Located in Tarlton, Ohio, I raise a small show quality herd of Alpine & Experimental dairy goats. I've been raising these animals since 2018, and still have a long ways to go before I've met my goals for my herd. Every year I take a small step forward in the right direction though, and I'm confident I'll get there eventually. When possible, the Sunrising herd participates in Linear Appraisal and as many ADGA sanctioned shows as possible. We started milk testing once again in 2023. We also test annually for CAE in order to provide a clean, healthy herd for all potential buyers. 

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How did we get started in Dairy Goats?

 

My mother, Lesley, started with two ADGA registered Nubians in 2008-2009 for her hobby farm. They weren't show quality by any means, but were good producers for her intents and purposes. Her herd name was Two Squared Acres. I was younger, and not really interested in the goats besides playing with the babies. Lesley then met Ziggy (Siegfried Forster), and then in 2017 had offered him and his herd a place to stay while they were on a long trip for shows. During his stay, I fell in love with the Alpines Ziggy brought with him, and ended up being looped into showing a few for the 2017 SWODGA Alpine Specialty. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was willing to try! He let me pick out of all his kids which one I wanted to show, and I coincidentally had picked Wander, my now showmanship partner. I didn't know what I was looking for conformation wise, but I knew I liked her. So I took her in, and she won her class as a Senior Kid! Ziggy then let me take her in again for the grand line up. The judge had asked Wander and I to perform the butterfly maneuver with the Dry Yearling class winner. I had no clue what that was, and just followed the yearlings lead.. on the wrong side of my goat. Embarrassing when I think back to it now, but even with that, Wander and I took our first Grand Champion! She won her dry leg there. So after that show, Ziggy had offered to let me have a kid born next year. I accepted, only to have that lead to Ziggy dispersing most of his herd, and I ended up getting fourteen animals! From those, we culled until we had the best of the bunch. Mom then sold all but two of her Nubians to make room for Alpines. We showed the two Nubians, but didn't end up getting to keep any kids from them. SG Two Squares Junebug had won 2 Champion legs to her name before passing in 2021. Her dam Bryson Branch TS Bliss was the second Nubian she kept. Bliss was shown a couple times but didn't have any legs to her name. Since we didn't keep any kids from them, I made the decision to discontinue breeding Nubians to focus on our Alpines & Experimentals in 2022. 

 

CH Finley Farm TSA Myrish Lace (50/50 Snubian) was the only other doe my mother kept, and she sure proved herself! She showed at her first show at 5 years old, and earned her first leg! Lace didn't end up getting bred as a 6 year old, then of course Covid hit in 2020 so we couldn't show her at 7 either. Finally, in 2021, I broke her out at ODGA (Ohio Dairy Goat Assn.) and she went Grand Champion twice, finishing her Championship! We have two daughters of hers in the herd and they're doing great! Both have their dry legs. 

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Since 2018, I've now taken over almost the entire herd, and make most of the decisions of what to sell, what to keep, who to breed who to, etc. Mom does get the executive decision if she absolutely doesn't want a doe to be sold of course, but that isn't often. I also pride myself on doing most of the work for my herd, doing all show prep myself, as well as most of the management & care. I love showing & showmanship as well. I participate in every showmanship class I can, trying to learn all that's possible from the judge(s). I'm almost always down to help show other people's animals at local shows so long as I'm not busy, so feel free to find me and ask! I'm nicer than my ring face, I promise. I'm also available for show hire at ADGA Nationals when there, so don't be afraid to ask about that too. I've shown for many of the bigger herds and they've been pleased with my showing abilities.