Urbiztondo Nubians

10/09/2026

🐐 "Wide Thurls not Hips = Strong Udders" 🐐

Here's something we learned raising Nubian goats: a great milk bag starts at her back end. But not exactly where you'd think.

Feel the top of a goat's rear end and you'll find two bony bumps. Those are her hips. Now slide your hand down a few inches, to where her back legs plug into her body — like the spot where your own leg swivels when you kick a ball. Those two spots are called the thurls.
The udder doesn't hang from the hips. It hangs from the thurls.

Think of a swing set. The top bar is the hips. But the swing itself hangs from two hooks lower down, and those hooks are the thurls. If the hooks are spread far apart, the swing sits steady and level. If they're bunched close together in the middle, the swing wobbles and sags — even if the top bar is nice and wide.

Same with a goat. Wide thurls hold the udder up high and tight. Narrow thurls let it swing low and wear out fast.
Here's the tricky part: a goat can look super wide up top at her hips and still be pinched together at her thurls. You have to check the right spot.

We once picked a doe nobody else wanted. Plain face, boring color, nothing cool about her. But she was wide where it counts — so we took a chance. She grew one of the best udders in the whole herd. Looks fooled everybody. Her build didn't.

Wide thurls also mean her babies are born easier, and she keeps making milk for years instead of quitting early.

👉 Want a herd that fills the bucket and stays strong? Start with the build. Message us and let's pick goats built wide — and built to last.

08/09/2026

Shout out to our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard! Eidderf Ibay, Kathleen Espiritu, Loufaith Ypanto Arances, EMs Cagas, Anecita Pataray Taluban, Cecilia Sancho Aynaga - Cain, Bruan Delacruz Rhonald, Chris Pizo MO, John Kavin Jonson, Babie Ramoya Lasquite, Vicky Sherwood, Mariel Centena, Anthony John Catacutan, Mohammed Yeri, Shekinah Zoe, Anabelle Sanchez Albores Alforo, Walingan Ziyad, Khalifa Khalifa, Lorena Fletter, Gustabo Lopes, Francisco Ilao III, Sultan Baningen Mamasabuayan, Isagani Estioko, Dwight Quilang, Arturo Comilang, Managase Racyl, Ka Adrian Ramos, Juan Pilareca, Isack Kore

Happy Goating!

08/09/2026

Udder Matters: Udder Height & Arch

Think of a backpack. 🎒
Straps attached low near your waist? The bag swings, bumps your legs, and your back aches after ten minutes. That's a low udder.

Move those straps high and far apart across your shoulders — same heavy bag, but it sits still and you can run without it slapping around. That's a high, wide, strongly attached rear udder.

Two traits, one anchor point

Breeders talk about rear udder height and rear udder arch like they're separate things. They're two measurements of the same seam — where the udder meets the body wall, between the hind legs.

🔹 Height = how far UP. Picture a hammock. Tie it high on the trunks and it stays off the ground even with someone heavy in it. Tie it low and it drags in the dirt.

🔹 Arch = how far ACROSS. Same hammock, but tied between two trees far apart instead of close together. Wide holds the weight. Narrow collapses inward.

Why you need both

❗ High but narrow → good lift, not enough room for real production.
🫳 Wide but low → plenty of room, but gravity wins by her fourth freshening.
👌 High AND wide → a foundation strong enough to hold everything it's asked to hold.

A doe with both keeps her udder shape year after year, holds capacity instead of losing it, and moves comfortably — which matters, because a doe who moves comfortably browses more, and a doe who browses more milks more.

That's the structure behind thousands of pounds of milk, season after season. Not luck. Not feed alone. Foundation.

(From the ADGA Linear Appraisal System for Dairy Goats)

08/09/2026

Predictive Transmitting Ability – Milk (PTAM) - Isinalin sa Wikang Pilipino

Itutuloy natin ang usapan kasama 'yung matalinong anak ng bisita natin sa farm noong nakaraang post.

Ayan. Simula na.

Bata: Teka lang. Hindi naman gumagatas 'yang lalaki, ah. May pitotoy nga 'yan, o. May balbas, may atitude. Bakit may milk score 'yan?

