The weather is becoming fall like. Cool evenings ( low of 48 this morning) are helping (I hope) bring does into heat. We were able to use Scott's new alpine buck, Zeus, this weekend with Jezebel. I think my yearling Togg might have been in heat this morning and we are taking the old Alpine doe, Ditty, to another breeder tonight as she should be in heat come Thursday. This will give us kids starting in late February, and I'd like to be done with kidding by mid to late April this year. I've started to milk Spice & Taffy just 1x a day and soon that will be every other day till they are dried off.

I was so thrilled at the Tennessee State Fair that Jewel, our 2yr old Nubian milker, took champion Nubian milker-our first doe to earn a milking leg! She did look good & is holding up well milking. We'll keep her milking thru NAILE in November & the November milk test, then start drying her off & getting her bred. I truly hope her udder holds well & she freshens even better next year. Cherry, bless her, will likely be sold in the spring. With the fluid build up in her knees, she doesn't do well showing and we just don't have room for a lot of does. We shouldn't have any problems selling her and my guess is she'll go to a 4H family where she'll get spoiled rotten!

We took Mike's cider press to New Point's little festival this past weekend. People enjoyed watching us make, and then drinking the cider. Mike enjoyed it to plus it was nice as it was something we could do together. And I didn't mind the fact that I didn't have to cook either!!!

I think I have finally recovered from my trip to the Tennessee State Fair. I couldn't believe how well Andy's nubians did-the judge didn't like my does at all, even little "CC" who won her class at Nationals got buried. But Jewel not only won her class but went on to went Champion Nubian milker! She is our first doe to have a milking leg. I wish she had a dry leg, but with any luck we'll get one or two more next year. With only one show left this season, and it being NAILE, I don't hold out any hopes for any more rosettes, but we'll see how they all do.

I'm hoping the cooler weather will help bring the does in heat. I placed Spice & Taffy with Duke last night, which he enjoyed until he realized they aren't going to be receptive to him yet. Hopefully once they are bred I can get Duke sold-we're running out of room and fast.