desRuhigestelle

**The end of an era. We are sad to announce that our last des Ruhigestelle Saanens, Elixir and WinClimber, passed away from age complications in 2023. In April 2013, ADGA informed me that I could no longer use the ‘des Ruhigestelle’ herdname. As a historic herdname, it could not be transferred from Fern when she passed away in 2012. So, the decision was made to simply move forward. The Saanens continued here as Tempo Passa, taken from Fern’s family motto, meaning ‘time passes.’

HELLO AND WELCOME TO OUR WEBSITE- It’s pretty plain, just simple pdf files. We don’t have links or buttons. Quite frankly, I’d rather spend my time upgrading our genetics and facilities than upgrading our technology. We have been breeding dairy goats for over 50 years, and our goals are fairly simple- breed the soundest, highest production dairy goats, with the most reliable consistency we can produce, all the while keeping them healthy, happy, and well cared for. So, while the goats are ‘modern’ dairy type, this isn’t a 'modern' website so much as just lists of our breeding herds (and some other fun stuff too!). Instead of buttons and links and pictures of babies, here you'll find lots of real records and as much information as will fit on a page. To view our herd lists, click on the ‘download herd list’ at top. Be sure to also download the Breeding and Price list, with our terms and conditions.

Contact info-

I am MUCH easier to contact by email, text or messenger than any other method. I hate talking on the phone! Our email is- myname (at) herdname (dot) com (Change myname to lauren and herdname to ruhigestelle. Automatic e-mail address sniffers and hackers are getting more sophisticated these days!)

I try to answer emails or texts/messenger within a day or two unless I am on the road. Please remember this site is about our goats and not a place to ask veterinary questions. If you must call, please remember that I am NOT a morning person, so PLEASE DO NOT CALL BEFORE 10:00 AM!! I am frequently not around a phone during ‘normal’ calling hours, and do most of my correspondence at night. Thus, it may take me several days to answer a phone call. Sorry, I do not carry a cell phone at home. I usually check messages after morning chores and again late at night.

2024 news-

Update 11/30/24- We had our LA on 10/13 this year, just before I left for convention. We are very excited for our four FS93 and two new FS94, including Handyman FS94 at 11 years old! Emphasis wrapped up

a successful year as National Champion and FS94! We welcome new members Solo, Elexis, and Ella to our 93 club, and are happy to have Starry regain her 93 status permanently.

Breeding season has had its ups and downs this year. We had a fairly dismal AI success rate to start, followed by does behaving badly and not cycling when they should. But I decided to give Weft and Mazzei each one try at being bred, and both settled to Brown! It was a miracle for Weft following her severe uterine tear in ’23. Mazzei didn’t freshen in ’24, and I intended to retire her at 10 years old, but she had other plans. We started to breed our ’24 kids this week. Normally we would wait to freshen these in the fall, but decided to try late spring kidding instead. I hope to get everyone settled by mid January.

I have updated the herd lists with new records and photos where appropriate. With a sketchy and changing milk market, we have sold well over half of our mature does this year, and for the first time in 30 years, are looking at taking a “milk-cation”. So, instead of being in the midst of fall freshening, we are down to milking once a day, and working on drying off most of the does. After selecting for long lactations for so many years, several does are NOT agreeing to the program! It will mean a loss of records for many, especially those that freshened later, but we simply needed a full break to reevaluate our lifestyle. For now, we are pretty much a show herd that sells milk. My breeding and management focus hasn’t changed, and we are not leaving out the possibility of developing a new product. We do have a great group of young does coming up as replacements.

Update 10/6/24- We are grateful to hear good news from many of our friends affected by Hurricane Helene. Having survived a natural disaster of much less magnitude, it is difficult right now to think of much else besides what is happening there.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As a survivor, I implore all women to have their mammograms done on a regular basis. It saved my life.