Ikaw: Kasi dala-dala niya, hindi niya ginagamit. Parang si Tatay mo — kayang ipasa sa'yo ang kulot, kahit siya mismo kalbo na parang itlog.

Bata: ...Isusumbong kita. 😂

Ikaw: Alam niya 'yan. Ang punto, hindi maipapakita sa'yo ng lalaki ang gatas niya. Pero kalahati niyan, ibinibigay niya sa bawat anak na babae — gusto niya man o hindi.

Bata: Eh paano mo mahuhuli 'yan? Nakatayo lang diyan, mabaho, tapos inosente pa ang mukha.

Ikaw: Hihintayin mo. Gagatasan mo ang mga anak niyang babae. Lahat, buwan-buwan, tinitimbang sa timbangan. Tapos kung tuloy-tuloy na nilalamangan ng mga anak niya ang ibang kambing — parehong kulungan, parehong damo, parehong lahat — eh 'di hindi pakain 'yon, at hindi rin swerte. Siya 'yon. Huli ka.

Bata: So bago siya magka-anak, nakakalusot lang siya?

Ikaw: Hindi. Binibigyan siya ng hula. Titingnan ng computer ang nanay niya, titingnan ang mga kapatid niyang babae, tapos sasabihin, "eh, mga ganito siguro kagaling." Tsismis 'yan, hindi hatol. Tapos manganak na ang mga anak niya, lalabas ang totoo — minsan tumataas, leyenda siya; minsan bumababa, at napakamahal niyang palamuti sa bakuran. Freezer material na.

Bata: So 'yung lalaki, hindi talaga kailanman kumukuha ng test — 'yung milk test?

Ikaw: Kailanman. Ni minsan.

Bata: Pinapadala lang sa kanya ang report card ng mga anak niya. Forever.
Ikaw: Habambuhay. At hindi pa nga niya kayang basahin. Kumakain lang, tapos gumagawa ulit.

Tapos pinalabas ko na ang pansit sa kusina, kasi sigurado akong hindi ko na kakayanin ang isa pang round ng imbestigasyon ng bata.

Predictive Transmitting Ability - Milk (PTAM)

We continue the conversation with the precocious son of our farm Visitor from the previous post.

Here goes.

Kid: Hold on. The buck doesn't milk. He has his W***y. He's got a beard and an attitude. How does he have a milk score?

You: Because he's carrying it, not using it. Same way your dad can pass down curly hair while being bald as an egg.

Kid: ...I'm telling him you said that. 😂

You: He knows. Point is, the buck can't show you his milk. But he's handing half of it to every daughter he makes, whether he likes it or not.

Kid: So how do you catch him? He's just standing there smelling terrible and looking innocent.

You: You wait. You milk his daughters. Every single one, every month, weighed on a scale. And if his girls keep beating the other does — same barn, same hay, same everything — then it wasn't the feed and it wasn't luck. It was him. Busted.

Kid: So before he has daughters, he just... gets away with it?

You: Nope, he gets a guess. The computer looks at his mother, looks at his sisters, and says "eh, probably about this good." That's a rumor, not a conviction. Then his daughters freshen and the truth comes out, and sometimes it goes UP and he's a legend, and sometimes it goes down and he's a very expensive lawn ornament. He becomes freezer material.

Kid: So the buck never takes the test - the milk test?

You: Never. Not once.

Kid: He just gets his kids' report cards mailed to him forever.

You: For the rest of his life. And he can't even read them. He just eats and makes more.

Then I asked the kitchen to bring out the pansit as I was certain i will not survive another round of the boy's inquisition.

07/09/2026

Predictive Transmitting Ability - Milk (PTAM)

We continue the conversation with the precocious son of our farm Visitor from the previous post.

Here goes.

Kid: Hold on. The buck doesn't milk. He has his W***y. He's got a beard and an attitude. How does he have a milk score?

You: Because he's carrying it, not using it. Same way your dad can pass down curly hair while being bald as an egg.

Kid: ...I'm telling him you said that. 😂

You: He knows. Point is, the buck can't show you his milk. But he's handing half of it to every daughter he makes, whether he likes it or not.

Kid: So how do you catch him? He's just standing there smelling terrible and looking innocent.

