Carmel is gone now but a doe who left a lasting impact on our herd and our hearts!

Carmel was like a good wine, she just kept getting better as she aged. She was a very slowly maturing doe and only came into her own at 5 years old. Each year she got nicer and nicer and at age 8, placed 5th in the very competitive Aged Doe class at the 2016 ADGA Nationals. Carmel is now passed but is represented in most of our doe herd.

She was put together beautifully and was always at the top of her class.  She placed 11th as a three-year-old at the 2011 Nationals.  In 2013, she was 2x GCH, 2x BOB, 1X BDIS, 1x RGCH and 4x 1st and 2x 2nd. In 2014, a late and difficult kidding kept Carmel at home for our first show, and her "debut" for the year happened at linear appraisal where she appraised 90 for the third year in a row (how is that for consistency!).  To our excitement, she went excellent on all four categories of the scorecard.  At the 2014 ADGA Nationals, Carmel placed 12th in a competitive class of 5-6-year-old Nubians.  She finished her championship at the 2014 New Jersey State Fair.  Her record for 2014 was 3X GCH, 3XBOB, 2X RGCH, and 5x 1st.  

One of my favorite things about Carmel was she continued to age beautifully.  In 2015, she had a late kidding and less than 3 weeks later, turned around and appraised 91 EEEE at 7 years old.  We dragged her to all of our fair shows, where she was undefeated, going Best Of Breed each time, and was Best Doe in Show at the New Jersey State Fair and the Dutchess County Fair, all while milking over a gallon a day. She appraised for the last time at 10 years old, and went 91 EEEE then as well.