Update 7/26/24- I am writing this while still trying to recover from the trip to the National show. Seventeen days on the road is exhausting, no matter how awesome the trip was. We started this year with perhaps the worst kidding season we have ever had. We lost several important and favorite does, all to different and unpreventable issues. That left me in a state of emotional and physical exhaustion as we entered show season. Add in the shutdown of Portland Creamery and changing milk markets, and things weren’t looking too rosy. My first response was keeping the herd size down as much as I could. That meant over and over having to sell down deeper into our main herd. Does we would normally have never considered selling were leaving. That added depression to exhaustion and left me wondering how long this was going to go on. I was again reminded of my mother and what she went through during the Great Depression. Her grit was an example to me, and we forged on. With less goats in the herd, I also took smaller entries to most shows. The upside was that gave me the time to simply enjoy the shows and camaraderie. The younger Saanens worked hard, and we finished Eroica, Solo, Etoile, and Emara. CeCe earned her championship, and also made it clear that hauling was not her thing, so she stayed home from Nationals. Grommet came through kidding season sound and healthy, and finished at her second show. Somewhere in there I changed my mind from not going to Nationals, to thinking it would be a good trip. I feel that depth of quality of our herd is exemplified by the fact that none of these six were chosen to be on the National show string.

Then came Nationals. The placings speak for themselves, while the story of the trip will have to wait for another update. As I type, John is prepping for another hiking trip, so in order to get this update done, I’ll have to stop for now. Please enjoy the new records and photos in the Saanen and Alpine herd lists. The prices are updated as well, but I haven’t managed to think about breeding season, much less plan matings yet. That will have to wait another month or two.

OUR MISSION- I had an interesting discussion with Stephen Considine about Saanen history over 30 years ago. He made a comment that has stayed with me, as it really sums up my experience in breeding goats. He noted that we have been breeding the same type of dairy goat for years, regardless of showring styles. The only difference is now that is what the industry wants too. And it's true that we have been breeding for the same sound and productive type of doe, only now it is called a 'modern' type. We are trying to produce does that are long boned and dairy, and are true total performers. You won’t find mature show goats giving ‘a gallon a day’, or ‘2 gallon’ milkers with poor udders in our pens. Nor will you find obese goats, frail goats, or goats with severe structural faults. What you will find are sound, strong, highly productive does that milk well wherever they are, and rarely get stressed. We are an artisan Grade A dairy, so our goats make their own living by producing milk, and we take pride in producing genetic foundations for other commercial dairies, as we feel they should be the backbone of our industry. Our does are not pampered, even the best are treated as commercial goats. Pasture is an important part of our management, so our goats must be able to walk several hours a day. While we have our favorites, nobody gets special treatment, or special feed. (Okay, nobody under ten years old!) Some of our more well known does have traveled over 3,000 miles nearly every year of their lives, and continue to produce over 3,000 lbs of milk.

We have slightly changed our focus on production as we continue in the dairy industry. We are now looking for solid, consistent production rather than extreme lactations. For us, a doe that can repeatedly milk 3,400-4,000 lbs, has a flat lactation curve, and is willing to milk extended lactations is more valuable than a single 5,000 lb record or a 20 lb high day followed by 6 lbs at 270 days. Also, since we are a cheese dairy, components and milk quality are very important to us. So, we now look for does that can effortlessly produce 20,000 lbs in 6-7 years of production, and maintain good components and a low SCC while doing that. The great thing about breeding dairy goats is there is always something new to look for!

Most important, we simply enjoy our goats. I strongly believe in “coffee management”- that is simply taking the time to just watch the goats do goat things. If everyone took the length of time it takes to drink a cup of coffee (or tea, or wine, or whatever…) doing nothing but watching their goats every day, my work as a veterinarian would diminish greatly!! While we love our goats and their achievements, we do have other interests, and especially enjoy the wonderful outdoor recreation of the Pacific Northwest. Whether it is an afternoon spent hiking to waterfalls, cross country skiing, or simply enjoying an evening fire on our deck, we try to keep the goats and work in perspective and remember to enjoy the time we have together. While having a dairy means that we can no longer dry off in the winter, we do still work to keep December and January as free of goat activities as possible, choosing instead to spend the time with each other. We value the freedom and freshness the time away gives us. Having, and trusting, our wonderful employees gives us the ability to continue to spend some time apart from the goats.

We enjoy visitors, but ask that you call ahead to make sure we home. Please do not wear clothing or shoes that have been in other barns, including your own, and our guardian dogs request that you do not bring other pets. The coffee is always on, in fact I think I’ll take a cup out to the barn right now…

Lauren & John