Our doe barn was completed, and in April, we came home with our first three Mini Nubians…Kandi, Molly, and Pixie.  In May, Zoe, our first Livestock Guardian Dog joined us from Colorado.  In the Fall, the buck barn was completed, and Elvin and Parker became our first Mini Nubian herd sires.  In October, Zeke, a 12-week old Maremma puppy from Coonridge Dairy in New Mexico, joined the farm.

     Kandi started our first kidding season with a bang…quadruplets!  Pixie followed with twin doelings, and Molly had triplets.  We retained June Bug…the only doeling from Kandi’s quads.

      We decided to name our Mini Nubian kids after things that are native to the Rafter O.  This year’s kid crop had the following names: Red Bud, June Bug, Chipping Sparrow, Persimmon, Mountain Laurel, Bear Grass, Oriole, Honeycomb, and Rain Lily.

     In the spring, we had two sets of triplets out of Kandi and Pixie.  The Mini Nubian kids this year were: Agarita, Cottontail, Mud Dauber, Tarantula, Coyote, and Black-footed Daisy. 

     Tilly, Luna, and Indy joined the herd in late Spring, and Clair came to us from Washington in late summer.  Parker bred June Bug and went to his new home in October.

     June Bug kicked off the 2018 kidding season with a beautiful single buckling, and Pixie followed with a set of quadruplets.  Luna and Tilly freshened in April with twins.  The Mini Nubian kids this year were Ashe Juniper, Evening Primrose, White Skipper, Prickly Pear, Cedar Elm, Callisto, Ariel, Millipede, and Chuck-Wills Widow. 

     Memphis Blue joined the farm in June from Rite Choice Dairy in Florida.  In October, Juliet flew in from Los Angeles from Green Eggers Farm, and Elvin left to spread his seeds elsewhere.

     In November, we took part in our first MDGA Show with the Hill Country Mini Milkers in Decatur, Texas.  June Bug brought home three ribbons: Best in Show, Grand Champion Senior Mini Nubian, and Best Udder in Show!

     The Rafter O had an excellent crop of Mini Nubian kids this year!    June Bug had her single doeling followed by Tilly with her triplets.  Pixie, again, blessed us with quadruplets, and Clair had an easy first freshening with twins.  Luna closed out with two bucklings.  The 12 kid names this year were Doodlebug, Skunk, Chickadee, Raccoon, Sweet Pea, Dewberry, Fox Squirrel, Rufous Hummingbird, Lesser Goldfinch, Four Leaf Clover, Copperhead, and Red Admiral.

      We are retaining three Mini Nubian doelings – Doodlebug, Foxy, and Clover.  These three doelings have excellent milk lines and great conformation.  Ruby, a full-size Nubian, joined the herd as well as a buck, Levi.  Juliet returned to her home herd in California in November, and we welcomed Sapphire, a blue roan 2nd generation Mini Nubian.  We are excited about the future of our Rafter O Mini Nubian herd!

     In early June, our herd competed in the HCMM Texas Two-Step MDGA Show, and we brought home a trailer full of champions!  June Bug again received Best Udder in Show!  Doodlebug won Grand Champion Junior Mini Nubian in one ring, and Reserve Grand Champion in ring 2.  Foxy won Grand Champion Junior Mini Nubian in ring two.

        In early February, we welcomed a beautiful doeling from Blackberry’s herd in California, Snow Drop.  Later in February, June Bug blessed us with triplet doelings!  Clair had buck/doe twins again.  Both June Bug and Clair’s udders are looking fabulous.  In mid-March, Doodlebug had an easy first kidding with her single doeling.  Ruby had quadruplets – 2 buckling and 2 doelings a couple of days later.  Sapphire kidded in April with triplets – a tiny spotted, polled doeling and two bucklings.  

        The kid names this year are Lady Bug, Love Bug, Lightning Bug, Grasshopper, Cricket, Pill Bug, Meadowlark, Little Blue Heron, Eastern Phoebe, Carolina Wren, White-tailed Deer “Bambi”, Badger, and Porcupine “Spike”.  

        We will be retaining doelings Cricket and Wren.   Lark is so fabulous, we decided to retain him as well continue to infuse Ruby’s Nubian genetics into our herd.  We have also added a fabulous horned buckling, Tundra, from Blackberry to breed to our polled does.

     2021 has been an exciting year for the Rafter O!  We had 8 does kid between late February and early May. 

     Pixie kicked off kidding season with triplets, 2 bucklings, and 1 doeling.  Our wishes were granted with a polled, blue-eyed buckling!  June Bug had us all fooled that she was having multiples, but just had a huge polled buckling.

     The next four does, Clair, Sapphire, Cricket, and Clover, all kidded with buck/doe twins!  We finished off the kidding season with three bucklings: twins for Foxy and a single buckling for Doodlebug.

     Kid names this year are Ravine Haze, Canyon Mist, Valley Vapor, and Stick Bug “Walker”, Crested Caracara “C.C.”, Orbweaver “Ziggy”, Sandhill Crane, Greater Roadrunner, Trinity Aquifer, Edwards Plateau, Wild Verbena, Indian Paintbrush “Quanah”, Texas Live Oak “Oakley”, Texas Red Oak “Buckley”, and Red-tailed Hawk.

     In March, we added a female Kangal Dog puppy, Beyza, to our farm protection crew.  We will be breeding Kangal Dogs and hope to have puppies in late 2022 or early 2023.

     The HCMM Texas Two-Step MDGA Show was May 15-16 in Boerne, TX…and we brought home some more ribbons for our herd!  Snow Drop and Wren both won Grand Champion Mini Nubian Junior Doe!  Sapphire won Reserve Grand Champion Mini Nubian Senior Doe!

