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What an amazing
doe!! We were thrilled when this little doe was born...her dam had never
given us many does and to get one out of Outlaw was a double bonus.
Caramel was a very correct, growthy doeling standing on outstanding feet
and legs. We couldn't wait to see her freshen and we certainly weren't
disappointed. Caramel is tall and dairy and smoothly blended. She is a
very long-bodied doe and she freshened with a gorgeous mammary. Her udder
is high and wide in the rear with a very correct teat size and placement
and a long smooth fore udder.
Caramel was 3X 1st place senior yearling milker and
finished the 2010 show season off by winning Grand Champion Senior Doe and Best
Udder of Breed at the Fall Fuzzy Show!! We were thrilled when she
appraised VG88 as a yearling!!
Caramel completed a nearly 2800# milk record as a
yearling milker and came back looking even more amazing as a 2 year old.
She was GCH senior doe in both rings at our first show of the season
finishing her championship and continued to milk at the top of the herd.
She has one of the most outstanding udders in the herd...high and wide in
the rear with an amazing escutcheon, long, smoothly attached fore
udder and nearly perfect teat placement.
As a 3 year old Caramel came in and
seriously took our breath away. She had developed into a powerhouse doe
yet retained her beautiful dairy stremgth and style. Her mammary is
simply stunning....high and wide in the escutcheon with a tremendous
area of attachment, long and smooth in the fore udder with wonderful
capacity. At the first show of the season, Caramel was 5X
BOB, 4X Best Udder in Show and 3X Best Senior Doe in Show in some stiff
competition. She would have been our top doe for Nationals had we been
able to go.
In 2013, this lovely doe just continued to
amaze us. As one exhibitor put it at our local show, "She never ages and
just continues to get better and better." Caramel was again 4X
BOB, 4X BUOB, 3X BSDIS and 3X BUIS at our local show. She was the 10th
place 4 year old at the National show and was awarded the High
Individual 305 Milk Production award. She is again listed on the 2012
ADGA Breed Leader list.
Caramel
decided in the fall of 2013 that she needed a break
and did not settle for us. Milking through, she
placed a
very respectable 13th at the 2014 ADGA National show. She
was again on the 2013 ADGA Breed Leader list. She
then appraised EX 91 (permanent score) after being
fresh for 17 months. Despite being in milk nearly 19
months, Caramel again amazed us when we took her to
the National Goat Expo in late September 2014. She
was 6X BOB, 6X BUOB, 6X BUIS and 3X BSDIS. We
look forward to seeing her fresh again in the spring
of 2015.
In 2015,
Caramel surprised us with a set of lovely triplets
on New Year's Day. One of her bucks headed off to
Canada and we chose to retain her other buck and her
doeling in the herd. Caramel started this lactation
off with a bang as she normally does but faltered
about 90 days in showing a poor appetite and lower
milk production. Taking her to the University of MN
Large Animal Hospital, she was diagnosed with acute
rumen acidosis which had caused liver problems.
A long recovery followed and she valiantly tried to
regain her milk production but we felt it better to
dry her up and give her the time to return to her
healthy self....when she started pushing her entire
pen around I knew she was back.
Caramel freshened in January
of this year with a lovely single doe kid...a real keeper. Although she
didn't peak as high in milk production as in past years she has held a
respectable 12# throughout her lactation so far. We felt that her health
was finally back to normal and decided to try for one more National Show
so she made the long trip to Harrisburg and she looked amazing on the
day of the show. Leaving her in a holding pen to show in the class
before hers I came back to find that someone had carelessly tossed a
pair of hoof nippers in her pen and she had sliced her front foot. Thus
ended my hopes of her back in the show ring as I scratched her to tend
to her bleeding foot. I truly feel she would have been very competitive
in that older class this year.
2017
turned out to be another tough year for Caramel and
we feel extremely fortunate to have her in our
lives. Our tremendous thanks to the University of MN
Large Animal hospital for saving her life in June
when she presented with a bladder blockage.
She spent 4 days at the vet hospital and has
returned home and is doing well. We will continue
her on preventative treatment and hope for the best.
The stay in MN was very hard on her and we would
like to see additional weight on her but she
continues to milk much better than expected.
After taking 2018 off to recover from her bladder
ordeal, Caramel has returned to her normal weight
and state of health. We have hopes to breed her this
year but will not take deposits on any kids until we
are sure she is confirmed bred. All does and 1st
buck will be retained. She will be bred to Merlin
for January kids.
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