| We had long
admired Rapids at Forrest-Pride, and when Andrea
offered her to us in the spring of 2017 along with
her son, we jumped at the chance to add her to our
herd. Rapids is a true dairy animal: built with the
will and strength to produce in the parlor. She is
an elegant and high-headed doe, long and lean in the
neck, extremely level across the topline, with a
wide, flat rump. She stands on an excellent set of
legs and feet, is very open in the ribbing and wide
throughout, and has a very good shoulder assembly.
Rapids also has that lovely dairy skin that I like
to see on my animals, and milks like a Jersey. If
there were one thing I could change about her, it
would be that she maintains condition and not put it
all into milk. However, that's hardly a fault in a
dairy animal, and, regardless, she will not be going
anywhere anytime soon.
As a 4 year old 4th
freshener in 2019, Rapids has continued to deepen
and mature into a stunning animal, and is milking a
steady 11-12 pounds a day despite the extremely hot,
humid summer weather and only having a single kid.
Having finally started to keep some weight on,
Rapids was taken out to a couple of fall shows, and
she did not disappoint! Twice Grand Champion and
once Best of Breed, she is now a finished champion
and can, for the most part, stay at home and work in
the milking parlor, just the way she likes.
Rapids had a tough year in
2020, freshening unexpectedly with a huge set of
quads - over 40 lbs. of kid and afterbirth - that
took a lot out of her. However, she bounced back
after a couple of months and looked better than
ever, peaking at just under 16#. I dried her up
early to give her some extra time off, and she is
bred to Xavier for mid-May kids. |
