Just finished our annual TB, Brucellosis and CAE testing and are excited to announce our herd maintains its clean track record. We continue to practice strict bio-security at the farm and shows to maintain our meticulous focus on disease prevention.
Happy to announce that all 21 does (17 standard, 4 mini) are now confirmed bred via ultrasound checking for the 2020 breeding season. Lots of kids showing up between March and May. Some reservation slots still available. The breeding lists can be found under the sales tab on this website.
September marks another anniversary for DeLuna Acres. It’s hard to imagine we started this venture three short years ago with a handful of bottle babies and have now grown to forty. So much has changed in such a short period of time. Lots of really proud wins and, of course setbacks, too. Every year I use this milestone as a look back to reflect on the wins and setbacks. Without further adieu …
Our young herd had another strong year in the show ring, participating in seven shows including our first trip to the ADGA National Show in Redmond, OR. Despite the small number of animals taken to shows this year, we were really proud of the results:
A second highlight for the farm were the solid numbers recorded in this year’s Linear Appraisal Test: 3 scoring 91 EEEE, 2 scoring 89, 4 scoring 88, 3 scoring 87, 1 scoring 86, 2 scoring 85 and 1 scoring 84, with seven of our does recording an E in mammary. So incredibly pleased with the results for such a young herd and excited to see what the future holds.
A third highlight was receiving notification from ADGA that three of our girls, Solarus, Venus and Quartzite were awarded their Superior Genetics (SG) Designation as two year old does. Hoping for many more to come in the years ahead as our does continue to mature.
The highlights weren’t without their share of setbacks. On June 23rd we lost one of our top senior does, Quatorze to twisted gut. Ten days later we lost our most promising doeling out of Pot of Gold to enterotoxemia. Both were a hard and painful reminder how little we really control despite the great care provided to our herd.
My late mother always said that setbacks come in sets of three and this was no exception. In June, Shelli made the personal decision to permanently relocate back to her home state of California to live. I made the commitment to myself, friends, family and customers to continue on with this venture and see it through to the end. There are many days when I question if it’s all worth it and it takes me about one minute to come back to my senses that YES, it really is all worth it. I love these animals like family and I am not about to throw the towel in. So onward to year four and hoping the wins significantly outweigh the setbacks.
And before I close, none of this could have been possible without the dedicated support and guidance of friends, family and most importantly great mentors. I will be forever grateful to each of you.
All The Best,
— Jim
All the hard work is finally paying off. We were notified by ADGA that 3 of our girls earned their Superior Genetics (SG) designation this month recognizing them as being in the top 85% percentile for their breed. So proud of these girls: Solarus, Venus and Quartzite.
Spent the weekend in Great Falls, MT showing at the MT State Fair. Always love coming up here. Beautiful country and super nice people to be around.
Very happy with the results from the three girls that went along: Wandella finally hit her stride as a 4 year old taking 1st in class in both rings, Senior Doe Grand Champion and Best in Breed. Sybella went as my 5+ year old entry and went on to win her class on Saturday. Kadara, a dry yearling entry won her class on Saturday and then went on to win Junior Doe Grand Champion.
We had our annual Linear Appraisal this morning and to say we were blown away by the results is an understatement !!! We started this venture less than 3 years ago building most of our herd from bottle baby doelings and bucklings. Today we saw the fruits of all our hard work pay off. We tested 13 does and 3 bucks. Only 3 does are over 3 years old, the remainder all 2 years old or less. Likewise the 3 bucks we tested are all under 2 years old.
Results: (3) scored 91, (2) scored 89, (4) scored 88, (3) scored 87, (1) scored 86, (2) scored 85 and (1) scored 84. Seven of our does recorded an E in the Mammary Category.
The biggest highlights were our 3 senior girls, Sybella, Wonella and Wandella, all scoring 91 EEEE. Sybella recently turned 5 yo and this will become her permanent score. We are so grateful for Jolene Jantzi at Treasured Sunrise for selling us these girls 2 years ago. I can spend countless hours staring at them and am so pleased how they’ve evolved here at our farm.
The 2 biggest surprises were Moon and Venus, both 2 yo does that we acquired as bottle babies from Jolene. Last year as a FF, Moon scored a dismal 83 V+++, today she went 88 VVVE. Venus is a similar story. Shortly after FF last year, Venus became very sick and we almost lost her to internal blockage. One month later she went through appraisal and only scored an 84 +V++. Today Venus scored 89 VVVE.
Our yearlings didn’t disappoint, either. Goldie as a mere 1 year, 5 month old scored 88 VVVV. Not to be outdone, Artemis as a 1 year, 3 month old scored 88 VVVE. Matton, our super-star 1 year, 5 month old old buck from Manzinita Farm scored 87 VVV and Altair, our newest arrival from Barnowl Farms last fall scored 86 VVV as a 1 year, 3 month old. So pleased to see the strong scores from our young herd.
— Jim
It’s with a very heavy heart, we announce the passing of our beautiful girl, Quatorze. Quatorze came to us in the Fall of 2017 from Barnowl Farms as a soon to be three year old. She wasted no time establishing herself as second in command, deferring only to Sybella as the herd leader. Quatorze exhibited an energy unlike anything we’d ever seen and we grew to expect her lined up first in line at milking time or staring us down from afar, dare we be late. A late bloomer, Quatorze developed into a stunning, full bodied doe waiting to make this her break out year. Two weeks earlier at the Spokane show, she won her class three times and went Reserve Grand Champion. Maybe it was her gift to us before moving on, we’ll never know. We are very fortunate to still have Quatorze’s two doe kids from this season in our herd and at least one will stay here to carry on her legacy. Rest in peace pretty girl, we miss you dearly.
2018 marked our first full year in the show ring and we have so much to be proud of. We participated in 6 ADGA sanctioned shows throughout Oregon, Montana and Idaho with our young herd; we were blown away by the results:
In addition, we finished our 3 year old doe, Wonella allowing her to obtain permanent champion status. Equally impressive was her daughter Athena winning her first champion leg towards her future permanent champion status.
We are so thankful to the many great people that have helped us along the way. They will never be forgotten and will live on within our farm as we continue to grow.
We’re already planning for the 2019 breeding and show season. Super excited to see what next year brings us !!
Wandella also turned on the charm winning a 1st and 2nd placing in the 3 Year Old Class. Not to be outdone, Wandella’s daughter, Solarus also came away with a 1st and 2nd placing in the Senior Yearling class.
We’re really proud how our girls have performed this year. Taking a quick 2 week break and then off to LaGrande, OR for our next show !!!
We took 5 of our senior girls along, Quartzite and Solarus for the yearling class, Wandella for the 3 year old class and Quatorze and Wonella for the 4 year old class. We also took Athena along for the junior yearling class.
To say we were overwhelmed with the results would be an understatement. Quartize took first place in both rings with Solarus taking second in both rings for the yearling class. Wandella took first place in both rings for the 3 year old class. Quatorze took second and third place behind Wonella who took first place in both rings for the 4 year old class and Athena took first place in both rings for the junior yearling class. But it got MUCH better ….. Wonella went on to take Grand Champion in both rings earning 2 legs towards her permanent Grand Champion status and also won Best Udder. Not to be outdone, Athena, her daughter, went on to win Grand Champion in both rings earning her a dry leg towards her permanent Grand Champion status as a senior doe. But Athena wasn’t done yet …. She went on to take Best in Show for the Junior Lamanchas !!! It goes without saying that we are so incredibly proud of how our girls performed and all the great feedback we received from the judges and other participants. Can’t wait for our next show in a few weeks.