Tempo Farm
Home of des
Ruhigestelle Saanens**
Lauren Acton and
John Wright
Updated with new pictures and records!
Current
breedings and reservations
Download Breeding and Price List, Terms and Conditions
Please read- information on buying and preordering goats, as
well as herd policies.
Download Saanen Herd List
Download LaMancha Herd List
Download Alpine Herd List
Download
Download Herd History
Download Lest We Forget , the goats who made us what we are.
Total Performance Scores: How we evaluate our animals.
Yellow Pad Articles: “Stories from a Scribbler”
2008 National Show - the trip!
** After
50 years, it’s time for a new look. In
April 2013, ADGA informed me that
I could no longer use the ‘des
Ruhigestelle’ herdname. As a historic
herdname, it cannot be transferred from Fern, even to me. After exploring legal options, we found that it
would not be allowed to continue as a living legacy to Fern. So, the decision was made to simply move
forward. The Saanens will continue as
Tempo Passa, taken from Fern’s family motto, meaning ‘time passes.’ All else will remain the same, as the Saanens
previously had been under my management for the last 25 years. So, the same breeding program and quality
goals will continue, just under the Tempo name.
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 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, which 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 market, and things weren’t looking too rosy. My first response was keeping the herd size
down as much as I could. Keeping the
herd size down 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.
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.
We
are heavily into breeding season now, as well as prepping for our upcoming LA
session on 10/13. We hope to leave for convention following the LA.
I’ve updated our breeding plans.
We are doing a lot of AI this year. For us that means just doing the best we can
without it being a big deal. Last year
we had very good results with synced does, this year
not so much. So
the plans are tentative and include backup sires as we work through the
season. I have also 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. 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.
OUR MISSION- I had an
interesting discussion with Stephen Considine about Saanen history nearly 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 twelve 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
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