Aug. 2008: Two Grand Champions and our first Classification
The Canadian Caprine Classic was once again a fabulous event this year. We are extremely proud to announce that under Judge Karen Kolkman our yearling buck Sugarfield TSX was Grand Champion Boer buck, his daughter Stonemoore Unice was Grand Champion Percentage doe as a Junior, another of our homebreds, Stonemoore Topaz was Reserve Grand Champion Commercial doe, and Stonemoore Uproar and Stonemoore U-Turn placed 1st and 4th respectively in a strong 6-9 month Purebred Boer doe class. A few days later, CMGA Judge and Classifier Karen Kolkman visited Stonemoore Farm to classify some of our herd under the new CMGA Class Type Evaluation Program. Some highlights from that day: TSX scored the highest score they can award a yearling with VG 89. Nearly all our does presented earned scores over 80, which indicates to us that we have a very strong foundation of animals now for our herd.
Nov. 16-17, 2007: Gnocci National Reserve Champion Doe
The second Canadian Caprine Classic was a phenomenal success, with probably the biggest Boer show in Ontario's history, as well as strong entries in the Dairy show. The Canadian Meat Goat Association awarded the Caprine Classic "National" show status for 2007, and this, combined with very stiff competition, makes all our class placings at this event all the more special to us. Our wonderful doe, Essandea Gnocci, took National Reserve Champion Doe on the percentage side - we can't say how honoured we are! In addition to this, Silverstone took second place in his last class owned by Stonemoore Farm, and was then sold in the Select sale.
Sugarfield TSX won Reserve Junior Champion Buck, Essandea Stonemoore Teak won Reserve Junior Champion Percentage Doe, and our Junior does - both the new Nikado does and our homebreds, made a very strong showing in a tough class, placing 5, 6, 7, 8 in a class of 15 quality does. We are very proud of our results, especially as new breeders competing against very stiff competition. Congratulations to all the other competitors! We had a great time, and enjoyed meeting more people in the industry.
Nov.4, 2007: New Does for Stonemoore
This is an exciting time for us as we welcome three beautiful new doelings from the Nikado Bokplaas herd of Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Nikado Jessa, Nikado Maureen and Nikado Felisha will add some J5 Blackbeard, Nikado Bjorn, and J5 Galatea genetics to the herd. All three of these girls are showing tremendous thickness, length, depth and femininity. We have also been lucky enough to acquire Essandea Flopsy, full sister to our excellent doe Essandea Gnocci, along with her '07 doe kid. We are very happy to add to this very strong dam line which produces exceptional kids for us, including the Reserve Junior Champion Purebred Doe and the Grand Champion Percentage Doe at Markham Fair 2007
Oct. 14, 2007: TSX Takes Grand Champion Buck at Markham Fair
We are very pleased to say we had a successful show at Markham Fair. As well as several Junior and Senior Champions, we brought home two Grand Champion and one Reserve Grand Champion awards. Our 7/8th doe Essandea Gnocci took Reserve Grand Champion Percentage doe this year, with our paint doeling Essandea Stonemoore Teak taking Grand Champion Percentage doe as a Junior, and our Junior buck Sugarfield TSX won Grand Champion Buck over some very nice mature bucks.
Sept. 17, 2007
As always, our barn and property restoration work is ongoing. The big excitement here this summer though was the addition of two excellent new purebred animals – our second herd sire, Sugarfield TSX, and a beautiful junior doe, Sugarfield Temptation, a Sugarfield Prodigy daughter. They showed very well at Tillsonburg Tri County Fair and we are expecting very good results with them at both Markham Fair and the Canadian Caprine Classic.
In August we took 10 animals to the Tillsonburg TriCounty Fair, and are proud to say we brought home 10 ribbons! Our kidded yearling doe, Essandea Sunshine, took Senior Champion Percentage doe – she is also listed on our For Sale page if you are looking for a nice doe for your herd.
