Kansas Bluestem Nubians
Here at Bluestem Acres, we’re committed to making sure our customers have a quality experience, every time a purchase is made. We do our best to breed animals that can perform at the highest level on your homestead by producing high quantities of quality milk and healthy offspring for you to continue a breeding program. Production and longevity are our first goals, but we believe that many of our animals would be highly competitive in the show ring as well. Through the Linear Appraisal program, we’re able to gather valueable information on the conformational quality of our animals and do have some lines more suited for showing than others. The information below is what you need to know when purchasing a goat from us, be it a kid or a mature animal. It’s lengthy, but all information is relevant, so please be sure to review all the information before making a decision to purchase from us.
Our Current Breeding Plans, posted in table format HERE (best viewed on a non-mobile device), will be updated if any changes occur throughout breeding season. We make our best effort to note reservations on the table as soon as the deposits are received. We will accept a waitlist on all kids. Reservations are open/accepted at any time after pregnancy is confirmed via bloodtest or ultrasound. If you are interested in a particular cross that hasn't been confirmed yet, we do keep a list of interested parties and will contact those on it once resevations are open. To reserve a kid, contact us and we’ll go over your options and get a reservation contract sent your way. Be sure you have read and understood all information provided on this page and in the contract we send you, prior to sending your deposit.
Unreserved kids and any available mature animal are posted to the For Sale section at the bottom of this page as soon as possible, but don't hesitate to contact us for availability. Sometimes we’re just too busy to get an animal posted but have them on the available list in our minds, and have usually posted them to our Facebook page. We will typically offer three to six does a year (from first fresheners to older more mature ladies), in order to keep numbers in check as we continue to move the quality of our herd forward.
Finally, you might be interested in our genetics without bringing an animal into your herd directly. Straw prices for bucks with collections on file are posted on their “section” on our Nubian Herdsires page. If you are interested in purchasing straws on any of our current live herdsires that don’t have prices posted, let us know and we will notify you as soon as a collection is completed. We co-own straws on a number of purebred Nubian bucks with another local breeder, Heather Eby, Locust Creek Nubians, and are using those straws in our AI endeavors. We do not have excess inventory of any of those bucks at this time, but might in the future. If we use a buck in an AI breeding that you’re interested in using yourself, contact us, and we will see if we’re ready to let any go.
Reservation Terms and Conditions-
Kid Reservation Policies
To reserve a kid before birth, a $100 non-refundable deposit is required. All deposits are non-refundable, assuming the kid is produced from the pairing and we are offering it for sale. Reservation deposits are refundable only if the reserved kid is unavailable (not born, decision to retain, illness, death, etc). Please respect our right to retain any kid born on our farm, regardless of reservations present, if we decide to do so. It’s uncommon that we will decide to retain a kid we originally intended to sell if it has a resesrvation in place, but there are situations that arise. The balance of the purchase price is due within 10 days of birth. All our live breeding stock, except Ethel, are G6S normal. We do not accept reservations on kids from Ethel, or from and AI-breeding with a buck of unknown status, but will accept a waitlist/contact list for doe kids. Doe kids from a possible G6S-carrier breeding will be tested prior to being offered for sale, and sold with status disclosed. Buck kids from a possible G6S-carrier breeding will be wethered without testing, unless we desire to retain one as a junior herdsire.
We require a 1st choice and a 2nd choice selection for all deposits. Second choice selections should be from the same "kidding group" or a following "kidding group." (I.e. if your first choice doe is kidding in March, do not select a doe due in January as your second choice.) Should neither choice be born, we will offer a refund of your deposit, opportunity to purchase a currently available/unreserved kid, or allow you to forward that deposit to the following kidding season.
Pricing Inclusions
Pricing listed is only guaranteed for pre-reserved kids picked up by 2 weeks of age. Kids not picked up by 2 weeks of age will incur a $15/week boarding charge. All kids are disbudded and given CD&T, plus applicable tattoos for registration. IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR KID DISBUDDED OR VACCINATED, PLEASE LET US KNOW WHEN SENDING YOUR DEPOSIT.
