Recent Happenings at the Ranch

UPDATED 1/5/12

Population Explosion on the Ranch

The First Babies of the Year

1/5/12   Little did we suspect when Anatolian Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) Mattie came to work here last November that she had a secret.  However as the weeks went by we eventually guessed her secret.  On January 3rd Mattie took some time off from guarding her goat herd to whelp 9 beautiful, healthy puppies.   Mattie and her new family are doing great.  Papa is a working Akbash LGD.  These pups are going to be awesome livestock guardians once they grow up.  You can see more about the puppies by clicking here.

Quality Matters

More Superior Genetics Awards For Our Herd!

11/16/11   Once again the American Dairy Goat Association has awarded our goats with their Superior Genetics titles.  This award is given to goats that are in the top 15% of goats for production and confirmation.   Congratulations go to Tyler, Joy, Spring Thyme, River, and Brillosa.  What a great bunch of girls, we are proud to have them here.

Tyler and Joy

Spring Thyme, River,  and Brillosa

From the BMR Department of Homeland Security

Our Anatolian Livestock Guardian Dogs Have Arrived!

10/24/11  We've had reports of a mountain lion killing livestock in our little valley, plus some new coyote packs have moved into the area.  We are very glad to have several new faces here at the ranch to help protect our animals.  Pierre, a strong, hardworking 4 year old male, Kailin, a 3 year old female dedicated to protecting her herd, plus two of their 8 week old pups who are already learning their jobs.  One pup will be staying here for awhile before heading off to a different ranch to work.  The other pup will stay here at Black Mesa Ranch.  So far these wonderful animals are settling in well and already have adopted the goat herd as their very own. 

The puppies (left), Kailin (center), and Pierre (right)

Playing It Our Way

YouTube Video of the Ranch!

10/11/11  To commemorate our 11th anniversary of moving to Black Mesa Ranch, David has produced a wonderful YouTube video of our dairy goats, cheese making, and our lovely ranch.  Please join us in celebrating our life out here with the goats.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2aqY0sWN0s 

In the News

ADGA Announces Sire Development Program Bucks

10/3/11  Our girls Harmony (bred to Marco), and Cinnamon (bred to Splash) have produced bucks with the excellence to qualify for the American Dairy Goat Association's Sire Development Program! These fellas are going to be ones to watch.  Congratulations to Rocky Lacey of Country Road Ranch for owning Harmony's buckling, Dave, and to Hazel of Witch Hazel Dairy for owning Cinnamon's son, Nebula.  We wish you great success in using these outstanding fellas.

Proud mother Harmony, Dave playing at his home at Country Road Ranch

Cinnamon (left), her son Nebula (right)

Humanely Raised and Handled Certification Renewed

9/30/11 After over 5 hours of interviews and inspections (not to mention the hours spent filling out applications) Black Mesa Ranch has once again been certified as Humanely Raised and Handled.  This certification is endorsed by more than 36 humane organizations and is nationally recognized as the Gold Standard for certifying animal welfare.

This is what the inspector said in her report: "Extremely well managed goat dairy.  Compassionate and very knowledgeable owners, deeply committed to the welfare of their animals."  We love our animals and it shows!

To find out more about what this certification represents please check out the Humane Farm Animal Care website at: http://www.certifiedhumane.org/

Networking

BMR Is Now On Facebook

9/10/11   It's all new to us, but we are trying out facebook as a means of staying in touch with people and letting folks know about what is going on here at the ranch.  Please check it out and let us know if you "like" it.

Click here to follow us on facebook

New Product

BMR Goats Milk Caramel Sauce

8/22/11   Our new Goats Milk Caramel (aka Cajeta/Dulce de Leche) is a delicious, thick caramel sauce/topping/dip made from fresh Goats Milk (from our own herd of Nubian dairy goats, of course), cane sugar, creamery butter, pure vanilla and salt.  No high fructose corn syrup or added artificial preservatives, flavors or colors.  Sold in 12-oz net weight glass jars.  Try it over berries or ice cream, as a dip for apple slices or cookies, or use as a sweetener for your coffee!

Now also available: Chocolate Caramel Fudge Sauce!  Truly decadent. 

Click here to check it out and order some today!

USDA and ADGA Report

BMR Elite Does and Superior Genetics Buck

8/10/11   Another one of our fine bucks has been awarded his Superior Genetics title indicating that he is in the top 15% of Nubian bucks for production and confirmation.   Congratulations to Six M Galaxy Make a Big Splash.  Splash was also named an Elite Sire, scoring in the top 2% of Nubian bucks.

Three of our does have earned their Elite Doe titles - Poppy, Brill, and Spring Thyme.  This award is given to does that fall into the top 5 % of Nubians for confirmation, production, and the genetic ability to pass those traits on.  Brill actually scored in the top 1%!  This is the third time that Poppy has earned the award.

Spring Thyme (Top left), Brill (Top right), Poppy (Lower left), Splash (Lower right)

Already?