You: You wait. You milk his daughters. Every single one, every month, weighed on a scale. And if his girls keep beating the other does — same barn, same hay, same everything — then it wasn't the feed and it wasn't luck. It was him. Busted.

Kid: So before he has daughters, he just... gets away with it?

You: Nope, he gets a guess. The computer looks at his mother, looks at his sisters, and says "eh, probably about this good." That's a rumor, not a conviction. Then his daughters freshen and the truth comes out, and sometimes it goes UP and he's a legend, and sometimes it goes down and he's a very expensive lawn ornament. He becomes freezer material.

Kid: So the buck never takes the test - the milk test?

You: Never. Not once.

Kid: He just gets his kids' report cards mailed to him forever.

You: For the rest of his life. And he can't even read them. He just eats and makes more.

Then I asked the kitchen to bring out the pansit as I was certain i will not survive another round of the boy's inquisition.

05/09/2026

🐐 Sire or Dam: Who Really Decides Your Herd's Future?

Ask any goat breeder and you'll get an argument. Some swear by the buck. Some say it's all in the doe lines. Here's the honest answer: they do two completely different jobs, and you need both.

The buck sets your direction.

Every kid gets half its genes from each parent. Fair split. But one buck can sire 40 kids in a season, while a doe gives you two. So even at 50% of the genes, he drives most of your herd's change.

That cuts both ways. A correct buck can clean up weak rear legs or shallow udders across your whole barn in a single generation. A mediocre one copies his faults forty times before you notice.

The does are your proof and your consistency.

A buck never milks. You can't look at him and know what his daughters will freshen like — you have to read his dam, his sisters, his daughters. That's why doe lines matter. Strong does give you the evidence: real milk records, udders that stay high and tight through multiple freshenings, bodies that hold up over years, not just one pretty lactation.

Think of it like a school. The buck is a new principal who can change direction fast. The does are the teachers who keep the standard steady. A brilliant principal can't rescue weak teachers — and great teachers can only go so far without direction.

The two mistakes that quietly cost people years:

🚫 Barn blindness. You love your goats, so you stop seeing their faults. The fix is outside eyes. Ask a more experienced breeder to appraise your herd.

🚫 Correcting extreme with extreme. A weak rear udder bred to a bulging one doesn't average out. You breed correct to faulty. Not opposite to faulty.

📉 The breeding math

Weak sire + weak dam → you go backwards
Elite sire + average dam → fast gains, uneven results
Average sire + elite dam → safe, but stagnant
✅ Elite sire + elite dam → generational excellence

Only the last one compounds. That's the entire game — small correct decisions, stacked over years.

We don't believe in accidental quality. If a pairing doesn't move the herd forward on paper and in the flesh, we don't make it. Proven production and correct conformation over convenience. Every time.

Planning your season? DM us about our upcoming pairings — and how we select for generational improvement. 🧬🔥

04/09/2026

Enlish and Filipino Versions

PTA - Parent Teachers Association for Goats?

A father and his son came to the farm last week to buy a buck.

We always ask visitors what led them to our herd. Most give the usual answers. This one didn't.

"I want to reduce my odds in the lottery," the father said.

We asked what he meant. He explained: if you study the data behind the foundation stock, trace the patterns down the generations, and watch the does actually milking — you lower your chances of picking the wrong buck.

That kind of visitor comes maybe once a year. So we did what we always do. We opened the iPad, pulled up the production records for the doe and the buck, and set their Reliability, Percentile Rank and PTA numbers side by side.

That's when the boy — eight years old, quiet until then — looked up and said:
"Parent Teachers Association? For goats?"

His father laughed. I did too. And then I had to explain PTA to an eight-year-old.
Here's how it went.

I told him that in goats, the mother is called the dam, the father is called the sire, and the babies are called kids.

"Like me?" he asked. Exactly like you. These are just the four- legged kind. And they do not spend their day looking at a small screen is asking for a gaming console.

Every kid gets half of what it is from its dam, and half from its sire. So before we put two goats together, we try to guess what each one will hand down. That guess is the PTA — Predicted Transmitting Ability. "Transmitting" just means passing something on.