Doe kid pricing is for the kid and online registration/transfer fees. It does not include DNA or AS1C testing. We are happy to do that for you at the ADGA Plus member rate, but it is an additional cost. For ADGA Youth/4-H member buyers who are local, doe kid pricing includes one stud service to any of our mature bucks, to be completed before the doe turns two years old. (Health testing on the doe is required prior to the service.)
Buck kid pricing includes the kid plus the cost of DNA typing/parentage verification and online registration/transfer. AS1C testing is not included but can be requested, at additional cost. We reserved the right to purchase 10 straws of semen on any buck kid sold, if/when you have them collected.
We reserve the right to post unreserved kids for sale at a price higher or lower than first listed in the Breeding Plans table should we deem their quality different that we expected. We price available animals based on the quality of the pedigree and the performance of the doe and any part or full siblings, as well as considering market value.
Pick-up & Shipping
All kids reserved prior to birth should be picked up or shipped before 2 weeks of age, unless you have made prior arrangements with us for keeping them longer. Reserved kids not picked up before 4 weeks of age, without special pickup arrangements in-place, will be considered "abandoned" and will be offered for sale to the next individual in line. Refunds will not be made for deposits of kids that are not picked up in a timely manner.
Shipping is done at the buyer’s expense. This includes all veterinary expenses (health certificate), crate cost, airfare or livestock transport fees, and fuel expenses to transport the animal to the airport or meeting place of the professional transporter. Fees expected to be incurred by Bluestem Acres will be determined in advance (to the best of our ability) and should be reimbursed in advance of the shipping date. Should incurred costs be lower and fee refund will be procided. At this time we do not air ship but will work with ground transporters. If you are familiar enough with air shipping that you could walk us through the process, we’re willing to learn it.
Health Guarantee
We intend for you to have many years using animals purchased from us in your breeding program. All goats that leave our property will be healthy when they depart, and any medications or procedures performed will be disclosed with you. We cannot guarantee health of the animal once it leaves our care, though. You, the buyer, accept responsibility for maintaining good general health, or that you trust your transporter to maintain good general health of your goat once the goat leaves our premises.
We do our best to screen animals for genetic defects or abnomalities that would prevent them from being used in a breeding program. If a goat we sell you is deemed sterile or genetically incapable of breeding by a veterinarian when it is of mature age, we will replace that animal at no cost to you (shipping/pickup is the responsiblity of the buyer). We will require a signed statement from your veterianarian and may request additional examination/testing be completed (at our expense) at a clinic or university near you before agreeing to replace the animal. Replacement animals must be of the same gender, and can be selected from any open reservation or currently avaialable bottle kid, either out of the same doe as the original animal or from a doe of the same (or lower) freshening as the original doe was at the time of original purchase (i.e. if you purchased a buck kid from Jane Doe who was a second freshener that year, you can replace your aniamal with another buck kid from Jane Doe or from any of our first or second fresheners of the current season). Currently available mature stock is not eligible as a replacement animal unless it is priced at or below the price of the original kid. The purchase price of the original kid can be credited towards the purchase price of the available mature stock should you be interested in one that is priced above your originaly purchased kid. The replacement animal gurantee applies only for animals purchased directly from Bluestem Acres. We cannot offer this service on animals carrying our herdname who were purchased third party.
“Wet Kids” and Unreserved Bucklings
‘Wet kids" will be offered on occasion when our lives are busier than normal. These kids sell for $25 (grade) or $150 (registration application). "Wet kids" must be picked up "immediately" (within 24 hours) upon notification of availability. Please let us know if you're interested in being on our "wet kids" contact list. "Wet kids" will be started on the bottle but will not be experts yet. "Wet kids" come with no guarantees. Tattooing and disbudding of registered "wet kids" will be the responsibility of the buyer and should be done according to the accompanying registration application.
