Dos Lobos Ranch

We have another new and very important page that we built on our website. This is our Functional Kunekune Breeding Standard. It's a wall of text, I know, but it's a fraction of the real wall of text on that page!

This is always a hot topic in the breeding community because many of us have invested greatly in our breeding programs. None of us want to see our hard breeding work get watered down, but there has to be a pressure release valve in any program. That valve is that there needs to be a plan for the pigs that don't make the cut as breeding stock. And the best option is pork.

For us, we built our program in reverse. We built a pork program to feed ourselves and to sell the excess to feed our community. We were overwhelmed with the demand for excellent pastured pork, had the opportunity to scale up, and so we did. I have far more buyers for pork than I do breeding stock, and I've got some excellent standouts. However, if they don't find a nice home, that's a shame, but they still have an important purpose.

After I wrote this page and proofread it, I realized just how strict I am. I'm strict because we've had some disappointment in some of the breeding stock we've been sold. I don't want my customers who buy breeding stock to get stuck with the same problems as we did which was huge sunk costs and some total financial losses on some pigs.

I have a rule that has served me well over the years called the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. Look it up sometime. I use the same thing in justifying purchasing livestock or reserving animals as breeders from our program. The animal needs to be 80% there as far as checking the boxes as a breeder. If they're not at least 80% of the way, then they don't need to be breeding stock. It's a good starting point if you don't know what to look for. On the flip side of that, you need to cut your bottom 20% of your herd from time to time. That way, you're always improving your herd and the breed.

My 2 cents. And if they don't hit 80%, remember the acronym. Escapees, Attitude, Teats, Unsuitables, and Maternal issues. EAT'UM.

Princie got a much needed haircut today. Running him and all of the goats free range over the entire property to forage has been good to them and has helped keep a lot of the weeds back.

Prince and the others have all started to really fill in and bulk up which is fun to watch on little dairy goats. Prince flat out got chunky out there! I put him on the scale after I clipped him and he was 91 lbs.! He's top of the standard for height as a Nigerian buck at 23.5 inches at the withers. All of that bulk is in his gut and the muscle he's put on. He's got massive spring of rib and plenty of room for digesting forage.

This was my first time clipping him and he did great. So much so, I think he actually enjoyed it! I'm sure he feels better getting all that black hair off in this heat. Look at all the dairy wrinkles in his neck! 🥰 Now to work on adjusting their mineral again to get rid of that fish tail.

Story time. It's been a wild couple of days here at the ranch.

Yesterday, I got up early to check on our stock tank as it was getting low and starting to get pretty gross and fish were dying. Not one or two. I'm talking 3 dozen or so, full size catfish were all dead over the course of about 3 days earlier this week. We bought some extra water hoses and started running water from the barn to the tank to try to get some fresh water in there while we waited on a pond pump and aerator to arrive.

I had a dentist appointment to get to early, so I just wanted to check and see if we had lost any more fish overnight. While checking out the pond, I noticed one of our new goats limping, unable to put weight on a back foot. I haven't even had a chance to do an introduction of our 4 new goats yet. Fearing the worst, I grabbed a rope and started trying to catch her as she's somewhat on the feral side.

Somehow, a goat with a possibly broken foot is faster than a 40 something year old fat girl in flip flops. I spent 45 minutes trying to lure her in with the rest of the herd with treats, herding her into the barn, chasing her all over the pasture. Time was ticking as I still had a dentist appointment to make and needed to get her to the vet. I finally gave up and grabbed a dog though I didn't want to because I didn't want the goat to get more stressed or further injure herself, but I was out of options.

So I grabbed Kazi because she's my gentlest dog with the stock. What unfolded was beautiful on the dog's part. Kazi got the herd gathered up and I kept working with her through a series of commands to work on separating the injured goat from the herd. Once she had the goat separated, I gave Kazi a simple, "yes-yes" so she knew I wanted her to focus on only that target. Then I told her "hold em" which is something we've practiced a lot in the last year to just hold that one animal in place until I get there.

Picture a cutting horse and a cowboy separating a cow from the herd and the horse tracking the cow back and forth. That was something I noticed early on that Kazi had a real instinct for. She held the goat between me, the stock tank, and the pasture while I closed the distance. Unfortunately, the feral goat who is still not used to people despite the hot rod pedigree she possesses, decided she really didn't like me approaching, and decided to take her chances with the water.

Goats don't swim well. At all. Their butt floats and their gut sinks. I watched as this little papered princess floundered all the way across to the other side of the tank. By the time she looked up, Kazi and I were already on the other side. She decided to go back in the water and swim back to the opposite side. Again, flopping around, barely keeping her nose out of the water as her belly drug her down and her ass-end floated.

Kazi and I got to the other side and waited for the goat to arrive. She was quite exhausted and let me toss a halter over her head and happily let me lead her back to the barn. I couldn't feel a break, so I put her in a pen to rest while I got cleaned up so I could make my dentist appointment. Afterward, I took her to the vet for an xray and confirmed no break, just a bad sprain. She'll need a week or so of rest and some pain meds as she still can't bear weight on it.

Kazi was my blind side dog. When we first brought her and her sister home, Shiney showed all the talent and tenacity while Kazi just wanted to goof off. Over the past 2 years, she has shown us just what her pedigree can bring. Her sister may be an explosive, pure force of nature, but Kazi is a thinker, a little slower to run in, but thats because those gears are turning. Both of these excellent working line Aussies have been more than valuable here, even on our little 10 acre ranch.

That brings me to my last part of the story. Their sire, Boyd Ranch Hangin' Cowpuncher was just awarded Hall of Fame Sire status. His two girls are nothing short of an amazing legacy that I barely know the rest of. A well bred working dog is well worth the investment.

Lucy, party of 7! ❤️

Lucy finally released the hostages last night. She started nesting around 1pm and finally settled down around 6pm, started pushing around 6:50pm. I checked her around 7:20 to make sure there wasn't a stuck or malpositioned piglet, but she didn't quite feel fully dialated yet. So I gave her another 15 minutes or so and by the time I gloved up to go back in, here came baby #1! The rest followed pretty quickly, one after another and she was done by 8:40.

Totals: 4 boars, 3 gilts. 6th litter of the year for our farm.

She is milky milky for a maiden litter! Good gosh this girl has got the udder on her and it started filling days ago. All babies were nursing on their own without any help by the time they were all out of Piglet Cannon Lucy.

Lucy also seems to have stamped her leg structure onto these babies. Kai has good legs, but Lucy has the best legs and feet in our whole herd. I can tell by the shape of the bones on these babies that they're going to be athletic and powerful. A good blend of both Kai and Lucy.❤️