Recent Happenings at the Ranch

UPDATED 6/13/10

Up Close and Personal

Ranch Open House A Rousing Success!

(Next Open House is August 21st!)

5/15/10  We held our first open house of the year and it was a big hit.  We had over 120 people come by to see the ranch, meet the goats, play with the goat kids, learn about ranch life, and sample our cheeses. 

We thank Marshall Losey of M's Sagebrush Acres (SagebrushAcres.com).  He worked as a tour guide showing people the goat facilities and talking about goats.  Marshall is the President of the International Nubian Breeders Association (INBA), is on the board of the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA), and has his own herd of award winning goats so he was amazingly well qualified for this.  We were thrilled that Marshall came to help us out.  Marshall's wife, Trudy, also was a big help working with David in the cheese kitchen.

We also thank Glenda and Martha of  Story Works Group for helping out by directing the visitors on where to park, where to find goat kids that needed petting, doing the greenhouse tour, the bunkhouse tour, and otherwise facilitating.  Our neighbors Linda, Edie, and Loren also helped out which made the day go very smoothly.  David stayed in the cheese kitchen all day talking about his cheeses and giving samples.  Kathryn (me!) was in the milking parlor explaining how we get milk out of the goats and into the cheese kitchen to be made into cheese.

We thank the visitors that came and really appreciate their interest in the ranch and finding out more about where their food comes from.  We also were accepting donations for Heifer International and were thrilled to have collected almost $200 for that fine organization.  BMR committed to doubling all donations.  Heifer International provides education, training, and livestock to needy communities around the world, helping them to feed themselves and become self sufficient.   

Photos by JoAnne Guderian
Heritage Inn Bed & Breakfast, Snowflake, AZ
1-928-536-3322
www.heritage-inn.net

Just Kidding Around

BMR Kidding Season Updates

4/3/10  We are about half way through with our kidding season.  Lots of kids have already headed to their new homes around the country.   The kids we are keeping are growing so big already!  The does are doing great and making lots of milk for our artisan cheeses (and for feeding those hungry babies).  Click here to read our Kidding Diary.

Kid Count as of 6/13/10: 36 doelings, 48 bucklings for a total of 84 kids out of 37 does.  Our kidding season is now over.

Our friend Amanda feeding the kids (left), Sydney's buckling (center), David and Friends (right)

In the News

Arizona Highways Lead to Snowflake

2/8/10  The magazine, "Arizona Highways" may sound like a truck stop rag, but it is actually a glossy, high quality, award winning magazine with a great reputation and interesting articles all about what you can find in Arizona.  And in the March 2010 edition all roads lead to Black Mesa Ranch.   It's a lovely article about the ranch and cheese making, along with great pictures of the goats that make it all possible. 

Arizona Highways magazine article - It's the Black Mesa Ranch Herd!

 In brief:

BMR herd tests CAE free

   2/2010 Once again our herd has tested 100% CAE free. We test every goat every year just prior to kidding (we pulled and submitted blood samples from 45 goats this year). With the test results in, we can feed our kids delicious raw milk with all it’s benefits, instead of having to pasteurize it to prevent CAE.

CAE is an incurable, debilitating disease that is passed on most frequently dam-to-kid through milk and colostrum. Keeping our goats free of this disease is one of our top priorities, not only because the disease decreases production but because of the suffering it can cause the goats afflicted with it.

Winter Weather Report

BMR Gets A New Look

1/22/10  We are thrilled to have some snow!  In 2009 our rain gauge recorded less than 7 inches of precipitation - for the whole year.  So far this January storm has brought us over 1.5 inches - and we need it SO badly.   Not only has the storm brought much needed moisture - check out the pictures below to see the "icing on the cake"!

New Faces On The Ranch

Tango and Tia Join the Working Crew

12/24/09  Protecting livestock runs in the blood of these two Anatolian cross puppies.  They were born in a barn at Sueño Real Boer Goat Ranch where their parents work hard keeping a large goat herd safe.  Tango and Tia are already showing signs of guarding.  They love hanging out with the goats and are nicely mannered with the other livestock and poultry - even when the turkey hen pulls out their tail hairs!  To read more about our dogs click here.

Tia (left) and Tango - 3 months old and already working hard

Many thanks to Rhonda Crow of Crow's Dairy who worked with these puppies for over a month, teaching them manners when dealing with livestock, cats, poultry, and people. Rhonda even delivered them right here to the ranch!  Now that's a true friend.

