# Our Spanish Herdsire Calfee Farms "Lucky Strike"



## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)




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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

Lucky is 3 years old in this picture and weighs approximately 250+lbs. He's our senior herdsire.


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

He is certainly a tank!


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

ArborGoats said:


> He is certainly a tank!


Thanks! He has produced a lot of great kids for us. His black coat, hooves, and horns are definitely a heritable trait.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Very nice


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Nice.


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

Suzanne_Tyler said:


> Very nice


Thanks


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

Big boy!


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

Beautiful buck!!


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

I'd love to hear about the Spanish Goat breed! Is there a registry? What is the history of the breed?


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Very nice! Are you the breeder or did you buy him?


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Be still my heart! That is one HANDSOME boy!!!!!!!


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

catharina said:


> I'd love to hear about the Spanish Goat breed! Is there a registry? What is the history of the breed?


The Spanish Goat is a landrace breed of goat. After every major European explorer brought livestock, goats included, to the Americas for meat, milk, and hides. These explorers turned these goats loose so that when they returned the goats would have multiplied and there would be an ample supply of goats for meat and hides across the southern US. The Spanish Goat lived for over 600 years feral and very hardy and able to take care of themselves because only the smartest and strongest goats survived. There once was millions of Spanish goats but crossbreeding with other breeds of meat goats because Spanish Goats mommas are so awesome at raising babies and a lot of them has left only 7,000 proven pure 100% Spanish Goats left in the world with Calfee Farms owning approximately 40+ of those 7,000. This goat is THE 1st and original goat of the Americas and its purpose was and still is solely a meat goat. There is today a brand new registry for Spanish goats because of the dishonesty of some selling and attempting to pass off dairy cross and stockyard goats with indiscriminate breeding with the Spanish look as the real thing. The new registry is in the process of collecting DNA of Spanish Goats from ranches who have been raising these goats for several generations over 200 years and creating a data bank of sorts. Within the Spanish Goat breed is 15 different bloodlines named after the families who have bred their 100% Spanish Goats for decades and some for 2 centuries. The Spanish goat is near extinction so with their rich history, the wild/ "survival of the fittest" toughness, and relative rarity of these goats, we felt a "calling" to do our part to save and conserve this noble/ majestic breed of meat goat. How rare are these goats??? The Spanish Goat is listed on the "watch list" in the American Livestock Conservancy. Visit www.spanishgoats.org for more information about Spanish Goats.


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

lottsagoats1 said:


> Very nice! Are you the breeder or did you buy him?


Thanks Lottsagoats1! : ) Our very first Spanish goat we ever owned "Nacho" a Sawyer Spanish buck we bought from a man that was a hundred or so miles away. He went to Texas and bought a small herd of Spanish goats and brought them to the hills of Tennessee. He would not ever sell a doe but I convinced him to sell me a buck. We bred Nacho to every Texas Genemaster and Kiko doe we owned and were amazed at the quality he added to our commercial herd of goats so much so that we decided to go all in and make the switch to all Spanish Goats. We contacted The Koy Ranch in Eldorado, Texas and put an order for a small herd of their all black Spanish goats that actually put on a coat of cashmere in winter but she'd it in summer to reveal a slick, shiny short coat that's black and somewhat reflective in full sunlight. We bought another buck from them and since then have added several other bloodlines of Spanish goats to the herd and now we have near 40 breeding does. We have customers in 12 different states from Texas to Indiana to Virginia to Kentucky. We sell out of our weaned kids every single year. This past year, we added a Devil's River Spanish herdsire and this bloodline, per the Spanish Goat Association, is the rarest bloodline out there and being a blue colored one makes him even more rare. We bred him to every doe we have for Last week of December/ New Year babies.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Wow, your information is fascinating & I can't wait to learn more from the website. You sound like a real asset to your breed! Have you heard of San Clemente Island Goats? They are a sort of younger, west coast counterpart to your breed. While some believe that their ancestors were left on the Channel Islands of CA by the Spanish explorers, there's more evidence that they were brought by the Padres in the Spanish Mission times. The isolation on the island ensured their genetic purity until the 1980s when they were exterminated, leaving only a hundred or 2 rescues on the mainland to maintain the breed. We also have bloodlines (only 8 or 9) & are also wondering about DNA testing but don't know where to start. San Clementes are a critically endangered breed known mainly for the bucks' attributes: incredible horns & a deficiency of scent glands, though the does are valued for ease of kidding & extremely high butterfat milk (one tested at 7%!)


