Alpine Herd/Buck Question

[alpinegoatgirl]

Hi! I've never posted on here before, but have enjoyed reading/learning from the posts here. I have a question, or actually would like some advice.

I have 7 registered Alpine does and *really* need some new bloodlines next year. The problem is I am not very familar with herdnames/what sort of conformation characterizes each. I was wondering if anyone could help me with this? The does I have are mostly related (actually i have 1 senior doe, a yearling and 5 doelings) and I line bred a little bit last year sucessfully. The bloodlines I have are Qu'Apelle (this is the predominant one) and Angel-Prarie; which I have brought in through a buck. I used another Angel-Prarie bred buck this year, as well as a buckling with mostly Sand Dance bloodlines. I hope he will improve udders, but that remains to be seen.

I am very happy with my current does, not all of them have the conformation I would like, but I feel they're a decent start anyway. Since they're mostly related I can make generalizations; here are their strengths and weaknesses. (as far as I can tell; I'm no expert thats for sure)

Strengths:
Topline (level)
Legs, feet (straight, no toeing out)
Strong milk production
Rear udder attachment.

Weaknesses:
Udder placement
Udder floor
Length of body

Ideally I would love to get a buck who would throw decent conformation and improve udder placement etc. Can anyone give me any ideas? I'm honestly just asking for help as I really don't know whats out there!

Thanks for any help/suggestions/advice anyone can give!!

[Tracy in Idaho]

Okay, I am assuming you want to stay with the French lines and not go American, right?

There are a couple of French herds I really like. Nodaway in North Carolina is one. http://nodawayfrenchalpines.com/

IR Ranch in Indiana has one of my all time favorite does, Electra -- I keep having thoughts of shipping babies <G>
http://www.ir-ranch.com/Electra.htm

Iron Rod in Virginia is the other one that comes to mind. http://ironrodfarm.com/
Also DKidd in Virginia http://dkiddalpines.com/about.shtml

I don't think you can go too wrong with any of those lines. The thing to do is find a dam who is exactly the kind of goat you want in your herd. Look at her milk record, look at her appraisal score -- you want over 90 (excellent) and you definitely want an E in mammary. The more girls in the pedigree like that, the better off he will do for you

Tracy

[AnnaS]

www.adgagenetics.org is a good place to get an idea of the exact buck(s) you want. You can look up bucks by yield or type score and look at his dam & daughters' DHIA records and linear evaluation scores (if they have them) and get a really good idea of what a buck will throw.

Hi,
I live in VA and I'm always happy to talk Alpines. You can email me at f.dilella@worldnet.att.net, I don't check the forums much.
Our herd of Alpines is fairly small but we show heavily and are proud of our girls. In the last two years we have won more than twenty Best Udder of Breed awards!
We'll have lots of babies for sale starting in February., and we do have a color sales catalog.
Best wishes on finding the right buck!
Becky DiLella

[Tracy in Idaho]

Argg, Becky, forgive me! I forgot you had the Frenchies too

Becky has some really drop dead gorgeous goats too!

BTW, Becky -- do you know if Biogenics collected Dreamy again?

Tracy

[alpinegoatgirl]

Hey thanks so much for the suggestions! I really do appreciate the advice; I feel a little lost as a lot of people I've asked about such things get a little defensive. I'm not sure why. I've had goats for 6 years now and feel although I've learned a great deal practically, theres still so much to learn like what other herds are out there etc.

Anyway, thanks again!

[alpinegoatgirl]

Oh, one more thing; I'm not completely into French Alpines; I have currantly have a couple American doelings as well. I don't want to totally go American, but I'm not opposed to them. I've seen some really nice American bucks as well... so really I'm not too fussed about that issue; although French is more saleable in this area I really want to improve my herd so...

Thanks again!