The End of an Era

We Bid Farewell to a Good Friend

April 23,1998 - December 9, 2009

12/9/09  Rio-Pirata Casino's Faro (AKA Trudy) was our very first goat.  She taught us a lot about goats and was such a great teacher that we credit her with putting us on the road to becoming a commercial goat cheese dairy.  During her many years here she gave us lots of wonderful offspring and lived to see her granddaughter, Cory, become a Top Ten Breed Leader.  Trudy will be missed tremendously.  To read more about Trudy, click here.

Trudy - Herd Queen and BMR Mentor

 And Even More Reports From the Overworked Awards Reporter

Superior Genetics Awards... Again!

11/20/09  Several more of our girls have joined the growing number of BMR goats with an "SG" title in front of their name.  Lillith, Peri, and Terry have now earned that honor.  The Superior Genetics title is awarded by The American Dairy Goat Association for goats in the top 15% of all ADGA registered goats for production and confirmation.  Twelve of our does now carry the Superior Genetics title.

      BMR's latest Superior Genetic does

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2009 BMR Best First Freshener Award

 Once again it's time to announce which one of our first fresheners wins the prestigious Best First Freshener Award for 2009.  It should have been an incredibly hard decision since the girls really outdid themselves by milking great, scoring wonderfully on linear appraisal, and having great attitudes and work ethics.   However, one girl started vying for this award way back when she was a baby.  Yes, Lillith caught our eye as soon as she was born and just keeps getting better.  Congratulations, Lillith, for winning the 2009 BMR Best First Freshener Award!  Special recognition goes to Miranda and Peri for giving Lillith some tough competition.

How fast they grow up! - Lillith as a newborn, at 5 months old, and as a milking yearling.

 Department of Excellence Report:

Coriander Goes Top Ten Times Three!

Can our girl Cory possibly come up with more surprises than wonderful Linear Appraisal scores and quintuplets at kidding?  Yes, evidently she can!  Cory has now earned the title of Top Ten Breed Leader by being one of the ten best Nubians in the country in all three test categories - milk, butterfat, and protein production.  To read more about Cory click here, to see pictures of all of our lovely goats on one page click here.

Cory - A "milk goat deluxe"

Linear Appraisal Results:

Excellent Conformation Scores

   8/27/09 Instead of showing our goats to get feedback on their conformation we use the linear appraisal program.  That is a program sponsored by ADGA where a trained goat appraiser assesses each goat for quality of conformation.  It's similar to a show but instead of the goat being judged against the other goats in the ring, during appraisal they are judged against the mythical perfect goat.  This year our goats did better than ever.  We had many Excellent scores and even our lowest scoring goats were in the Very Good range and show promise of scoring as Excellent as they mature. 

  Marlyn, Ripley, and Rosie all go 91 EEEE

We had many people here helping to make Appraisal Day run smoothly.  Marshall Losey of M's Sagebrush Acres (www.SagebrushAcres.com) handled the goats, Amanda Henderson of Crazy H Ranch (www.CrazyHNubians.com) milked the goats and helped with the Hospitality Table, Dana Myatt and Mark Ziemann (www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com) worked hard, with Dana facilitating and Mark doing a wonderful job of  photographing the animals.  We are thankful for all their help.  We'd also like to thank the appraiser for his hard work.  The appraisal scores and pictures are posted on the individual lineage pages.

 Reaping Rewards Report

David's Garden Tour

  8/2/09   David's garden is in full swing, growing well, and already supplying us with great produce for our table.  His garden is a 50' by 50' area fill with eggplant, squash, peas, asparagus, cornichons, broccoli, herbs, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, beets, and much more.

David's Garden - Getting ready for a big harvest!

 And Yet Another Awards Department Report

Mallow Earns Her Superior Genetics Title!

SG Mallow

  7/29/09   The American Dairy Goat Associations awards the title of Superior Genetics to goats that meet the performance standards that they have set.  This title is based on conformation and production with does needing to be in the top 15% of all goats on milk test and linear appraisal.  Congratulations Mallow - you deserve this award for your great contributions in the milking parlor!

Elite Does - Again!

For the third year in a row both Pepper and Espeez have been named Elite does and Poppy made the list for her second time in a row.  Elite does score in the top 5% of does for production and conformation.

Espeez (left), Poppy and Pepper walking together (right)

 Continuing Education at BMR:

BMR Workshops

7/4/09 From April through September we offer a limited number of workshops to people interested in goat management and cheesemaking.   Megan and Michele, vintners from Virginia, are two of our latest graduates.  By the end of their stay here this mother/daughter team was amazingly proficient at milking and cheese making.  We had a great time working with Megan and Michele and I think they had a good time, too.  Click here for more information on our Ranch Workshops and Retreats.

