At Shady Lawn Farm, we strive to breed for a
complete animal, not just a bits and pieces program, or what is
hot for the moment. We employ a structured line breeding program
in our herd in order to build upon genetic strengths and to
eliminate undesirable traits. We believe in a structurally sound
animal that is going to be productive in the
parlor (exactly what a DAIRY goat is supposed to be!)
over a long life span and more importantly, reproduce offspring
that are improvements over dam and sire.
Our herd is heavily influenced on the
LaMancha side by One Oak Hill and South Fork lines, we are very
grateful for these herds to have shared these animals with us. On
the Alpine side we have added a good deal of Walnut Fork and One
Oak Hill to our herd and they seem to be blending very well with
the lines of Sodium Oaks / Shahena'ko that existed in our older
lines. Thanks to Lynn Benedict for sharing some of your good
ones!
We practice a
CAE prevention program, every birth is attended and kids are
raised on powdered colostrum and pasteurized milk. We
have been very successful raising our kids on this program.
Our does are fed a 16% custom mixed dairy ration, free choice
grass hay year round, free choice mineral, and limited alfalfa mix
hay when lactating. We worm only when needed, rotating
wormers. We also use in our program Triangle 9 and the CDT
Vaccine as well as BoSe when needed.
In 2006 we skipped
Linear Appraisal due to going on official DHIR test and making the
trip to the ADGA National Show in Indianapolis, IN. There
was only so much we could afford to do in one year, and after
participating in Linear Appraisal for three straight years,
decided that we would skip that in lieu of the other
options. Our girls did extremely well at both! You
will see our records included with each animals pedigree, all
yearlings meeting the requirements to getting their *M. We had
records up to 3900lbs and were very pleased with the high
components of these individuals. SGCH Shady Lawn Classy Belle 2*M
was #7 on Top Ten for Milk and Butterfat for LaManchas. At
the Nationals we had several high placing animals especially in
the LaManchas.
In 2007 we returned to Linear Appraisal
and though the animals were presented "as is" for the most
part due to the fire of our home just days before, we are
very proud to say we had the highest scores ever!
Including our Sr. LaMancha Herd Sire +*B South Fork SK Class
Act 8-05 93 EEE and his daughter SGCH Shady Lawn Classy Beauty 2*M
4-05 93 EEEE! Over all we had 14 excellents with the remainder of
the herd falling in the very good catagory---nothing below
86!
The 2007 ADGA
National Show in Gillette WY was an amazing experience for
us. All of the Alpines we took made the cut and placed very
well, our one Recorded Grade kid was 6th place, but when LaMancha
day came---we were just speechless! We took four 4th place
wins in the juniors as 2nd place Jr Get of Sire for *B
South Fork SK Class Act and some other high placings. The
highlight of our day of course came with the 4yr old class when
our girls SGCH Belle stood 1st/2nd udder and SGCH Beauty was
2nd/1st udder and Beauty went on to be named Reserve Best Uddered
LaMancha to her paternal Grand dam the 2007 National GCH and
BU---GCH South Fork H. Cayenne 3*M! Congratulations To South
Fork, Ritchie and Marilou---you so deserved it! Beauty &
Belle were 2nd Produce of Dam , Beauty & Star 3rd Dam and
Daughter, and Belle, Beauty & Blonde 4th Sr. Get for Class
Act. Then at the Awards Ceremony SGCH Belle was awarded High
305 for both Milk & Butterfat and our old man *B South Fork SK
Class Act was named Premier Sire of Show!! What an
ending!!
2008 was another year with another change, we
entered the commercial dairy industry as only the 3rd licensed
goat dairy in the state of Kentucky and the largest. We
maintained a rolling herd average of over 2400lbs of milk even
when milking 60+ does. Our LA scores remained high, with
several excellents and no single doe below an 84 despite lots of
these does just being for the dairy. We continued to win at
Kentucky State Fair GCH/BOB as well as Premier Exhibitor for the
7th year in a row. Paisley was BOB in one ring and Reserve
BDIS and Beauty was BOB in the other. We also participated
in Embryo Transfer in our dairy goats for the first time. It
was an enlightening experience with very successful results!
We did attend the National Show in Louisville and while we did
well, highlights include 2nd place Sr. Get of Sire for +*B South
Fork SK Class Act and 2nd dam and daughter with SGCH Beauty and SG
BeWitched, and of course our daughter Shanna winning Jr
Showmanship! We were overall disappointed with the
placements in the show. Both our's personally and other
super animals that were completely over looked.
In 2009 LA was the earliest it had ever been for us
on Mother's Day in May. We were skeptical but couldn't have
been more pleased with our scores! Every mature doe (4yrs
and over) are now scored EX! There were 26 excellent animals
appraised that day out of 51 animals. We did
have a couple of 1st fresheners in the 84-85 range, showing
that as we have always told our buyers, we have slow maturing
does! In August we finally got to move into our new home, 21
months after the fire in 2007. The tremendous amount of work that
was needed to maintain the dairy kept us from attending all but
one club show in Ohio and the Kentucky State Fair. Our
children had BDIS in the sanchioned youth show with
Tempest and we had BOB in two rings with SGCH Belle and a GCH
with BeWitched as well as Reserve with Penny. At the KY
state Fair Penny was GCH in both rings as well as BOB in one,
finishing her permanent championship, with Paisley
taking BOB in the second ring and Reserve
BDIS---again! We hope to attend the NAILE in November
to conclude our show
season.
Thanks to all
who continue to support us with your friendship as well as
incorporating Shady Lawn genetics in your herd!
Enjoy your visit!
Shanna & So Fine, 2008
ADGA Nationals - 1st place junior showman
