desRuhigestelle

Hello and welcome to our website. We have been breeding dairy goats for almost 50 years, but are still new dealing with today's technology. Truthfully, I’d rather be in the barn cleaning stalls and trimming feet, but have finally acknowledged the need to move into the 21^st century. It has been a slow road for me to get this done. So, this isn’t a 'real' website so much as just lists of our breeding herds (and some other fun stuff too!). All of the information is official, and verified w/ the ADGA links (that’s what took so long). We had thought that someday we would have an improved version, but as I listen to other breeders' tales of difficulty and time spent on maintaining websites, and get frustrated trying to check out websites that aren't updated, I think we'll stay with what we have. So, instead of buttons, links and background colors, here you'll find lots of real records and as much information as will fit on a page. And since it is rather easy to update, we do our best to get it updated every couple months. (Okay, we're behind on that promise, but it has been a chaotic year.) To view our herd lists, click on the ‘download herd list’ at top. Be sure to also download the price list, terms and conditions. If you have any questions, I can now be contacted by email:

myname (at) herdname (dot) com

(change myname to lauren and herdname to ruhigestelle. Automatic e-mail address sniffers are getting more sophisticated these days!)

I try to answer emails within a few days. Please remember this site is about our goats and not a place to ask veterinary questions. I will be happy to answer vet questions at my clinic at 503-982-2421 (Tues/Wed/Thurs), but prefer to speak with your vet. Remember, I do mostly surgery and anesthesia, so other questions are pretty much out of my league.

SHOWS- After the drama and excitement of the 2008 & 2009 Nationals, it was a difficult, but necessary decision to stay home the last two years. We did decide to have some extra fun, and included a couple of California shows in our roster this spring. That included REDGA, where the competition, fun and food are the best anywhere. We also added both the Western WA and OR State fairs back to our roster. It was a treat to get back into a abbreviated fair circuit, most of the fun, less of the exhaustion!

ALPINE NEWS- Tetrazzini topped our year by receiving an official appraisal score of 7-3 FS94 EEEE, making her the highest scoring Alpine in the US! She also made up for not going to Nationals by winning BOB in all four rings, and BIS in one at REDGA, and then topped the season off with BIS wins at both OR and W. WA State fairs. She was the 'anchor' of the Supreme Best Three at OR State, though the other two, Imagined and Finally, might complain a bit about that. We had a fun, nostalgic moment ta the W. WA fair, when we were able to put a winning Royal Image Sr Get together, using Tetra, Imagined and Mark Baden's Tegra. We were very proud of our 2 yr old Yukon Jack daughters. First, Living Free finished her championship in two very competitive CA shows, including her third leg as GCH at REDGA, then Penelopy followed with her GCH two weeks later at the Salem and Roseburg shows.

On a different note, it was with sadness and respect that we decided to put to sleep SGCH des Ruhigestelle Free Thinker and her twin sister, SGCH dR Free Aire last March. They were 17 years old, and had never been separated. Thinker, aka 'Stink,' will be remembered as the dam of Freelance by the Alpine world. Here, she will be remembered as one of the stongest and smartest Alpines we have ever owned. We learned many lessons from the 'Brown sisters,' and are gateful to have had them as part of our lives.

SAANEN NEWS- Our newest Saanen champion, Elendara finished her GCH with a BIS win at Red Bluff. Elende came out to prove that Saanens can hold their own even when their numbers are down, by winning BIS in three rings, and BUIS in two at our own show in Salem. Our Saanen dairy herd finished the season by winning Supreme Dairy Herd at the competitive W. WA State Fair. Elendrea came through again with another Top Ten record for 2010, and it looks like Riah is going for one this year.

LA MANCHA NEWS- Although we are down to only four mature LaManchas, we took Evianna out to Salem as well, where she was BOB & BUOB in three rings, and BUIS in two. As we are putting even more emphasis on production in our LaManchas, we are especially proud of Janica's Top Ten milk record.

APPRAISAL- Our linear appraisal session was a bit different for us this year. Instead of holding it publicly during our open house in August, we opted to have a normal session on July 3^rd. We were very pleased with the results, and very excited about earning 22 E udder texture scores out of 33 milking does! There were nine FS92, five FS91, and one lone FS90, making nearly half of the does excellent (16 of 33). Tetra came through with her third FS93, now under three different appraisers, and then was later reviewed and rescored as a FS94 at the ADGA convention!

