Copper-Creek Minis (Formerly 'Dawn*Star Ranch') is here! Why the Name Change?
Since we are starting our mini program over, with brand new genetics, we thought it was fitting to also change our herd name. Since none of my original animals will be contributing to the genetics of my new herd. Wasn't the Dawn*Star Ranch herd being taken care of by your friends? They originally were, back in 2018 (now former) friends purchased the 6 remaining animals of the original Dawn*Star Miniature LaMancha herd during our health crisis and forced herd dispersal. For those who don't remember, my husband developed heart/lung issues which put him in the ER nearly every week. Try as they might the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. The only thing we could do was make an emergency move (literally within 1 week) down to lower elevation where his heart wouldn't have to work as hard. Seeing that our friends had failed to market their Awassi sheep here in Arizona, and were forced to butcher the entire flock due to mounting feed costs and lack of lamb sales, we offered to sell them our remaining herd at a discount to help them replace the dairy animals they lost. They agreed (under a verbal buy-back agreement), to sell us back three animals of our choosing (for the same price that we sold those three animals originally to them for) in two years when we got property to house them. Satisficed that our goats were in good hands, our entire herd of registered minis was entrusted to their family before we left Show Low Arizona. For two years, contact was limited. Then in 2020, when I happened upon a craigslist ad of theirs displaying an emaciated doe that looked like 'Dawn*Star KNS Tupelo Kiss' for sale. I was shocked, and concerned for the rest of the goats, so I reached out. I asked them if they wanted to sell Mosey Blue to a friend of mine (who was originally going to purchase him from us, and would have been a better home in retrospect), to see if having less animals would help them out to take better care of them. She was very short, and insisted she didn't want to sell any goats to me. So I took the opportunity to also remind her of our buy-back agreement to sell 'Two Girls Mosey Blue', 'Dawn*Star KNS Serenata Del mar', and 'Dawn*Star KOH Flatliner' back to us after 2 years. They showered me with hateful and spiteful messages, then attempted to extort $18,743.57 (yes this woman was that precise to include change..) from us if we wanted our three goats back. After a long drawn out conversation (going back and forth for nearly a week) she insisted we come get the goats within 24 hours. Then accused us of selling her a doe I had sold four years ago.. I explained that the doe I had sold was the mother of the doe she now owns. The daughter (Kiss) is the SAME color as her mother. And her mother has a single horn, the daughter does not have horns. When that was cleared up, she then insisted she had to pay for my registration of a buck we sold her. That somehow he wasn't registered before.. which was a lie. He was registered TMGR, so were all his kids. He was sold with an application (to be filled out by her) for dual registration. Then she said that she didn't have the papers for 'Moses', that his breeder still had his papers.... again... I explained to her that no, she has the papers. 'Moses' was his barn name/nick name... his full name is 'Two Girls Mosey Blue.' After even more clarification. and showing her pictures of the animals to confirm their paperwork, we became worried now that she had likely sold our goats (since she couldn't figure out who was who in her herd, let alone knew whose papers belonged to what goat). I was also made aware (from her ads) that she had been selling kids as registerable.. she hadn't even sent in her paperwork in over two years to have them transferred to her name..so anyone registering goats during that time would need a bill of sale and confirmation from me! And if that wasn't bad enough, god only knows who she thought the parents were--likely their papers are wrong anyway. Which AGAIN... I educated her on, and then scolded her for being dishonest to her customers. By this time my husband and I were ready to give up, then she turned around and insisted we come up that day to get the goats (it was 5pm middle of the week and she was 4 hours away), but insisted I again had to pay 18k. I told her I wasn't paying 18k for three goats she only paid $850 for. She agreed to the $850, but then insisted we come up the next day. We complied, not knowing that a snowstorm had settled on the Mogollon Rim. On short notice we arranged for boarding, spent over $200 to build a livestock transport box for our truck bed (and bought some medical supplies for the goats), and drove for 9 hours round trip to get the animals. Our heater had gone out in the vehicle the winter before last, so we were in no way prepared for the blizzard waiting for us. Freezing in our vehicle as temps sank below 20 degrees (it was 80 when we left Phoenix to drive up that morning) we also had to pull over every time a line of cars drove by so we could scrape the ice off the windshield that made it unsafe for us to drive. When we arrived, we were then informed that she didn't have the papers, that she had sent them in (finally), and that we would have to trust her to mail them to us (not going to happen!). We instructed her to contact the registry, and submit an on-line transfer form. She refused. Insisting she be able to mail the papers instead. We sat at her gate, waiting for her to come through on her vow, and after a half hour of freezing (and with the storm getting worse the longer we waited). We realized that she was more than delighted to risk our lives in the storm rather than send in the on-line transfer forms that would have enabled the animals registrations to be forwarded to us after we paid our transfer fees, and submitted a bill of sale. Seeing this woman was bent on stealing our lines, and not having a paper contract in play, we were forced to leave our animals or pay her ransom of $18k. And yet another customer (a week later) failed to fulfill their buy-back agreement. As they dumped their goats "Dawn*Star AK Delight, Dawn*Star AS Sweet Truffle, and Dawn*Star AK Sweet Radiance" on craigslist for meat goat prices and hastily moved. So, after suffering the loss of our entire herd/ our genetics (an irreplaceable 13 years of our research, work, and development of our lines), and seeing we were inevitably going to be starting over from scratch... we decided to go ahead and move forward with a new herd name as well. Has anything else changed? Our experience with these customers has taught us some very valuable lessons in dairy goat breeding and development. And as a result we will forever be changing the way we operate, and especially to whom we sell! From now on: Most of our animals will be available only via private treaty/lease to fellow TMGR/MDGA members (with preference to performance herds). All approved buyers/ Lessees will be required to sign prepared legal contracts (in addition to those required by the registries for registration of leased kids), and will also be subject to legal action should they fail to uphold these contracts. I will happily take a livestock thief to court, its not about the money--I love my goats like my own life, and will fight HARD for them like a momma bear!! So, please do not buy/lease any animal from me you aren't willing to replace or return. While I do still deeply desire to share our success with others, and help them develop an excellent miniature lamancha dairy herd of their own-- protection of my animals is now a top priority. The customers who have most often abused our stock (via malnutrition, poor management, failure to house them appropriately, and in general have been the most neglectful of their care) have been typical pet / homestead/ or first-time goat owner homes who not only do not share the same goals as we do, but also do not have the same high standards/regard for their care. So, in response to this issue. We will now be much more selective as we will now more thoroughly screen potential buyers, or those desiring to do a herd lease. Money in your hand will not guarantee a sale/lease. Dont care about what story you sling. TMGR/MDGA members with show/DHI performance homes will take first priority. All other homes may not be considered at all. Thank you for your understanding, -- All the Goats of Copper-Creek.
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