Carson is a part-timer here at the Rafter O. He tries to visit as much as he can to spend time with the goats. Carson participated in the agriculture program at his high school and we are excited for him to bring his showmanship knowledge to help us at the Rafter O! He has a keen interest in breeding pairings and is instrumental in those selections. Carson is currently completing his core curriculum at Tomball College and will be transferring to Texas State University in 2024.
2018 Breeding Season
2018 at the Rafter O was an amazing year for everyone. The kids that we had this year were extremely flashy, and not only that but they were incredibly sweet! From my goat, Tilly, we had Millie and Willie who have amazing colors that gave me a great taste of what is to come from Tilly! The next pairing that I want to recap from this year is Luna to Indy. These two brought a lot more than I expected, bringing two extremely beautiful doelings to the farm. Before them, we had Pixie and her amazing quads! The four were adorable, but also really cool looking, bringing flashiness, and great milk lines to the Rafter O name. Last but not least I want to recap June Bug and her single buckling, Ashe Juniper. He had amazing conformation and had to die for ears.
I’m very excited to introduce Memphis Blue from Rite Choice Dairy out in Florida. Not only are his colors something new to introduce to the herd, but he is very wide and has amazing milk lines! This fall I plan to breed him to Tilly, Luna, and Pixie looking for him to correct Luna and Pixie’s ears, and really looking to add some flashy colors to the herd. We plan to retain at least one doeling from Pixie, and then sell her in milk. The other two does that we have, Clair and June Bug are going to be bred to Indy, looking to bring amazing ears and add some wonderful colors to those kids.
Carson – Breeding Manager – June 2018
2017 Breeding Season
2017 was a great year at Rafter O. If you haven’t noticed, we have four new additions! Three does and one buck. My goat, Tilly, has turned out to be even more beautiful than we expected! I love her blue eyes! Our next doe that was added is Luna. Her beautiful silver buckskin is to die for. Our newest addition, Clair, is an F1 that is amazing! Not only is it some great new lines but she just so happens to be Cou Clair. Adding a Cou Clair to the herd is amazing because of how rare and beautiful they are, and blue eyes! The other new addition is our polled blue-eyed buck Blue Indigo “Indy”. I’m amazed at how much this young buck has changed. He is wide and has great conformation, and I can’t wait to see his babies with Tilly and Luna. I’m expecting a lot out of these four.
The reason June Bug was paired to Parker is the uniqueness of them both. In my mind, I see beautiful kids out of them with long ears. June Bug’s moonspots and Parker’s flashiness tie greatly together. The Pixie and Elvin pairing was repeated because I loved the look and personality of the twins Pixie produced the first time! In the end, we can all pray that 2018 will be an even better year!
Carson – Breeding Manager – November 2017
2016 Breeding Season
For our breeding plan this year, I was excited to repeat the Kandi and Elvin breeding from last year. Besides great milk lines in those quads, we had some flashy colors and two of the bucklings were polled.
Parker didn’t get to breed any of the girls last year, so I am SUPER excited to see the Pixie and Parker babies. The coming together of Green Gables and Soaring Hearts/Echo Hills milk lines should be awesome. We know Parker throws amazing ears and lots of colors. I can’t wait!
June Bug is still pretty small, so we have opted to not breed her this year. She will be ready to go the next breeding season for 2018 kids.
I am also very happy to announce that we will be adding a BLUE-EYED doeling to our herd this spring from Goat Trails, and possibly a BLUE-EYED buckling. This will give us some good diversity and options for our buyers. All proceeds from my BLUE-EYED doeling will go to my college fund!
Carson – Breeding Manager – December 2016
2015 Breeding Season
As a 10-year-old, I have always wanted to live on a farm site with plenty of animals. Dreams became reality when my aunt bought 10 acres on Cordova Creek. All of this started when she asked me to help her plan the doe barn. I then realized how fun this adventure would be. Soon all I wanted to do is plan stuff for the goats, study them, find good breeds, and just do good things for them in general. I was named the breeding manager of Rafter O at Cordova Creek not long after. As soon as my aunt actually got the goats, I was researching everything. The different websites, memorizing goat statistics, and anything that would make me more knowledgeable about goats! In fact, at school, I made a PowerPoint about them. For the longest time, I OBSESSED over them. Although our farm is small, I am always overjoyed when I visit my aunt. I absolutely love all of our animals! From Zoe the Maremma LGD, our largest animal, to Martha the Chicken, the smallest of our bunch, and all those in between, I just plain can’t get enough of all our critters!
It’s a hard task, deciding who to breed with whom. But when making decisions, I have to keep a few things in mind. First and foremost, I have to look at what generations the goats in question are. Since we are a dairy farm, I have to ensure our goats have the best milk lines possible. And then, most importantly, I pick goats based on behavior. We are trying to breed family-friendly goats that allow fun for the whole family.
Carson – Breeding Manager – June 2015