DHIR- Production is equally important as shows to us. We are always working toward our herd average goal of 3500 lbs milk with 100 lbs protein. This seemed like a lot ten years ago, but we are excited to announce that the Saanens have exceeded our goal with a Saanen mature doe herd average of 3809 lbs milk and 112 lbs protein! We are as proud of Top Ten does as our champions, and congratulate Xocati, Winseeker and Elendrea on their 2009 records, and Elendrea and Janica in the '10 list. Several years ago we came up with our own formula to rank each mature does total performance. This has been a valuable tool for us, enabling us to identify where we were lacking in our goals for each breed. It also helps us to place a value on type vs. performance for each doe. No doe is perfect, but we like to think that each individual brings a strong component to our total picture. None of this could be possible without the use of ADGA’s performance programs, and we would encourage all breeders to use the programs- they certainly can open your eyes to the true value of any goat.

PARTY!- Our annual Appraisal party and open house/barn was a huge success last year, with over 70 people here! Lots of food, especially some great cheeses and homemade ice cream. Appraiser John White was excellent with his explanations, so many people went home feeling good about having learned a lot. Still it was a lot of work, and a very long day. This year we separated the LA session from the open house. Instead, our usual open house party included some milking demonstrations and creamery tours, with a hands on educational session. With nearly 100 people here, we were surprised at the number of new people, including many non-goat people just out to see where their food comes from, and enjoy a day on a farm. John tried a buried pit barbeque of a whole market goat, and it was absolutely delicious! The quality of the cheeses from our creamery surprised even me, and were also a great hit with the public. And of course, the ice cream disappeared as fast as we could make it. We have found that our open house is a great way to promote goats in a positive, natural setting, and a perfect way to introduce high quality goat products. It is also a great way to make sure your barn is thoroughly cleaned at least once a year, including cobwebs! If you like great food, fun company, and a chance to learn, circle the third weekend in August and plan to visit! It is an annual event, and each year we add something new, last year we added wine tasting and a bluegrass musician, this year the pit barbeque, and we are looking for ideas for next year.

HOME NEWS- Our biggest event at home has been the completion of our Grade A dairy! We received our final inspection and license to sell fluid milk for cheese on Aug 26, and the creamery began selling cheese the end of Sept. Our creamery is onsite, and is leased to Portland creamery, owned and managed by Liz Alvis, who markets the cheese under her 'Portland Creamery" label. She entered the ADGA cheese competition in the amateur division (the creamery isn't considered commercial until six months of production) and came away with a 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd in the flavored and plain chevre catagories. Congratulations to Liz on her first competition! The cheese is really excellent, and we are proud that our milk goes to make such a fine product.

OUR MISSION- While at the wonderful REDGA show dinner in California last year, I had an interesting discussion with Stephen Considine about Saanen history. He made a comment that has stayed with me, as it is true and really sums up my experience in breeding goats. He noted that we have been breeding the same type of dairy goat for 30 years, the only difference is now that is what the industry wants too. And it's true that we have been breeding for the same type of doe, only now it is called a 'modern' type. We are trying to produce does that are long boned and dairy, and are true total performers. You won’t find mature show goats giving ‘a gallon a day’, or ‘2 gallon’ milkers with poor udders in our pens. Nor will you find obese goats, frail goats, or goats with severe structural faults. What you will find are sound, strong, highly productive does that milk well wherever they are, and rarely get stressed. We take pride in producing genetic foundations for commercial dairies, as we feel they should be the backbone of our industry. Our does are not pampered, rarely do we milk three times a day, and with a veterinarian’s unpredictable work schedule, they frequently must wait 16 hours between milkings. Pasture is an important part of our management, so our goats must be able to walk several hours a day. While we have our favorites, nobody gets special treatment, or special feed. Some of our more well known does have traveled over 5,000 miles nearly every year of their lives, and continue to produce over 3,000 lbs of milk.

Lastly, but most important, we enjoy our goats. I strongly believe in “coffee management”- that is simply taking the time to just watch the goats do goat things. If everyone took the length of time it takes to drink a cup of coffee (or tea, or beer, or whatever…) doing nothing but watching their goats every day, my work as a veterinarian would diminish greatly!! While we love our goats and their achievements, we do have other interests, especially during the “snow” season. To keep a balance between work and play, and to keep burnout limited to kidding season, we do dry off many of our does early, and only milk a select group through the winter. We attempt to keep January as free of goat activities as possible, choosing instead to spend this time with each other. While this makes it tough to reach our herd average goal, we value the freedom and freshness the time away gives us. Some of that will change as we manage our Grade A dairy, but we will continue to spend some time apart from the goats each year.

We enjoy visitors, but ask that you call ahead to make sure we home. Please do not wear clothing or shoes that have been in other barns, including your own, and our guardian dogs request that you do not bring other pets. The coffee is always on, in fact I think I’ll take a cup out to the barn right now… Lauren & John

Saanens Alpines LaManchas