Welcome to our blog. Check back often for official news and announcements from the KGBA and articles on various topics of Kinder goat care, raising, breeding, showing and more!
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We Need Photos!
The newsletter committee is working on the next newsletter, and would like to feature a few candid photos of our member’s goats to share and be appreciated. Photos that are not used may be featured in the Kinder® Communique as well. Please submit your candid photos to mgbfarms0211@gmail.com
We also need photos for the upcoming KGBA calendar! Lisa LaRose is hard at work creating another beautiful calendar for 2015, and is still looking for Kinder goat photos to include. The calendar will be available in December, but must be preordered. To submit your photos or preorder a calendar, please email Lisa at lisalarose77@yahoo.com
*** Please be sure to submit your name, your subject’s name and farm information so we can give you credit.
We Asked For It…
Well, we asked and you responded!!!
It is with a great deal of excitement that we announce our new Newsletter and Website Committees.
Paul Jones, Carla Durham and Kelsee Gibbs have volunteered to join our Website Committee. They will be working with the president to update and maintain our website and all associated media. They bring with them some great ideas and expertise, so please stay tuned for exciting changes to our website and the Communique!
Kathrin Bateman, Kim Evans, Simone Smith, Elizabeth Sweet, Chris Tuhy and Kay Spencer have volunteered for our newly created Newsletter Committee. Moving forward, they will be designing and distributing the KGBA newsletter. We have lacked the help needed to put out a newsletter this year, so this is especially good ‘news!’
Contact info for committee members will be listed on the website shortly. We welcome the donation of ideas, articles, artwork, newsletters and photos to be used in future newsletters and online publications, so please don’t hesitate to contact any of our new committee members with comments and ideas. These members are volunteering their time, knowledge and experience to make the KGBA great, and for that we thank you!!!
Extra, Extra! Read All About It!
As you may have noticed, we have not put out a KGBA newsletter this year.
We have had a number of amazing members take on the responsibility of editing the newsletter over the last few years, and owe them each a huge debt of gratitude. They worked hard and created beautiful, informative pieces that everyone enjoyed. However, working alone on the newsletter takes a great deal of time and effort. Not many of our members have a lot of either to spare, so instead of having a single KGBA newsletter editor as we have done in the past, we would like to try something new – we would like to form a newsletter committee that works as a team to produce future newsletters, but we need your help! We need volunteers to:
– Collect articles, artwork and photos for future newsletters
– Write editorial pieces
– Create artwork for newsletters and other promotional material
– Work on newsletter layout and design
– Print and mail quarterly newsletters to members
If you are organized, detail oriented and have a way with words, please consider volunteering for our newsgroup! For more information or to volunteer, please contact Sue Beck at sue@jabeck.com.
It’s Time To Vote!
By now, most KGBA members should have received their ballots in the mail, and we encourage you to vote!
Two current Board members have decided not to run for another year due to their many other responsibilities and commitments. Lisa Lamm, Lisa Naumann and Carla Durham have been incredibly positive, dedicated members of the board and have contributed immensely to the ongoing success of our association. Thank you, Ladies – we will miss you!
Luckily, we have some outstanding new candidates running for open positions on the board. Below are brief bios on each candidate. I encourage you to read them and get to know a bit about all of us.
Sue Beck (President):
Like many of you, I decided I wanted Kinder Goats long before I saw one. In fact – I owned my first Kinder long before I saw one!
After buying two doelings and waiting (forever) for them to reach breeding age, it was love at first sight when I finally met them. There is no doubt in my mind that Kinders are the best goats in the world, and I’ve made it my goal to make sure that everyone else knows it, too!
I believe the KGBA board has a great responsibility to our members and their goats, and take my position as president very seriously. During my term on the board, we have increased member communication via social media, newsletters, our blog and an updated website. We have increased exposure of our goats through online sources, promotional packets, new informational packets and new brochures that are also available to our members for distribution. We have decreased paperwork turnover and email response time, but recognize it as an ongoing challenge and continue to look for areas of improvement.
I thank our members for giving me the chance to serve for the last three years, and will work hard to ensure the continued growth and success of our wonderful association if elected in 2015.
Ashley Kennedy (Vice President):
I started with my first goats in 2002, I fell in love with a friend’s Kinders and I had to get some of my own. I became a member of the KGBA shortly after. I’ve previously served on the board as Vice President in 2010. I adore everything about this versatile breed, and I love helping people in their own journey with Kinders.
Jean Jajan (Secretary):
I am Jean Jajan of Gray J Ranch Kinders
I have been on the KBGA board for the past 5 ½ years. I live in Grants Pass, OR and have been raising goat for over fourteen years. I started with Pygmys, Nubians and Boers and decided to literally downsize my herd about 9 years ago and sold my Boers and began breeding Kinders.
I have been active in many other goat activities as an officer in the Southern Oregon Pygmy Goat club and the board of the Oregon Meat Goat Producers
The Kinder breed needs to be promoted more actively. We need to raise awareness of the breed as a medium size dual purpose homestead goat. This means not only promoting it as great little milker but as a meat provider also.
I have been working hard to do this and to encourage the breeding of a meaty Kinder with a good udder and good milk production that follows the breed standards and characteristics established when the association was formed. I would like to help the association continue in its goals even though I am no longer actively breeding Kinders.
Lisa LaRose (Treasurer):
Hello. My name is Lisa LaRose and I live in Southern Illinois on a small hobby farm we named Kinder Korner. I have been married to Mark for 23 years and have one daughter. I just finished my Master’s degree in nursing administration and my area of work is emergency medicine.