 Department of Education Report:

More Goat School Grads

 5/23/09   Bill and Jenny from Washington State have graduated from our BMR Goat Management and Cheesemaking course.  These two delightful people spent 3 days and 3 nights here at Black Mesa learning to care for our herd of over 40 goats plus learning to make several types of cheese.  We wish them great success with their plans to put this new knowledge to work by adding goats to their lives.

Click here to learn more about our workshops

 Congratulations to our new graduates Jenny and Bill

 Construction Crew Report:

A New Barn for the Boys!

   2/1/09  We dry off the goat herd around the holidays and don't make cheese again until after the girls start kidding in March.  You'd think we could put our feet up and relax a bit.  But there always seems to be projects to do.  This year we built the buck boys a new barn!  The bucks are really appreciating their new accommodations and we are too. To see the new barn go up from start to finish just click here.

 Awards Department report:

BMR Cheeses Win First Place!

   10/20/08 Two of our cheeses recently took first place in their categories at the American Dairy Goat Association Cheese Contest!  Our Boule (pictured on the right) is a creamy pasta-filata style cheese just great for cooking.   Our Feta is a brine cured Mediterranean style cheese that is fresh-tasting and creamy, perfect for Greek cooking, salads, or omelets.

 In the News:

Phoenix New Times Award

   10/4/08  The Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper in the Phoenix area, has recently honored us with one of their "Best Of Phoenix" awards.  Below is their article about us.

Best Homegrown Goat Cheese

"Though Snowflake, the northern Arizona town nestled in the White Mountains, is outside our coverage area, we make an exception for this fabulous cheese that is available for purchase at boutique food stores around the Valley (Whole Foods is one) and at fine restaurants such as Quiessence. If you consider goat cheese to be an overpowering, overly pungent experience, think again. Black Mesa's cheeses are made exclusively from the milk of their own herd of Nubian goats, an African breed known for their adaptability to the hot summer temperatures.

The family-owned and operated company's Web site declares that Black Mesa never works on more than 14 gallons of milk at a time. That allows it to pay the closest detail to every step of the cheese-making process. The various cheeses — we especially like the goat's milk feta — are available online and at very reasonable prices. In a previous life, one of the owners was a pastry chef, and Black Mesa's commercial candy kitchen includes Goat's Milk Fudge and Butter Almond Toffees. Let's hear it for the goat! "

Other winners of this year's "Best of Phoenix" awards who use BMR cheeses include:

Binkley's Restaurant · Best Destination Dining

Rancho Pinot Grill · Best Place to Take a Slow Foodie

Pizzeria Bianco · Best Gourmet Pizza

Atlas Bistro · Best BYOB

The Farm at South Mountain · Best Patio Dining

Pane Bianco · Best Sandwiches

Quiessence · Best Seasonal Cuisine

Whole Foods · Best Cheese Selection

Congratulations to all!  We are proud to supply these fine establishments with our wonderful goat cheeses!

 BMR Utility Company Update:

BMR Goes SOLAR...Again

   9/10/08 Since we are totally off grid we have little choice but to be our own utility company.  Our main power sources are the sun and the wind.  Our well, however, has always required the use of a gasoline powered generator.  Finally, we have a solar powered water pump and it is really a treat.  When the sun shines, our water tank fills!  The overflow is directed to a cattle tank and the cows are enjoying having a second source of refreshment.  While this was a very pricy upgrade, the cost was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that when we pulled the old pump out, we discovered that one of the plumbing fittings was so corroded that it would have totally disintegrated within the year, necessitating emergency repairs.

Earlier this year our wind turbine was damaged during a storm.  The good folks at Val-U Solar promptly came out, climbed the 50 foot tower, and brought the turbine down to send in for repair.  Unfortunately, the only company that does the repairs took two months to return the equipment!  Once the turbine was finally sent back, the Val-U Solar dudes came right out, climbed the tower, and installed the turbine.  Good folks, those Val-U Solar people!

The old raised tanks are not in use and the old wind mill is just decorative for now, but some day may be put back into service. Our 4500 gallon tank is set on the ground (lower left hand corner of the picture). The new solar panels are mounted on the wind mill framework with a custom rack designed by Chuck.

Chuck, one of the Val-U Solar owners, installs the repaired turbine at 50 feet above the ground!

 Webmaster report:

BlackMesaRanchOnline gets Downsized!

   7/7/08 After years of dreaming, research, and just plain impatient waiting, we've finally been able to acquire the domain name BlackMesaRanch.com.  The "online" part of our old domain name has been dropped.  Web site access and email addresses will work with either the new or old name for now, but soon we will change over to the shorter version - so please update your favorites list!