Saada Dairy Goats, LLC - About Saada Dairy Goats, LLC

We are frequently asked how we came by our herdname. "Saade" is Laura's Christian-Arab grandmother's maiden name. Laura wished to honor her and thought it was also appropriate as she is, like the Nubian dairy goat, is a mixure of both eastern and western blood. The S-A-A-D-A spelling was selected because it made pronounciation a bit easier for Americans and because it is the arabic word for "happiness", which the goats have always seem to bring to us.

Laura and her daughter Ziggy began the herd when Ziggy was a child, origionally to provide family milk and as an alternative to milk replacer for orphan lambs from the herd of sheep the family had at the time. Charlotte,was invited to become a partner 10 years later. She too had a background in lifestock, and had been trained as a vet tech. She originally owned goats when her (then) baby daughter had milk allergies and later added some from Saada as her 4-H project. We feel that having three people to share the work and woes, as well as the joys been one of our herd's strengths over the years. Besides our goats, we three also share our faith in God, as well as our strong family ties and commitments.

We breed for a large, long and tall type of Nubian, with good breed character, graceful motion, milk, strong and well-blended fore and rear udder attachments and strong medials. Using the bloodlines of Beckwood, Cook's Rancho, Conquest and Cadilac, through animals from the Desert Caper, Rocking Thistle, Faith Farm and Goldthwaite herds (for the most part), we have layered them over a number of generations to breed toward the type we prefer. Our animals tend to be tall-fronted, angular, have an attractive teat shape and correct placement and strong, level backs and rumps. We have also had success in breeding good rear udder heighth and width.

In addition to type, we've also selected for a gentle, cooperative disposition, good health and long, level lactations with good percentages of protein and fat (in fact many of our does produce virtually the same percentage in both). We tend to favor strong dam lines and like to move our genetics forward,by using fairly young bucks, as a rule. We also use artificial insemination to either bring back animals we have used in the past or to introduce new bloodlines.

We have no "perfect" dairy goats, but we are proud of a number of the ones we have produced over the years, using the ADGA scorecard and programs as our yardstick. Dispite our isolated location, we have bred many GCH does. We have had a number of top National Show placings, have been accepted into the Spotlight Sale each of the three times we nominated an animal, have been on DHIA milk test since 1990 and have used the Linear Appraisal program (and its predecessor) many times over the years.

Please feel free to contact us by whatever means you prefer, with questions, comments or for more information. We will attempt to help.