Going to be kidding for the first time!

[nebs]

We made a great new friend in Moses Lake, who has a huge Oberhasli buck.  Thanks again Linda for letting Earl cover Pickles.  This was a new adventure for us as Thor and Pickles are our first goats, and this will be our first time kidding.  We feel very fortunate to have met Dave and Tracy and get our awesome Alpines.  When Pickles started flagging then stood for our whether Thor to mount her, I figured I better drive her up to Linda's farm.  I have always been fascinated with oberhaslis but other than Idaho Nancy's monsters, I have only found medium sized ones.  The best personalities and work ethic only goes so far if they don't have some size to them, and I want big work horses.  So I was thrilled when we met Linda and her buck Earl.  She has several fantastic bucks, but Earl had all the qualities I was looking for to sire packgoats.    Earl is only 1 1/2 and already dwarfs a lot of bucks.  On top of that he was very kind and gentle to Pickles. He covered her three times in half an hour, so hopefully we will have some awesome Alpine/Oberhasli crosses this spring!  Earl's father was also large and had some impressive horns.  I feel like I have been blessed by the two best  goat farms in Washington, thanks again Dave and Linda!

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[Taffy]

You have a whole new adventure waiting for you with kidding! I'm looking forward to seeing the kids in March!

Who is the Ober breeder in Moses Lake?

[nebs]

Thanks Taffy. Her name is Linda Berens, she and her husband are some of the nicest people you could meet.  She has a beautiful herd of obers does, even a nice black one.  She sent me a pic of Earl when he was a little buckling, and I should include a pic of Pickles in her new pasture.  Pickles has the markings of an ober, I wonder what their kids will look like.

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[IdahoNancy]

I hope Earl's genetics live long and prosper. He is awesome.

[nebs]

I agree Nancy. We want to buy one of his purebred daughters this spring. I love and will always have Alpines, and with a lot of my Swiss German and Swiss ancestors I would love to have some big oberhaslis. Wouldn't it be cool to have some large sized lines here in the northwest

[Nanno]

Awesome! So glad you found such a nice buck for your girl. I have to warn you, though--once you start having babies you'll never want to stop! They are SOOOO much fun!!!

[idahogoatpacker]

Wow He should be called Big Earl. He's a stout Ober. I might need to make that 8 hour drive to get one of your kids if you sale any of them. I can't wait to see some pics of the kids

[IdahoNancy]

My boys breeder Colleen Monahan moved from California to Oregon. Her large ober stock is all over the country. If I calculated correctly she should be in her 27th year of breeding. She scaled back when she moved to Oregon but I think she is still in business. Dwight Sharp says part of his Ober genetics come from one of Colleens's bucks.
It will be interesting to see if Dwight's oberhali can out grow the mid-size standard. My new buckling from Dwight sure is wide in the shoulders. If I can get a little leg on him I have it made because his temperament is great.

[nebs]

I believe Earl's father came from her Colleen, the Red Ridge? line I think. Nancy your obers and the kids I have seen that came from Dwight's place give us hope of a large standard!

[IdahoNancy]

The name is Red Tail Ridge. I always thought she named it after the Ober tail but she says it was named after a hawk.
Earl looks a lot like my biggest goat did. It's the heavy bone, wide deep chest, and longer back and legs with a super sweet disposition that seem familiar. Colleen's heavy line (that is my name not her's) had a coarse heavy coat. He was extremely weather tolerant. He would stand out in a winter snow storm and wonder why no one would come out and play. She had some soft slick coated goats that a finer bone structure with long legs and back.
She work very hard in the early days to improve the Oberhasli breed. She imported semen from Switzerland and had to work for years to get the goats registered with the ADGA. I read somewhere the Oberhasli in this country was considered to be an Alpine for sometime.
The boys and I walk about a lot. Even goat people say I've never seen a goat like that. Maybe that will change.