Recent Happenings at the Ranch

UPDATED 11/20/09

 And Even More Reports From the Overworked Awards Reporter

Superior Genetics Awards... Again!

11/20/09  Several more of our girls have joined the growing number of BMR goats with an "SG" title in front of their name.  Lillith, Peri, and Terry have now earned that honor.  The Superior Genetics title is awarded by The American Dairy Goat Association for goats in the top 15% of all ADGA registered goats for production and confirmation.  Twelve of our does now carry the Superior Genetics title.

      BMR's latest Superior Genetic does

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2009 BMR Best First Freshener Award

 Once again it's time to announce which one of our first fresheners wins the prestigious Best First Freshener Award for 2009.  It should have been an incredibly hard decision since the girls really outdid themselves by milking great, scoring wonderfully on linear appraisal, and having great attitudes and work ethics.   However, one girl starting vying for this award way back when she was a baby.  Yes, Lillith caught our eye as soon as she was born and just keeps getting better.  Congratulations, Lillith, for winning the 2009 BMR Best First Freshener Award!  Special recognition goes to Miranda and Peri for giving Lillith some tough competition.

How fast they grow up! - Lillith as a newborn, at 5 months old, and as a milking yearling.

 Holiday Shopping Opportunity

BMR Candy Season Has Begun

11/5/09 The weather has finally cooled off enough for us to start making our award winning, hand made candies.  Luscious chocolate Truffles, chewy Caramels, crunchy Toffee, rugged Rubbles, Goats' Milk Fudge, and more.  Our candies are made with high quality Belgium chocolate, fresh cream, butter, local pecans, real vanilla, and other fine ingredients.  Click here to see the selections and put in your order.  We also do gift wrapping, gift cards, and corporate gifting.  

Some of our hand-made candies

 Department of Excellence Report:

Coriander Goes Top Ten Times Three!

Can our girl Cory possibly come up with more surprises than wonderful Linear Appraisal scores and quintuplets at kidding?  Yes, evidently she can!  Cory has now earned the title of Top Ten Breed Leader by being one of the ten best Nubians in the country in all three test categories - milk, butterfat, and protein production.  To read more about Cory click here, to see pictures of all of our lovely goats on one page click here.

Cory - A "milk goat deluxe"

Linear Appraisal Results:

Excellent Conformation Scores

   8/27/09 Instead of showing our goats to get feedback on their conformation we use the linear appraisal program.  That is a program sponsored by ADGA where a trained goat appraiser assesses each goat for quality of conformation.  It's similar to a show but instead of the goat being judged against the other goats in the ring, during appraisal they are judged against the mythical perfect goat.  This year our goats did better than ever.  We had many Excellent scores and even our lowest scoring goats were in the Very Good range and show promise of scoring as Excellent as they mature. 

  Marlyn, Ripley, and Rosie all go 91 EEEE

We had many people here helping to make Appraisal Day run smoothly.  Marshall Losey of M's Sagebrush Acres (www.SagebrushAcres.com) handled the goats, Amanda Henderson of Crazy H Ranch (www.CrazyHNubians.com) milked the goats and helped with the Hospitality Table, Dana Myatt and Mark Ziemann (www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com) worked hard, with Dana facilitating and Mark doing a wonderful job of  photographing the animals.  We are thankful for all their help.  We'd also like to thank the appraiser for his hard work.  The appraisal scores and pictures are posted on the individual lineage pages.

 Reaping Rewards Report

David's Garden Tour

  8/2/09   David's garden is in full swing, growing well, and already supplying us with great produce for our table.  His garden is a 50' by 50' area fill with eggplant, squash, peas, asparagus, cornichons, broccoli, herbs, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, beets, and much more.

David's Garden - Getting ready for a big harvest!

 And Yet Another Awards Department Report

Mallow Earns Her Superior Genetics Title!

SG Mallow

  7/29/09   The American Dairy Goat Associations awards the title of Superior Genetics to goats that meet the performance standards that they have set.  This title is based on conformation and production with does needing to be in the top 15% of all goats on milk test and linear appraisal.  Congratulations Mallow - you deserve this award for your great contributions in the milking parlor!

Elite Does - Again!

For the third year in a row both Pepper and Espeez have been named Elite does and Poppy made the list for her second time in a row.  Elite does score in the top 5% of does for production and conformation.

Espeez (left), Poppy and Pepper walking together (right)

 Continuing Education at BMR:

BMR Workshops

7/4/09 From April through September we offer a limited number of workshops to people interested in goat management and cheesemaking.   Megan and Michele, vintners from Virginia, are two of our latest graduates.  By the end of their stay here this mother/daughter team was amazingly proficient at milking and cheese making.  We had a great time working with Megan and Michele and I think they had a good time, too.  Click here for more information on our Ranch Workshops and Retreats.

 Department of Education Report:

More Goat School Grads

 5/23/09   Bill and Jenny from Washington State have graduated from our BMR Goat Management and Cheesemaking course.  These two delightful people spent 3 days and 3 nights here at Black Mesa learning to care for our herd of over 40 goats plus learning to make several types of cheese.  We wish them great success with their plans to put this new knowledge to work by adding goats to their lives.

Click here to learn more about our workshops

 Congratulations to our new graduates Jenny and Bill

 News from the Trough:

New babies arrive!

And can you even believe it's not goat kids!

