HISTORY OF HAASENDA RANCH I'd like to introduce you to Haasenda Ranch. Most people think we are a new herd, but actually, we are an old herd that's on its second time around. The herd was originally established by my brother, Duane, in the early 60's as his 4-H project. He deveoped it into a strong and successful herd. As his years in 4-H were coming to the end, he decided that his "Little Sister", me, should take over the herd. To that point, the goats were not "my thing", but I soon fell in love with them. Through my years in 4-H, the herd continued to improve even more, being very dominating in the 4-H show-rings of Southern California. By the end of the 60's, my years in 4-H were over. Duane and I joined as partners and continued showing in Open Division, working our way up. In 1972, we attended the National Show in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where "Hassenda's Erika" was selected as the Grand Champion. The following year, at the National Show in Del Mar, California, "Erika" was Res. Grand Champion. In the late 70's, my brother married, we split the herd and he moved to Oregon, where he soon quit showing. I continued for a short time, but it wasn't the same without my partner. By the early 80's, I too got married and decided to sell the herd only keeping about five does, just to have something in the barn. For the next 12 years, we showed every two or three years at Los Angeles County Fair, which is only a few miles from us, just for the fun of the "fair experience". We didn't do well and didn't expect to. We weren't breeding seriously and never expected to again. But, in 1991, I came out of the show-ring with Res. Jr. Champion. That got the competition juices flowing again. With much encouragement and assistance from Randy Hoach, we bought Hoach's CCR Craftsman in 1993. We were back in the goat business! In 1995, we were so excited to show Craftsman's first milking daughters. They were such an improvement, but still at the bottom of the class. In 1996, we had found the winning combination with Craftsman and Mae, when their daughter, "Haasenda's Meadow" was Best Jr. Doe of Show at L.A. Fair, winning it over 270 other does. As a milking yearling, Meadow was consistently 1st place at all the fairs, with Haasenda's Eshley right behind. Later that year, we brought Hoach's Golden Laser home (son of Hoach's QAAG Goldenlark, GCH at the 1994 National Show). By using all different genetic combinations with Craftsman, Laser, a couple of other bucks and the gene pool from my original herd, we rapidly started climbing up through the placings in the show-ring. Our success had become very consistent at the fairs we were attending. So, we made the decision to attend the 1999 National Show in Sacramento, California. We went with no great expectations, only to see the "best does" in the nation and to find out what level we were really at. Our hopes were to at least make the cut at 20. Most classes had 40 to 60 entries. We showed 13 does, all made the cut and 12 were in the top 11 placings. Much to our shocking surprise, we had the 1st place Sr. Kid - Haasenda's Enastasia, 1st place Jr. Get of Sire - Hoach's Golden Laser, and 1st place Milking Yearling - Haasenda's Elonda. We have been showing at five major fairs a year; Del Mar (San Diego), Orange County, Ventura County, L.A. County and Arizona State, winning Grand Champion at all of them. Haasenda's Elonda became a Permanent Grand Champion as a two year old. Another slower maturing doe, Haasenda's E.R. Fudgecicle, has emerged to give Elonda competition and become our second Permanent Grand this year. Several of our other does have shared the Reserve Grand spotlight; Enastasia, Heidi Ho, Elyeska, Emerald and Elivia. There have been too many Jr. Champions to keep track of. We have also been Premier Breeder and Exhibitor at all the fairs for the last four years. When judges and other exhibitors describe our does, their words are: "Extremely stylish dairy does, with smooth blending front ends, long and level over the top, depth of body, strong feet and legs, with beautiful mammary systems that are attached high and wide." These are the characteristics Haasenda Ranch strives for! |
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