Apr. 16, 2007
We have just about wrapped up a successful kidding season. We’ve had 22 lovely new kids born during March and the beginning of April and all are healthy and growing well. We are very pleased with Silverstone’s first kid crop. We also happily discovered that he carries the red gene and two of our does gave us lovely red Canadian purebred doe kids sired by him. We are currently assessing which kids will remain here to be shown and kept back for breeding, but we will have some available for sale on weaning.
Please see our For Sale page for details.
Our herd sire, Sugarfield Silverstone, is growing into a very impressive, massive buck as a yearling. We are extremely pleased with his development and the kids he is putting on the ground. We are hoping to bring home some big ribbons with him from the shows this year.
The new 10–acre pasture is having the fence repaired in anticipation of sending the doe herd out on pasture for the summer, and we are fencing in a new dedicated buck pasture. The whole herd should have a lovely summer of leisure and play.
Mar. 2007
We have recently tested our herd for CAE and based on the results are undertaking a program of elimination of this disease from the herd. Luckily, our best animals all tested CAE negative. The few does that did sadly test positive will have their kids taken away at birth and bottle–raised as a preventive measure, and the does will be culled.
2006
2006 has seen a huge amount of work put in to repair and improve the barn and barnyard for the goats. We had the “bank” of our bank barn dug out and a new foundation wall put in, as one wall had collapsed during the years the barn was vacant prior to us purchasing the property. We have put in a new well for the barn, and 1300 feet of tile drainage to improve drainage around the barn and barnyard. We’ve built new feeders to minimize feed waste and to keep the goats from trampling about in their feed. A “play” area was created for the goats in the shade of some trees which includes some large boulders and tree trunks for the kids to jump on. We are now finishing up building the last couple of doors and installing the last windows to seal out the winter weather from the barn. A huge thank you goes to my husband Roger and my uncle Paul for their many hours of work on the barn, as well as our neighbour Keith Drury for his help whenever a tractor is required.
Nov. 18-19, 2006
Opal wins Reserve Champion Percentage Doe under Judge Joe Raff! What a great weekend!! We packed our gear and 4 goats and headed to the new London Agriplex for the first ever Canadian Caprine Classic. Tobin Schlegel and Danielle Browning organized and pulled off an excellent quality first-ever show. We are very proud to say that our percentage doe Sugarfield Opal was Reserve Champion Senior Percentage Doe and then went on to win overall Reserve Champion Percentage Doe in a class of lovely does under Texas judge Joe Raff.
Oct. 22, 2006
We welcome Dreamweaver Tiny to our doe herd. She has come from Essandea Farm to join us! Luckily for us, Essandea has made the transition to producing only purebred Boers, so this doe was made redundant there. Tiny, or Bruschetta as she is known, is a beautiful solid percentage doe who has consistently produced quality kids who are always the biggest and nicest in their peer group. Her last kidding produced two kids weighing in at a total weight of 21 pounds! Bruschetta is bred to Mellow Mornings Token, and is catching up on gossip with her two daughters who are already here at Stonemoore - Essandea Spaghetti and Essandea Gnocci, Markham Fair 2006's Grand Champion Percentage Doe. Thanks to Danielle and Steve Browning for selling us this lovely doe!
Oct. 1, 2006
We showed some of our goats for the first time ever! We took five animals to Markham Fair and showed in the Boer Goat show judged by Denise Chapleau. It was a great first showing experience in a very friendly and co-operative environment. The highlight of our day was in the Senior Percentage Doe classes. Gnocci was Champion Senior Doe, with Opal picking up Reserve Senior Champion. Gnocci then went on to win Grand Champion Percentage Doe! Silverstone finished third in his buck class behind two phenomenal young bucks exhibited by Sugarfield Farms. Our Junior does, Sunshine and Sadie handled their first outing very well. Thank you to Tobin & Erin Schlegel and Steve & Danielle Browning (& Alex!) for all the help on the day of the show. We are looking forward to our next show, the Canadian Caprine Classic in London, Ontario on November 18, 2006.