truly do it all, milk, show, appraise well and produce...and our girls seem to be proving that it can be done.

     Herd health and management has always been a top priority for us. Our animals are fed premium quality dairy alfalfa, as well as home grown grass and oat hay, in addition to a 16% dairy ration. We also offer loose minerals, sodium bicarbonate and sea kelp free choice. Our animals are dewormed twice a year, vaccinated with CD/T, given supplemental copper boluses and BoSe regularly as a source of selenium.  The entire herd is Certified and Accredited TB Free.  During kidding season, we monitor expectant does with the use of several barn cameras installed throughout the doe barn. We also attend all births and promptly remove kids as soon as they are born. Our kids are raised on a strict CAE prevention program and penned separately from the adult goats. As a prevention for coccidiosis, Deccox-M is added to the kids’ free choice pasteurized milk. The herd is also protected by our Livestock Guardian Dogs, Lily and Diesel.

     We hope that you will take a few moments to become better acquainted with our herd, and as always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.