Barnowl Armande *M

Sire: *B Barnowl Quattro
SS: +*B Goat San Victor
SD: SGCH Barnowl Quidditch 2*M
Dam: SG Barnowl Amedei
DS: *B SGCH Tempo Very Dark
DD: SGCH Barnowl Deesse de L’Amour
ADGA Genetics Pedigree

Armande’s dam is one of our favorite to work with on a daily basis, unfortunately she freshened extremely uneven with mastitis in 2015, and likely won’t be able to realize the show dreams her otherwise beautifully put together confirmation and well attached mammary would bring to her. Amedei is every bit as long, tall, level, and overall stylish as her more than 1/2 sisters Aurelia and Bernice who have gotten lots of show string attention. Her sire also had a hard-luck story, a strikingly beautiful yearling buck, he became multi-strain resistant to dewormers during one of the worst parasite seasons we’ve ever had. A non-genetic, non-inheritable condition, we did our best to keep him going and was able to have him settle Amedei before we made the hard decision to put him down. We were inspired to make this breeding happen in the first place because of our Victor and Deesse daughter Ambrosia, who is one of the tallest, longest, dairiest does in the herd and who as a 2 year old was already getting many honorable mentions in truly competitive best udder classes.

There is just something about this doe that we really like. Maybe its the fact she is one of the first solid chocolate does we’ve ever had (or kept), but more likely it is her smoothness of blending coupled with sharpness throughout that is just pleasing to the eye. And then, of course, she goes and freshens in 2017 with a spectularly well attached mammary. Okay, she is in the same cohort as Encore, who is probably the fanciest doe we’ve had in half-a-decade, and she doesn’t make group classes like Arias, but in a year where it seems no one is safe, we’ve all decided she gets to stay right here.

She also had one of the prettiest out of the gate kids of the year. A single doe kid, we named her Adavid, because David said, “in my fifty years of breeding goats, I’d say that one is a keeper.” This may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but trust us, it is. Adavid did end up on the for sale list and found an amazing home, but he’s right, she is stylish and dairy and everything you want to see in a kid. We liked her so much, we repeated the breeding to Blade for 2018 and got another beautiful chocolate doe kid. 

Armande is a doe with so much to love, her capacious mammary being first and foremost on that long list. In the never-ending pursuit to get numbers down and to ensure each doe can meet her full potential, we did make the excruciating decision in fall 2018 to let her move on to a performance home in the midwest where she can the attention she deserves. We are watching from afar with excitement as she matures.