All buck kids who are born without a reservation in place can be purchased as grade bottle babies, with a wether agreement ($100 purchase, $50 wether deposit; deposit returned upon photo proof of wethering when animal is old enough). Typically these kids are sold at 10 days old, just after disbudding. The majority of unreserved buck kids will be sold as a group.
Current Breeding Plans
FOOTNOTES:
Planned pedigrees are linked to the due dates. Pedigrees provided courtesy of genetics.adga.org.
Does with specific due dates listed are confirmed pregnant via ultrasound or blood test. Reservations are open for those breedings.
If you are interested in reserving a kid from an unconfirmed pregnancy, please contact us to be put on the notification list for when the pregnancy has been confirmed.
Due dates listed are based on 150 days from the live cover or AI date.
“Kidding result” lists number of available buck or doe kids from that doe, if kidding has already occurred.
All our live breeding stock, except Ethel, are G6S normal. We do not rake reservations on kids from Ethel, or from and AI-breeding with a buck of unknown status. Those kids will be G6S tested prior to being offered for sale.
Herd Disease Testing Information
Our herd tests CAE and Johnes free. We are also free of abscesses and there is no history of CL on our property. We test annually, in batches along with pregnancy testing through SEK Genetics in Galesburg, KS. We publish those results here, as they’re completed.
Sale of Does in Milk
Junior does will usually be freshened at approximately 15 months of age and kept for a period of time to evaluate udder and production. Pricing on first fresheners does begins at $550. To keep our herd size in check, we will regularly have Senior does available. Pricing for Senior does typically begins at $800. Pricing goes up based on milking performance and quality, and pedigree. We prefer does be sold in pairs, and performance herds (show, DHIR, and Linear Appraisal) are given priority.
Goats For Sale
$650
Sale pending—
deposit received
Over the Moon KUL Fantasy *M
ADGA #N2006656
DNA on file- yes
Alpha-s1 Casein: B/N
G-6-S: Normal (by Parentage)
1*M (AR 2022)
November 18, 2017
LA: 05-10 VGVA 84
Fantasy’s doe page, with all the detailed information about her, is available here, and these next two paragraphs explain the good and the bad about Fantasy as a dairy goat.
Fantasy is a wide and healthy doe bred by Ashley of Over the Moon Nubian Dairy Goats. Fantasy is an incredibly easy keeper and has always outproduced herself in her offspring. Her dam line and sire line both go back to Goldthwaite genetics. Fantasy shows a nice, wide udder with a beautiful arch. Her rear legs are set nicely with good angles, and we appreciate the dairy quality and texture of her udder- when shes empty, you can definitely tell and be confident that it is empty! We have retained one daughter and are really hoping for a second daughter to retain from her “2024 season” kidding (due Christmas Day, 2023).
What we don’t appreciate about Fantasy is her attitude while being milked. Fantasy is a stomper, she has incredibly ticklish legs, and requires being shackled or hobbled for every milking, either by hand or by machine. We’ve come to appreciate shackling her down to the stand platform, rather than hobbling her legs together. This works really well, and she milks nicely; even behaving well while the shackles are put on her legs. However, in our current milking setup (8-head stanchion), she must always come up the ramp in the same position, in order to wear her shackles. While this is doable, it causes stress and creates difficulty, especially if we ever have a substitute milker.
All that said, and taking into account her age, Fantasy is offered at a price much lower than any other mature doe. She’s a great “small herd” goat that uses only a single or a double stanchion for milking. She has wonderful qualities and is a fantastic brood doe plus good volume milker.
