July | 2012 | M. R. Goats

We were contacted a couple of weeks ago by an Ohio couple that we had sold a starter herd of goats to a couple of years ago because they had decided to leave the goat business. They were asking our advice on dispersing their herd. I knew exactly which goats we had sold them and if possible I wanted to bring them back home. They had purchased 4 Gandalf doelings and a HEMI x Georgia buckling. This starter herd had produced well for them and they also had kids on them that were just about ready for weaning from this year’s crop. In addition, they had a PB Kiko doe with unrelated genetics from another Ohio Kiko Farm and some percentage goats.

QFK Gandalf

We were most interested in the Gandalf daughters because we had lost him due to Minengial Worm (Deer Worm) after he lost his second battle with it in 4 years. QFK Gandalf was our first Kiko buck and he was a very good one. He was the son of 007 by Tasman Zorro. He was very docile and parasite resistant. He passed this along to his kids as well, many of our early entries in the MD Goat Forage Test were Gandalf sons and we had several in the top rankings for parasite resistance and parasite resilience. Gandalf also sired the high selling PB Kiko Does at the 2006 & 2009 IKGA Kiko Fest auctions. All of the Gandalf kids we ever raised were sold. Like many producers, we ran one buck with our does and sold the doelings every year to prevent inbreeding. After Gandalf had passed, we had regretted selling all of his doelings. We now had a chance to bring back 3 proven does out of Gandalf that we had sold as doelings.

MRG Diesel – NZ Kiko Buck

The buckling we had sold them MRG Diesel, has grown into a spectacular herd sire and looks very nice at 2 years of age. Diesel is a 100% Fullblood New Zealand Kiko buck by HEMI (Terminator XX son) and Georgia (Waysu Goliath’s Keeper daughter).

Terminator XX

I’ve seen both of this buck’s grandsires in person and I can say that Diesel has the horns of Terminator XX and the build of Keeper. We are anxious to watch his continued maturation into a full grown adult buck.

We sold Diesel and his twin brother MRG GT when they were under a year old and they have both turned into giants.

We are very excited to watch their full brother from this year’s kid crop mature. He and his twin sister out of HEMI x Georgia were the best performing kids in the crop with 90 day weights of 60lbs and 50lbs respectively.

Lorie and I decided that we would bring these goats back home as well as the PB Kiko doe and their kids. We receive calls daily from other producers looking for Kiko does and we always have room for a few more breeding does, especially when they are parasite resistant Gandalf daughter. The does are all in quarantine with Diesel at this time and we should have kids on the ground this fall from them. It just made sense for us to quarantine the does and Diesel together to see more of their kids on the ground sooner. Thanks again Mary & Jeff for extending the opportunity to us to bring these amazing goats back home. We look forward to breeding these Gandalf daughters to HEMI next year.