HM Kari - Miniature Toggenburg Dairy Goat Doe

Kari is quite a miniature Toggenburg dairy goat. Besides being an excellent mother, she is a two-time Overall Grand Champion Miniature Dairy goat for the miniature class of dairy goats at the Clackamas County fair. She tracks great coloring of the Toggenburg line in that she is mocha brown with white points and a striped face. Although she is 50% Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat, she did not pick up much in the way of Nigerian coat patterns.

Here's a bit of her history. In 2005 we were introduced to her as a week old kid by our friends at a youth goat show. My middle daughter was able to bottle feed her and instantly fell in love with her as she would fall asleep on her lap after feeding. Once my husband found the doeling was for sale, he gave permission for Goat Princess to purchase her. She would be the first goat kid we had the opportunity to raise. Goat Princess wanted to make sure she had company, so she set up a bed next to the dog crate she was staying in and spent the night beside her.

Kari as a newly disbudded bottle-baby doeling

Depending on how you look at it, that was good and bad. Kari immediately became bonded to her human 'mom'. After the first night though, we knew she needed to be treated somewhat like a goat. We set up an empty stock tank in the garage as a temporary home for her until we could relocate our horned pygmy wether. Kari would follow Goat Princess around the house and outside. She would wait by the door and bleat when it was potty time.

About the age of three weeks old, we were able to move her outside along with an Oberhasli doeling, Vega, that Camo Queen had purchased. Vega came along with her mom Savannah on a temporary basis so that Vega would have her own milk and Kari could be bottle fed from milking Savannah. As Vega had her mom, Kari turned to our pygmy doe for comfort, eventually using her as a spring board for her playful antics.

 

Kari in her favorite napping spot.

Kari's successful show career began that year at the Clackamas County Fair where she placed in the top five goats for the first two years. After being bred and successfully delivering triplets (2 bucks, 1 doe), her udder proved so wonderful that she placed as Overall Grand Champion Miniature dairy goat doe much to Goat Princess' delight.

Kari and her first set of triplet kids.

Stall card photo for 2007.

Grand Champion miniature dairy goat doe 2007.

Ribbon disply from Clackamas County Fair.

The following fall she was once again bred to Medallion, the same Nigerian buck she was originally bred to, and produced quads (2 bucks, 2 does) in 2008. Proving herself again, she raised all four on her udder with no supplementation at all, even regulating those little kids so that they each received their fair share of milk. She returned to County Fair again to reclaim her title leaving Goat Princess pretty impressed with her favorite dairy goat.

Kari at County Fair 2008.

Kari at County Fair 2008.

The following year Kari was bred to a different Nigerian buck, one with a little more color, and kidded with triplets (2 bucks, 1 doe) in 2009. Another trip to the county fair that summer, and she came home with Reserve Champion Miniature dairy goat doe, only to lose her title to our other doe PDF Wroxy (in fairness to Kari, it was our fault for allowing her udder to overfill its capacity which resulted in a stilted gait so that the judge was not able effectively judge her way of going).

Kari at County Fair 2009.

That fall Kari was bred to our own Nigerian buck, Geronimo, kidding yet another set of triplets in 2010 -- Grenadine, Chartreuce, and Carol -- three pretty precious doelings in our opinion.