My daughter Kelsee and I share our Kinder herd. We have had Kinders for 7 years and a few mixed pet goats before that. We fell in love with goats when Kelsee was a teen. We researched what would be the best option for us and we settled on Kinders, and have never looked back. It took us over a year to get our first one but we were hooked on her sweet disposition and awesome personality. We grew in quality and quantity since then.
I love making goat’s milk soap and love the opportunity to produce our own food. Our farm is available for visits, and I love nothing better than to discuss Kinders and show them off. I look forward to promoting this amazing breed. Our goats have moved to many states, even as far as Pennsylvania. I am also proud to say we even have some of our Kinder goats at the St. Louis Zoo. The children’s zoo curator is so happy with them she just contacted me to ask permission to refer our breed to other zoos.
I look forward to starting more herds in this area and would like to assist with promoting Kinder shows. Kelsee and I are discussing a plan to host a Kinder show in our area and encourage other breeders to do the same.
I would be proud to serve on the KGBA board to promote Kinders.
Brenda Lee Shelt (Member at Large):
My happiness revolves around my husband and our little homestead. Working together to make our farm, just that, our farm. Kinders added to our already growing critter crew in a way that both amazed us, and made us laugh with their antics.
This wonderful, dual purpose power house of a goat, is the reason we became so vocal in our campaign to promote them. Watching the KGBA from the outside, we saw ways we could be of help and get involved. Always looking to improve our herd, we thought we could help the KGBA as well. Finding ways to upgrade and improve the forms for everyone was a first step. I advocate working together, open communication with members, and the constant reminder that there is one thing we all have in common – WE LOVE OUR KINDERS!
As a KGBA Member-at-Large, I want to take a look at where we are, dream and have a part in where we’re going, and find more ways to bring Kinders into the spot light.
While nominations are now closed, all members are still welcome to run if they so choose by simply announcing their intent to run and asking their supporters to add them as a write in candidate on the appropriate line. Please take this opportunity to support your association and voice your opinions – we welcome anonymous notes with your ballots and will read and consider them at a future board meeting.
Thank you all for you participation!
Missouri State Fair Show
It is with great disappointment that I announce that there will not be a sanctioned Kinder Goat show at the Missouri State Fair this year.
Lack of interest, exhibitors and volunteer help make it impossible to continue the long tradition of showing Kinders at this fair. Past breeders and show-goers worked very hard to make the show possible and to keep it going for years… with so many Kinder owner and breeders still in the area, it is incredibly disheartening to see that come to an end.
If we want the Kinder breed to continue to grow, we all need to take part in its success. It is my sincere hope that new owners and breeders will start to consider ways to promote their goats and farms in their own communities. Don’t know where to start? Here are a few ideas:
Begin the process of creating sanctioned Kinder Goat shows in your own community. Putting on a show takes hard work and dedication, but they are great fun and a wonderful way to meet other Kinder owners in your area! This year, Kinders are showing in at least three county fairs in two different states (Montana and Wisconsin). By next year we plan to have three new sanctioned shows in the Midwest, and there are talks of having another on the west coast.
Volunteer at local events! For the last two years, there has been a Kinder booth at the west coast Mother Earth News Fair that garners a great deal of attention including articles and photos in newspapers and magazines. Having a booth at this fair is a great deal of work for those that do it, but the exposure has been priceless for all of us.
Create a local Kinder/ goat group – work with your neighbors to create buck shares, herd health days, milk test groups, etc. Community members are a great resource, and shared knowledge and experience can be invaluable!
Write articles! Submitting articles and photos for publication in magazines is a great way for our Kinders to gain exposure. Just make sure that the information you include is correct and factual, so that we don’t accidentally misrepresent ourselves.
Finally…. volunteer!!! The Association is ALWAYS in need of volunteers and fresh ideas. I’ll be posting a “help wanted” list separately… please consider volunteering – the success of our Association depends on it.
Join the KGBA Board!
Do you love Kinders and have time and passion to invest in our association? If so, we want you!!!
The KGBA nominating committee is currently accepting volunteers and recommendations for the annual September election. Any person holding an individual membership effective as of March 1stis eligible to be a candidate or recommend another for a position.
Thinking about running? Please consider your decision carefully – becoming a board member is a wonderful way to help our Association grow and improve and we want all the help we can get, but it takes time and commitment to make things happen! Directors serve without compensation. The elected term is 1-3 years, with directors spending an average of 5-10 hours a month managing the affairs of the association.
Board members attend monthly board meetings via conference call, take part in various committees and work to promote the Kinder goat in accordance to our bylaws. Specific descriptions of each position can be found at www.kindergoatbreeders.com/bylaws.html
If you would like to volunteer or nominate someone else for a position, please contact a member of the nominating committee via email prior to August 8th. Please consider submitting a half-page bio (to included with ballots) when you express your interest in becoming a candidate. The 2014 Nominating Committee is comprised of the following people:
Sue Beck – sue@jabeck.com
Carla Durham – carlacoxdurham@gmail.com
Janet Rekow – JanRekow@gmail.com
We look forward to hearing from you!
Disclaimer: The opinions, views, and thoughts expressed by newsletter and blog contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Kinder® Goat Breeders Association. Goat husbandry advice found in the newsletter and blog is not meant to substitute a valid veterinary relationship. Please request permission to share or reprint newsletter and blog posts.