Progeny in our herd: Phortune (‘23)
$800
Sale pending—
deposit received
Redwood Hills Atlas Memory 9*M
ADGA #N2172823
9*M (AR 2023)
February 25, 2020
03-06 GVVG 84
DNA on file- no
Alpha-s1 Casein: B/B
G-6-S: Normal (by test)
Memory is a gorgeous black roan doe who started life with the Redwood Hills herd in California. Memory comes from a long line of beautiful does and her sire does as well. Memory gave us a beautiful doe kid to retain in 2023, and we’re hoping to have a second daughter to retain from our 2024 kidding season. If she’s so great, why are we letting her go? Memory is a much more weaker framed doe than what we want to have long-term in our herd. She appraised GVVG 84 in September of 2023. She met the minimum requirements for the AR milk star in her lactation in 2023. She posseses great conformation qualities that we wanted to intoduce to our herd, but for long term, we’d like to breed back towards a heavier-built Nubian line that yields better butcher weight on non-herdsire bucklings. Our favorite qualities in her conformation that we are glad to have in our herd now are her body depth (35), dairyness (37), rear udder height (33), and teats (placement, diameter and length). She is one of only two does in our herd appraised witha Good Plus in her mammary for the 2023 appraisal session, and that’s something we hope to see passed forward to her daughters as well.
Memory’s doe page with all the details about her is available here, for you to investigate more about her.
Progeny in our herd: Souvenir (‘23)
$800
Sale pending—
deposit received
Camelot Cattle Co Mandisa
ADGA #N2224929
DNA on file- no
AS1C: unknown
G-6-S: Normal (by Parentage)
March 19, 2022
LA: 01-06 GGGA 78
Mandisa is maternal granddaughter to SG Camelot Cattle Co Mischief 4*M. She is sired by, Sweet Spring Calvin Klein, who is a son of Kastdemur's Time in a Bottle. Mandisa is the Camelot Cattle Co doe we purchased that we were most excited about, but because of her teat placement, we’re moving her on, instead of keeping her long term. We have retained a daughter from her 2023 freshening (yearling), and intend to retain a doe kid from her 2024 freshening. We think she will be an excellent doe as she matures, with the Time in a Bottle body style, and (hopefully) the milking genetics of her granddam. Mandisa's dam, Camelot Cattle Co Mystique, appraised at a VG89 as a first freshener (the highest possible for a FF), and has already put well over 2700lbs in the bucket on her first lactation in just 222 days. Mandisa is a very easy keeper and she has great production as a yearling.
Mandisa’s doe page with all the information about her isn’t yet completed, but don’t hesitate to ask us for additional photos or information if you’re interested in her.
Progeny in our herd: Joy (‘23)
$800
Sale pending—
deposit received
Kansas Bluestem Evangeline
DNA on file- yes
Alpha-s1 Casein: B/N
G-6-S: Normal (by Test)
ADGA #N2250168
June 9, 2022
LA: 01-03 AGGG 79
Evangeline is one of Ethel's 2022 triplet does, sired by Amadeus. She is the only one who inherited the "N" AS1C allele, and she is also G6S normal. Evangeline blessed us with our first AS1C N/N doe (Empanada) in 2023, and we hope that she gives us another AS1C N/N doe in 2024, which is why she can’t go to a new home until after she freshens. Evangeline is wonderful milker and we are very pleased with her, but she is a “stepping stone” in our breeding goals, and her offspring take us closer to that goal. Due to our herd size limitations, we have to let her go to someone else’s herd to help them achieve their goals, too. If we could improve a few things on Evangeline, we’d add more width in her rear (and overall throughout her frame) and correct her legs to be square, instead of hocky on the rear and toe-out on the fore (these leg traits are coming from both her sire and her dam, as neither have perfect legs and she got the short end of the genetic stick in their combination).
Evangeline’s doe page with all the details about her isn’t completed yet, but feel free to ask us any questions or for more pictures if you’re interested in her. Ideally, she will go to a new home paired with another of the milking does we have for available in the spring of 2024.
Progeny in our herd: Empanada (‘23)