     In July, we added two full Nubians, Creme and Pony, from CA Blackberry Herd.  We are so excited to add these excellent genetics to our herd and the Mini Nubian breed!

In the Summer MDGA Virtual Show, Sandy brought home Grand Champion Mini Nubian Junior Doe and Tundra took another Reserve Grand Champion Mini Nubian Senior Buck.

     Our 2022 kidding season started in late February with Creme having buck/doe twins.  In early March, Pony and Wren kidded buck/doe twins, and Doodlebug had triplets – two bucks and one doe.  Sapphire and Clover kept up the buck/doe twins streak a month later.

In early April, we added a male Kangal, Kane, to the farm.  We held our annual Open Farm event on Saturday, April 16th.

     In late April, we started working with our goats getting ready for the Hill Country Mini Milker Texas Two-Step!  It took place on May 14th, and our herd did very well.  Clover came home with Grand Champion Mini Nubian Senior Doe, and several of our goats placed very well in their age classes.

 Memphis left the Rafter O in late May to spread his awesome genetics elsewhere.  We have kept many of his kids over the years!

     Snow took a while to settle this year, and she blessed us with kids in mid-June – buck/doe twins, of course!  

     Our Rafter O 2022 Kids were Eastern Screech Owl, LIndheimer Senna, Bald Cypress, Flameleaf Sumac, Javelina, Mayfly, Praying Mantis, Inca Dove, Lark Sparrow, Blue Topaz, Lesser Nighthawk, Indian Blanket, Texas Lantana, Lightning Sprite, and Thundersnow.  We retained four doelings and one buckling!

   In the Fall MDGA Virtual Show, Tundra brought home another Reserve Grand Champion Mini Nubian Senior Buck and Verbena brought home a Reserve Grand Champion Mini Nubian Junior Doe. Breeding began in late September!

2023 has been a GREAT year for the Rafter O herd!  June Bug started our kidding season off with a BANG!  QUINTUPLETS!  We have never had quints – several sets of quads, but never quints.  She is such a good momma, but we did start supplementing with bottles to help her out a little bit!  Verbena, Sapphire, and Wren kidded in late February/early March.  In late March/early April, Sandy, Snow, and Clover freshened.  Our 2023 kids are all fabulous!  We had a run on bucks in our last group, but Clover gave us an adorable doeling to end the buck run.

Our 2023 kids were named the following: Stink Bug “Harley”, Spittle Bug “Sally”, Kissing Bug, Assassin Bug “Creed”, Water Bug “Nessie”, Crescent Moon, Venus, American Robin, Spotted Towhee, Black Swallowtail “Polly”, Pipevine Swallowtail “Piper”, Cirrus Cloud, Dust Storm, Texas Tornado, Texas Pecan “Pawnee”, Yellow-billed Cuckoo “Little Bill”, Antelope Horns “Annie”, and Blue Sky “Azul”.

In April, a new Kangal puppy, Neylan arrived!  She will be health tested in 2024, and we are hoping for a litter of Kangal puppies in 2025.

At the Texas Mini Milkers Texas Two-Step on May 6, 2023, the Rafter O herd brought home 8 out of 10 awards!  Clover won Best Udder in both rings and Grand Champion Senior Doe in Ring 1.  Sue won Reserve Grand Champion Junior Doe in Ring 1 and Grand Champion Junior Doe in Ring 2.  In Ring 2, Wren won Grand Champion Senior Doe, Verbena got Reserve Grand Champion Senior Doe and Sprite got Reserve Grand Champion Junior Doe.

Our herd did very well again in Brenham on May 27th at the Memorial Classic.  Clover earned her third leg by winning Grand Champion under Judge April Hitch which makes her our first FINISHED CHAMPION.  For our juniors, Piper (a doeling out of Sapphire) won Grand Champ and Sprite got Reserve in Ring 2.  In Ring 1 under Peter Snyder, Senna got a Junior Reserve Champion win!

In October, we had the opportunity to take some juniors to the Deck the Stalls show in Brenham, TX.  Senna snagged her junior leg with a Grand Champion win under Judge Thomas Cox.

We planned to breed a few does in July for December kids, but only one doe, Creme, came into heat.  The other girls were bred in the Fall with 2024 kidding starting in late February.

Creme kidded buck/doe twins on December 5th with our first-ever December babies!

2024 has been another GREAT year for the Rafter O herd!  We started kidding in February with Senna, Verbena, and Sandy – all bred to Tundra.  In March, Sue, Clover, Snow, and Pony kidded.  Our stragglers were Sprite and Wren, who kidded in May.

Our 2024 kids were named the following: Eve’s Necklace, Mountain Pink, Black Cherry, Prickly Poppy, Maximilian Sunflower, Common Raven, Mourning Dove, Wild Turkey, Blue Curls, Buffalo Grass “Tatonka”, Ice Moon, Snow Moon, Sugar Moon, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Desert Cottontail, Spanish Dagger, Dew Drop, Snow Flurry, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Summer Tanager.

We are retaining two doelings: Poppy and Summer.

At the Texas Mini Milkers Hill Country Two-Step on May 4, 2024 in Comfort, TX, Verbena won Senior Doe Reserve Grand Champion in Ring 1 and Best Udder in Ring 2.  

At the Texas Mini Milkers Piney Woods Polka on May 18, 2024 in Canton, TX, Poppy brought home Junior Doe Reserve Grand Champion in Ring 2.

In June, we had the opportunity to take some 3 goats to the Texas Mini Milkers Gulf Coast Swing in Rosenberg, TX.  We had some good class placings: Sue 1st and 2nd, Verbena 2nd and 2nd, and Poppy 2nd.