NKR Spotlight Sale

We had a great time at the NKR Spotlight sale last weekend at Cookeville, TN. It was a great sale with great people. As usual, the lectures were very good and the speakers were among the foremost authorities in the field, including Dr Ann Peschel.  For me, much of the learning takes place outside of the lecture hall, talking to producers.  With raising goats, much of the “what do you do when this happens” knowledge can’t come from a book, because the books haven’t been written yet.  The producers with years of experience that come to these sales are the best source of information.

This sale we got to have dinner with many of those producers, including Dr. Ann Peschel and hear about the stories about the original importation of the Kikos.  It was a very entertaining discussion for all there, except maybe my children who mostly wanted to go swimming again.

The sale itself was a great success.  We had three consignments, yearling does.  We were very pleased to see them average over $1,000 each.   We brought home 4 top shelf does, two of which had kids.  The first we bought was an all black purebred with a large black buckling on her side (there had been a daughter that was lost to exposure).  This does is a 3/4 sister to one of our most hardy does, Stitch.  After I handled the buckling I’m even more sure that he’s a herd sire candidate.

The next does we bought was definitely the gem of the sale.  She is a thick creamy colored doe with spots that is bred to Terminator XXX, one of the hardiest and parasite resistant lines in the breed.  She herself is a full daughter to Sunboy 117, Loverboy.  She is a product of AI (that’s artificial insemination-not artificial intelligence), bringing back to us a genetic line that is generally held to be the strongest maternals in the breed.  Loverboy is also know to put thick, meaty kids in the ground and to have above average parasite resistance. Having her in our fold gives us three Loverboy does (along with Mulan and Yoshi) as well as a buck, Loverboy’s Lane Bear.  We will be able to continue to deliver to our customers the great maternal instincts they need from the Kiko breed.  Loverboy’s Hanky Panky, as she is called, also has a dam from great genetic lines.  Her mother is a granddaughter of TAY Onyx, ECR Hanky Panky, SKY Sports Kat, and ECR Gloria.

The next doe we went after is a 3/4 sibling to Outlaw Honey, whom we thought was the outstanding doe at last year’s Spotlight Sale. She is a yearling doe that weaned off at 49# as a triplet.  High hopes for her

The fourth doe we got had twins on her, one of whom is spotted. That doesn’t have any commercial, but sure got my kids excited. She is out of LEN 8, another buck know for excellent maternals.  She is not the biggest doe, but the best metric for a doe is doe efficiency.  That is the weight of kids weaned divided by the doe’s weight at weaning.  She’s got two great kids at her side, demonstrating that she’s plenty big enough to raise nicely sized kids and do it more efficiently!

Thanks to all the breeders who brought their best! That’s what makes for a great sale.