 2/19/09  Each year we get a few pigs to raise.  They eat the whey from our cheesemaking and scraps from our garden.   Last year we even raised one for Quiessence, an up-scale Phoenix restaurant that specializes in using local foods.  It's hard to believe how fast these little critters grow.  These four ultra-cute new pigs will each be over 600 pounds by fall.

 Construction Crew Report:

A New Barn for the Boys!

   2/1/09  We dry off the goat herd around the holidays and don't make cheese again until after the girls start kidding in March.  You'd think we could put our feet up and relax a bit.  But there always seems to be projects to do.  This year we built the buck boys a new barn!  The bucks are really appreciating their new accommodations and we are too. To see the new barn go up from start to finish just click here.

 Another Awards Department Report:

More Superior Genetics!

   11/25/08 The American Dairy Goat Association has announced that three more of our beautiful goats have qualified for their Superior Genetics title!   We were already pleased with Ripley, Princess, and Lavender for their great conformation and production.  Now they are getting official recognition, too.  Congratulations to these lovely, productive members of the BMR team!

Ripley (Right), Princess (Center), and Lavender

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2008 BMR Best First Freshener Award

12/24/08  We are proud to announce the winner of the 2008 Black Mesa Ranch Best First Freshener Award!  It was a really tough decision this year with three very strong contenders for the prize.  We looked at Linear Appraisal scores, attitudes, awards, milk test records for quantity, protein, and butterfat, and much more.  We congratulate RIPLEY for winning this coveted award!  Princess was the first runner-up, and Harmony received honorable mention.  It's a pleasure to have these wonderful girls on our milking team. 

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More Elite Does!

Pepper and Espeez were again named Elite Does by the USDA, and now Poppy has made the list also.  Elite Does and Bucks are goats that rank in the top 5% of dairy goats for performance and conformation. 

Espeez (Right), Poppy (Center), and Pepper

 Awards Department report:

BMR Cheeses Win First Place!

   10/20/08 Two of our cheeses recently took first place in their categories at the American Dairy Goat Association Cheese Contest!  Our Boule (pictured on the right) is a creamy pasta-filata style cheese just great for cooking.   Our Feta is a brine cured Mediterranean style cheese that is fresh-tasting and creamy, perfect for Greek cooking, salads, or omelets.

 In the News:

Phoenix New Times Award

   10/4/08  The Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper in the Phoenix area, has recently honored us with one of their "Best Of Phoenix" awards.  Below is their article about us.

Best Homegrown Goat Cheese

"Though Snowflake, the northern Arizona town nestled in the White Mountains, is outside our coverage area, we make an exception for this fabulous cheese that is available for purchase at boutique food stores around the Valley (Whole Foods is one) and at fine restaurants such as Quiessence. If you consider goat cheese to be an overpowering, overly pungent experience, think again. Black Mesa's cheeses are made exclusively from the milk of their own herd of Nubian goats, an African breed known for their adaptability to the hot summer temperatures.

The family-owned and operated company's Web site declares that Black Mesa never works on more than 14 gallons of milk at a time. That allows it to pay the closest detail to every step of the cheese-making process. The various cheeses — we especially like the goat's milk feta — are available online and at very reasonable prices. In a previous life, one of the owners was a pastry chef, and Black Mesa's commercial candy kitchen includes Goat's Milk Fudge and Butter Almond Toffees. Let's hear it for the goat! "

Other winners of this year's "Best of Phoenix" awards who use BMR cheeses include:

Binkley's Restaurant · Best Destination Dining

Rancho Pinot Grill · Best Place to Take a Slow Foodie

Pizzeria Bianco · Best Gourmet Pizza

Atlas Bistro · Best BYOB

The Farm at South Mountain · Best Patio Dining

Pane Bianco · Best Sandwiches

Quiessence · Best Seasonal Cuisine

Whole Foods · Best Cheese Selection

Congratulations to all!  We are proud to supply these fine establishments with our wonderful goat cheeses!

 BMR Utility Company Update:

BMR Goes SOLAR...Again

   9/10/08 Since we are totally off grid we have little choice but to be our own utility company.  Our main power sources are the sun and the wind.  Our well, however, has always required the use of a gasoline powered generator.  Finally, we have a solar powered water pump and it is really a treat.  When the sun shines, our water tank fills!  The overflow is directed to a cattle tank and the cows are enjoying having a second source of refreshment.  While this was a very pricy upgrade, the cost was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that when we pulled the old pump out, we discovered that one of the plumbing fittings was so corroded that it would have totally disintegrated within the year, necessitating emergency repairs.

Earlier this year our wind turbine was damaged during a storm.  The good folks at Val-U Solar promptly came out, climbed the 50 foot tower, and brought the turbine down to send in for repair.  Unfortunately, the only company that does the repairs took two months to return the equipment!  Once the turbine was finally sent back, the Val-U Solar dudes came right out, climbed the tower, and installed the turbine.  Good folks, those Val-U Solar people!

The old raised tanks are not in use and the old wind mill is just decorative for now, but some day may be put back into service. Our 4500 gallon tank is set on the ground (lower left hand corner of the picture). The new solar panels are mounted on the wind mill framework with a custom rack designed by Chuck.

Chuck, one of the Val-U Solar owners, installs the repaired turbine at 50 feet above the ground!

 Webmaster report:

BlackMesaRanchOnline gets Downsized!

   7/7/08 After years of dreaming, research, and just plain impatient waiting, we've finally been able to acquire the domain name BlackMesaRanch.com.  The "online" part of our old domain name has been dropped.  Web site access and email addresses will work with either the new or old name for now, but soon we will change over to the shorter version - so please update your favorites list!