— The Openherd Team
Yearling FF
Goat, Saanen/Guernsey, Jr. Doe (female) | White
Banner is a very special doe to me, but it was obvious from a young age that she is a gangly, overly dairy girl that is all knees and elbows... She has one of my favorite personalities of all time and her udder is absolutely gorgeous, so I placed her in a home with a wonderful couple as part of a 3-goat herd. She can work on growing into herself there, without the competition at the milk stand. Happily I bred her to my hunky Timbre, who adds dairy strength to all of his progeny, and I'm keeping her doeling!For those interested, Banner's backstory is a pretty crazy one... It's long, but I'll try to be succinct. When I was a little kid (always the start of a succinct tale) we got an amazing Gold Banner buck from our good friend Peggy Sanford. We used that buck for around a decade, and loved him and his babies so much. When he passed away in my early teens, it was the beginning of the end of our goat-keeping (until I brought it back in my twenties).When I got into goats again (almost 10 years ago now), Peggy had moved to Oklahoma. But last year she came back and brought 2 of her bucklings with her. One of whom was the grandson of our sweet buck from when I was a kid!! So I moved heaven and earth to get 2 of my does down there to be bred, and another friend took her 2 does down... Well, only 1 of the 4 settled, and she produced one single doeling. But of course it wasn't either of my goats that settled. And I was crushed. But my dear, dear friend Dawn, the same wonderful lady who blessed me with my Gypsy girl, offered to trade me Banner for a different doeling so I could get those genetics back into my herd...So besides being a gorgeous and promising doeling, Banner also manages to be: A callback to my childhood. The reintroduction of long-lost genetics. A symbol of love and generosity of spirit. And a gosh-darn miracle.
Updated 3/14/2024