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Welcome to Platte Valley Goats located in the Platte River Valley in Central
Nebraska. The Platte River historically has the distinction of
being
"a foot deep and a mile wide," and is now associated with the Sandhill Crane bi-annual migration. Thousands of
crane watchers pass through our area every year and we get a
front row seat to watch both birds and watchers
from our goats pens!
Our goat herd started
over 20 years ago with a 4-H project, an Alpine doe bred to the
only
purebred buck nearby, which happened to be a LaMancha. We
started our search for a better quality goat with
a subscription to United Caprine News. The ad that caught my eye
was an outstanding rear view of four LaManchas:
The South-Fork LaMancha herd located only a day's drive away in
Lyons,
Colorado. I picked out a buck on-line
and we drove out to pick him up. When we arrived Marilou Webb
gave us the tour and she had a doe that took
my breath away: SGCH Cash-Farm Truffles. Truffles is still one
of the
most smoothly blended does I have ever seen.
Truffles had a Linear Appraisal score of 89 VEEE as a milking
yearling which sounded pretty good as well.
A call back home to Marty, and Truffles was my Mother's Day
present that year. Marilou had another small
doe she let us take home to keep Truffles company, South-Fork Zena. So we drove out for one buck and came
back with a very nice starter herd.
Our
goal is to breed structurally correct LaManchas with outstanding
milking ability, but we also very much appreciate a beautiful
smoothly blended goat to look at as well. We pay close attention
to feet and legs. We don't like having to do corrective or
frequent hoof trimming and we don't want our customers to have
to do that either.
Our entire herd is tested CAE
and Johnes negative
and we try to test annually. Kids are pulled at birth and we
prefer the
kid have no contact with the dam at birth. Kids are raised on
heat-treated colostrum and pasteurized milk until 12 weeks
of age. Prairie hay and a pelleted complete ration are
introduced in the first few weeks.
We register under 2 herd names: Platte Valley and Meadowlark
with the majority of the animals registered under the family
membership Platte Valley. A few animals descended from one of my
personal favorite does are registered under an individual
membership herd name Meadowlark
2023 was a mixed year. We cut back our herd numbers fairly
drastically but lightened the work load and we were able to
focus on and really enjoy the does that remain. We lost Kat
Ballou, Katamaran's dam, after a difficult kidding (huge single
buck) but she gave us a new Jr. Herdsire out of Rockin-CB KWY
Jiangxi. Kat's daughter, Katamaran, finished her permanent
championship as a 2 year old in her first 2 shows of the year.
Zelda did not take to lap AI and did not breed back and
Hollywood milked through leaving us to show Katamaran and
milking yearlings. The milking yearlings look to set a milking
farm record for first fresheners, and 2 of them traded 1st and
2nd place at every show this year: Bricksie and Hallie. These 2
have amazing udders for yearling first fresheners so we are
hopeful they both have bright futures.
Please take a look around our website and let us know if you see
something you like! |