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

catharina said:


> View attachment 123577
> View attachment 123578
> Wow, your information is fascinating & I can't wait to learn more from the website. You sound like a real asset to your breed! Have you heard of San Clemente Island Goats? They are a sort of younger, west coast counterpart to your breed. While some believe that their ancestors were left on the Channel Islands of CA by the Spanish explorers, there's more evidence that they were brought by the Padres in the Spanish Mission times. The isolation on the island ensured their genetic purity until the 1980s when they were exterminated, leaving only a hundred or 2 rescues on the mainland to maintain the breed. We also have bloodlines (only 8 or 9) & are also wondering about DNA testing but don't know where to start. San Clementes are a critically endangered breed known mainly for the bucks' attributes: incredible horns & a deficiency of scent glands, though the does are valued for ease of kidding & extremely high butterfat milk (one tested at 7%!)


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

Catharine,

I had read the history of the San Clemente goat and think it is very fascinating. I have always thought that your goats and my goats probably were of the same European ancestors. Yeah, your San Clemente goat is even more rare than my Spanish goat. Thanks for the kind words. Sounds like you are a great asset to the San Clemente Goat breed as well. Are you a member of the Livestock Conservancy? They are a wealth of knowledge and resources for rare farm critters such as ours. Our Spanish Goat coordinator I think, collaborated with Dr. Sponenburg of the Livestock Conservancy and they started the Spanish Goat Conservation Society. She had to do this because of the dishonesty of people passing off stockyard goats that looked like a Spanish-type goat and were selling them as the real deal. The introduction of the Angora goat in the early 1900's, and then the importation of the big beautiful Boer goat in 1993 just about ruined pure Spanish goats because long time breeders of Spanish goats payed thousands of dollars for a Boer buck and bred them to every single Spanish goat they had due to the high prices even % bucks were bringing $30,000. So the Spanish doe being such a good tough momma is great but it has also been its downfall because they are and were used in cross breeding.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

It must be really hard to verify the bloodlines of pure Spanish goats to get a registry established. I can't imagine the challenge!


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Yes, it's hard to imagine many purebred Spanish Goats surviving! Thank goodness for those few breeders! San Clementes had their isolated island to keep them pure until the eradication. Where were the last feral herds of the Spanish Goats?


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

SalteyLove said:


> It must be really hard to verify the bloodlines of pure Spanish goats to get a registry established. I can't imagine the challenge!


I believe it is. The goat producer must provide a couple of pics of the goat(s), then pluck 50 tail hairs and mail them in. The owner of the goat also has to provide a paper trail i.e. to prove they bought the goat(s) from a breeder that has been thoroughly researched and is listed on the website as an approved breeder. It is a long process but this is a necessary process to insure the breed is pure.


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

...as far as the last Feral herd of Spanish goats being found, we are still on the hunt for feral Spanish goats, but just 2 weeks ago a Central Florida ranch was home to less than 10 verified Spanish goats who were the remnants of a huge herd that had been on a cattle ranch and part of the herd of 100's of head of cattle for 60+ years. Due to the reintroduction of coyotes to this part of US, all the goats were killed off except for 2 bucks and 8 or so does. They now are quarantined near S. Carolina on a preservation farm to have DNA samples collected and a systematic breeding plan to help preserve this precious bloodline of Spanish goats. Thanks for your interest in my breed of goat by the way!


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