J-Haven's RS Soft as Tweed is her official ADGA registered name. We call her the Tweed. Or Tweeder. Or Tweedy Bird. Or tweedle Dee. Mostly just Tweed. Tweed is 1 of our biggest gals here on the farm. She has wattles. Those little dangly things on her neck. What is most striking about Tweed is her coloring & size. She's a broken brown & white belted Purebred LaMancha With some Alpine, Nubian & Toggenburg. All of these breeds are waaaay back in her genetics. Those silly little DNA pieces show up eventually.
Our Tweed is 4 years old. Her birthday was January 31st. Despite being a hefty girl, Tweed is non-confrontational. She does not like fighting with other goats. If 2 other goats are fighting, Tweed will step in & stop the fight. She really likes having her hiney scratched. She does not like sharing a hay rack with others.
Last year I had Tweed AI'd (artificially inseminated) to a Striking buck named Heart Mt. Conquistador *B whose pedigree is phenomenal! Tweed gave birth to 2 bucks & 1 doe. Triplets! In her last weeks of gestation, Tweed was ginormous!! She couldn't fit through our gate she was so wide. The first buck, Burlap, came out breech. The 2nd, Barracan the doe. The 3rd kid was already dead & stuck. We had to call the vet to come get it out. The poor big buckling.
The doe went to heather as per our agreement of me purchasing Tweed. The buck we kept. Remember the little quirky DNA genes? That nubian nose of Tweed's that is 10 generations behind her, came out as elf ears for Burlap.
LaMancha bucks aren't allowed to have elf ears, ears that are longer than 1/2". So even though Burlap is 100% LaMancha, he is registered as an Experimental.
Tweed is an excellent milker. She could give over 2 gallons day when on a twice a day milking schedule. I love milking Tweed. She is so calm, gentle & patient. Her & I can get into a cadence that is soothing.
She is bred to a handsome little buck named Mint*Leaf AL Slammer. Slammer should add more dairy character to Tweed's big body. I wonder how many kids she will have this year. Tweed is due April 1st on Georgie's birthday. Last year she was 2 days late. So, we'll see when she kids this year.