Our 2012 Breeding Schedule Is On Line

6/8/11   Since the linear appraisal of our goats was early this year we were able to figure out our breeding schedule early.  You can see our plans by clicking here.   We've already had many inquiries and quite a few reservations placed.  Please feel free to contact Kathryn if you have any questions about the breedings or how to place your reservation.  Thank you.

More Babies

Bertie Calves

5/29/11   Our kidding season has ended but there are still babies being born.  Bertie, our Belted Galloway cow calved today.  We still don't know if she had a heifer or a bull, but the cute little darling is sure healthy and active already.  LGD, Donna, is on guard.

It's a GIRL!  She is for sale.  Please contact Kathryn for more information.

Quality Matters

Linear Appraisal Comes Early This Year

5/5/11   Our kidding season ended just two days ago but there was still a lot of work to do.  We still had to organize and participate in this year's linear appraisal which was earlier than normal.  Linear appraisal is like a show but each goat is judged against the Ideal Goat.  Scores 90 and above are Excellent, scores in the 80's are very nice also.  As expected our girls did really well.  We had quite a few goats score 88 or higher.  Our yearlings had just kidded around a week ago so they were definitely not looking their best, though they did manage to score mostly in the 80's.  Next year those youngsters will really WOW the appraiser.  In the mean time, they are milking great and growing nicely.  And with parents like the does pictures below, how could they not grow up to be beautiful. 

Linear appraisal scores and pictures are posted on the individual goat's lineage page.  Click here for Lineage Page.  We thank all the wonderful people that helped us out for this event.

          Our does Poppy, Penny, and Marlyn all scored 91 on their linear appraisal!  Awesome scores for awesome girls.

 In brief:

BMR Herd Continues To Test CAE Free

3/2011  Once again our dairy herd has tested 100% CAE free. We test every goat every year just prior to kidding (we pulled and submitted blood samples from 45 goats this year). With the test results in, we can feed our kids delicious raw milk with all it’s benefits, instead of having to pasteurize it to prevent CAE.

CAE is an incurable, debilitating disease that is passed on most frequently dam-to-kid through milk and colostrum. Keeping our goats free of this disease is one of our top priorities, not only because the disease decreases production but because of the suffering it can cause the goats afflicted with it.

Musings of a Gourmet Chef

The Kitchen Chronicles

1/24/11   We tend to produce most of our own food here at the ranch.  Since David is a trained and experienced chef working with high quality, ultra fresh ingredients our meals are nothing but exquisite.  If you would like to read about David's culinary adventures, check out his new blog at: http://thekitchenchronicles.blogspot.com/

           Homemade butter, marinated home grown pork ready for smoking, homemade Jack cheese

Herd the News?

ADGA Announces Sire Development Program Bucks

1/5/11  Our girls Harmony (bred by Marco) and Penny (bred by Benny) have produced bucks with the excellence to qualify for the American Dairy Goat Association's Sire Development Program!  These boys are going to be ones to watch.  Congratulations to Theresa in Alaska and Jeff in Minnesota for owning these fine BMR Herd Sires.  Exotic Affair, our new Goldthwaite buckling, has also qualified for the Sire Development Program.  Congratulations to Becky Goldthwaite for breeding such a fine boy.  We thank Becky for letting him come work for us here at Black Mesa. 

Proud mothers Harmony (left) and Penny (center), plus Exotic Affair (right)

More Superior Genetics Awards!

11/29/10   Congratulations to Jammer, Dominiska, and Mariah for being awarded their Superior Genetics Titles!  All three girls are yearlings, yet they are still in the top 15% of registered Nubian does in conformation and production.  What a bunch of overachievers!  Mariah has also earned her Elite Doe status, putting her in the top 5%.

Jammer (left), Dom (center), and Mariah (right)

We are taking reservations for kids now.  Check out our breeding/kidding page for more information.

 Reaping Rewards Report

David's Garden Tour

  8/6/10   David's garden is in full swing, growing well, and already supplying us with great produce for our table.  His garden is a 50' by 50' area filled with eggplant, squash, asparagus, cornichons (pickling cukes), broccoli, herbs, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, beets, and much more.

 Chives (left), Broccoli, and Basil (right)

Tarragon (left), Parsley, and Jalapenos (right)

Eggplant (left), Patty Pan Squash (right)

Bell Peppers

For more information about our garden, click here.

In the News

Arizona Highways Lead to Snowflake

2/8/10  The magazine, "Arizona Highways" may sound like a truck stop rag, but it is actually a glossy, high quality, award winning magazine with a great reputation and interesting articles all about what you can find in Arizona.  And in the March 2010 edition all roads lead to Black Mesa Ranch.   It's a lovely article about the ranch and cheese making, along with great pictures of the goats that make it all possible. 

Arizona Highways magazine article - It's the Black Mesa Ranch Herd!

 Webmaster report:

BlackMesaRanchOnline gets Downsized!

   7/7/08 After years of dreaming, research, and just plain impatient waiting, we've finally been able to acquire the domain name BlackMesaRanch.com.  The "online" part of our old domain name has been dropped.  Web site access and email addresses will work with either the new or old name for now, but soon we will change over to the shorter version - so please update your favorites list!