Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
Cheese and Candy Information and Online Ordering Page
Featured pages on this site
Updated!
We have revamped our Ranch Workshop Packages!
In addition to our three-day cheese making and goat management workshops learn about our free open- house days and lodging accommodations.
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Award Winning Artisan Goat Cheeses
2 Awards 2008 ADGA National Competition
4 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
3 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
(available seasonally)
2 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
2 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
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Click here to read the online version of Kathryn's booklet
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This site last updated:
August 27, 2010
© 2000-2010 Black Mesa Ranch Inc. All Rights Reserved
Endorsed by more than 36 humane organizations, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® program is nationally recognized as the Gold Standard for certifying animal welfare.
Arizona Grown!
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Black Mesa Ranch Snowflake Arizona Goat Lineages The Family Tree for our Ranch |
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Use the navigation bar on the left to jump to a specific goat you are interested in or read on...
About Our Goats, Our Philosophy, and Our Health and Production Testing
We are very proud of the goats at Black Mesa Ranch. The dairy herd represents some very excellent blood lines. Many of the herd names represented in our lineages will be familiar to most fine goat breeders for their exceptional quality.
Our herd is still a relatively new and small one compared to many operations but we have already developed an ambitious and thoughtful breeding program, endeavoring to introduce specific genetic traits to further our overall goals.
Those goals, in a nutshell, would be to develop good, reliable milking goats, capable of thriving in a more natural environment. General traits we look for include exceptional good overall health; trouble-free pregnancies and deliveries; easy milking, capacious udders with strong, high attachments (a practical consideration for when traipsing over rough terrain); strong constitutions; friendly and easy-going temperaments.
We are not BINGO breeders! You know, those breeders that would rather collect pedigrees than the actual goats. The ones that throw a new goat into a pen without even noticing it so that they can go inside and lovingly look at the new registration paperwork, one more step towards calling, “BINGO!!”. Once, we were in serious long-distance negotiations for a high quality doe, only to have the whole deal fall through when we asked for a picture of her. We’ve been to places where the breeder has to check tattooed ears because they didn’t know their own goats by sight. Maybe these strategies work for those people – but NOT for US!!Our goats are part of the family here. We know each one by sight, know their strengths and weaknesses, their oddities and preferences. They are all individuals with their own traits, personalities, and attitudes, and we enjoy them for that.
We do not show our goats so you will not see references to show wins or "legs" but many of the siblings, offspring, sires, and dams from among our lines have been shown by others quite successfully.
You will notice that our pictures are not the usual stiff "show poses". To be honest we wouldn't know how to go about getting a goat to pose like that. Our pictures are, generally, candid shots of them going about their daily business - browsing, napping, browsing, sunning, browsing, playing and, of course, browsing.
Summer 2005 Update
Herd on DHIR Testing
In 2005 we went on official "Dairy Herd Improvement Registry" (DHIR) milk test. Our girls are exceeding our expectations, and they are all heading toward adding Milking Stars to their pedigrees. Once a month we send milk samples in to be tested. We have always been pleased with the high quality of the milk our herd produces. Now we know why. Their milk tests extremely high in the milk solids that are so important in cheesemaking. Trudy’s title has been changed from Herd Queen to "Herd Cream" because of her 7.5% peak butterfat percentage. That must be why BMR cheese is so sweet and creamy – thanks, Trudy!
DNA Testing for G6S initiated
Also in 2005 we made the decision to DNA test our goats for the G6S genetic defect that effects Nubian Goats. We will be posting our findings and working toward having a G6S Normal herd. For more information on G6S, please refer to: http://www.goatworld.com/articles/g6s.shtml
Summer 2006 Update
Last year’s entry into DHIR testing resulted in all of our milkers earning their milking stars. Great work, ladies! We are pleased with being in the program since it gives us feedback on udder health, milk quality, and productivity.
We are very pleased to announce the arrival of our newest boys, Jacobs Pride Show Me Zanzibar (Zane) and Lakeshore-Farms Mr. Bentley (Benny). We feel that they will make great additions to our herd.
This year we have completed testing all our breeding goats for the G6S genetic defect. All of our bucks and all but one of our does are G6S normal! Our herd continues to test 100% CAE negative.
Summer 2008 Update
We were thrilled with last year's result from our Linear Appraisal. 2007 was our first year in the program and it was well worth the money, time, and organization required to participate. We learned a lot from the trained, professional goat appraiser. In this program the goats are not appraised for monetary value, but for quality of conformation. Our goats exceeded our expectations of quality with several of them (including two of our bucks) getting recognition as Excellent by the USDA and ADGA. We also had three girls listed as Elite does by the USDA, and six does received Superior Genetics titles. All in all 2007 was a great year for our goats.
This year our girls did even better on their Linear Appraisal with 5 does being scored as Excellent and the mature herd score averaging over 88.
We also would like to introduce our newest herd sire, Splash. He comes from Six M Galaxy which is a herd of high production, colorful goats, many of which earn Top Ten status. We are excited to see if Splash will carry on their tradition.
Summer 2009 Update
It's been a busy year so far. We had 77 kids born on the ranch - 13 of which we are keeping - and we are milking 31 does. The kids and does look great, the does are milking very well and the kids are growing so fast that it's hard to remember that they are just babies.
Our Linear Appraisal this year will be late, possibly September. I'll post the scores once they are in. We are still holding our breath that Cory will be named a Top Ten Breed Leader. Her milk last year exceeded the amount that has allowed others that title but each year is different. As far as we are concerned Cory is Number One - giving us quintuplets (4 girls, 1 boy) and milking over 3000 pounds last year. What a girl!
And Another Summer 2009 Update
Yes!
Cory made it! Our girl, Cory, has now earned the title of Top Ten Breed
Leader for being the 6th highest milk producing Nubian in the country for 2008.
She was also the 7th highest producer of butterfat and the 6th highest protein
producer. What a girl she is!
Also, the goats did great on their Linear Appraisals. The scores are posted on their individual lineage pages. We even got some pretty stylish show type pics of the girls thanks to Marshall Losey of M's Sagebrush Acres (www.SagebrushAcres.com) who did the goat handling for the appraisal. Marshall also convinced the girls to pose for the photo shoot - something very foreign to them. Mark Zieman (www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com) was the photographer and he did a great job. Amanda Henderson and Dana Myatt also helped out with handling the goats and getting them milked out once they had been appraised. Many thanks to all who volunteered their time to come help us out.
2 year old Ripley (left) and her mom, Rosie, try out the formal look