It's like looking at a puppy's parents to guess how big the puppy will grow. You can't know for certain. But you can make a smart guess.

A PTA helps us ask things like:

☝️ Will this sire's daughters give more milk?
✌️ Will this dam's daughters have strong, healthy udders?

Then I told him two things worth remembering.

First, the number isn't the amount of milk. It only says "more than average" or "less than average." Like saying someone is taller than most people, instead of saying exactly how tall they are.

Second, a guess gets better with more information. If a sire already has many daughters in the milking stand, we know a great deal about him. If he's young and has no daughters yet, we're really just guessing from his own dam and sire.

The boy thought about it. Then he asked if the goats knew about any of this.
No. They don't. They just eat.

Kids are full of surprises — both kinds.
Nobody can know for sure what a breeding will bring. But his father had it right. We aren't trying to be certain.

We're just trying to reduce the odds in the lottery.

And a smart guess beats no guess at all.



Sa Filipino

PTA – Parent Teachers Association? Para sa kambing?

May mag-amang dumalaw sa farm noong isang linggo. Bibili sana ng lalaking kambing.

Lagi naming tinatanong ang bisita kung ano ang nagdala sa kanila sa herd namin. Karaniwan, pare-pareho ang sagot. Itong isang 'to, hindi.

"Gusto ko lang pong bawasan ang tsansa ko sa lotto," sabi ng tatay.

Tinanong namin kung ano'ng ibig niyang sabihin. Ganito raw: kapag pinag-aralan mo ang datos ng pinagmulang lahi, sinundan mo ang pattern sa bawat henerasyon, at tiningnan mo mismo ang mga babaeng aktwal na gumagatas — bumababa ang tsansa mong makapili ng maling lalaki.

Ganoong klaseng bisita, minsan sa isang taon lang dumadating. Kaya ginawa namin ang lagi naming ginagawa. Binuksan namin ang iPad, hinanap ang production records ng babae at ng lalaki, at pinagtabi ang Reliability, Percentile Rank at PTA nila.

Doon na tumingala 'yung bata — walong taong gulang, tahimik hanggang doon — tapos nagsalita:

"Parent Teachers Association po? Para sa kambing?"

Natawa ang tatay niya. Natawa rin ako. Tapos ayun, kinailangan kong ipaliwanag ang PTA sa isang walong taong gulang.
Ganito ang naganap.

Sinabi ko sa kanya na sa kambing, ang nanay tawag ay dam, ang tatay ay sire, at ang mga anak ay kids.

"Katulad ko po?" tanong niya. Oo, katulad na katulad mo. Apat lang ang paa nito. At hindi nakatutok maghapon sa maliit na screen at nanghihingi ng gaming console - PS5 O Nintendo.

Bawat kid, kalahati galing sa dam, kalahati galing sa sire. Kaya bago namin pagsamahin ang dalawang kambing, hinuhulaan muna namin kung ano ang ipapasa ng bawat isa. Ang hulang 'yon, 'yon ang PTA — Predicted Transmitting Ability. Ang "transmitting," ibig sabihin, pagpapasa lang - parang Radyo.

Parang tinitingnan mo ang magulang ng tuta para hulaan kung gaano kalaki 'yung tuta paglaki. Hindi mo talaga masisiguro. Pero pwede kang manghula nang may basehan.

Ang PTA, nakakatulong para itanong ang mga ganito:

☝️ Mas madaming gatas kaya ang ibibigay ng mga anak na babae ng sire na 'to?
✌️ Magiging matibay at malusog kaya ang udder ng mga anak na babae ng dam na 'to?

Tapos may dalawang bagay akong sinabi sa kanya na dapat niyang tandaan.
Una, ang numero, hindi 'yon dami ng gatas. Ang sinasabi lang niyan, "mas mataas sa karaniwan" o "mas mababa sa karaniwan." Parang sinasabi mong mas matangkad siya sa karamihan — pero hindi mo sinasabi kung ilang talampakan.

Pangalawa, gumaganda ang hula kapag mas marami kang impormasyon. Kapag maraming anak na babae ang sire na nasa milking stand na, malaki na ang alam natin tungkol sa kanya. Pero kung bata pa siya at wala pang anak, hula lang talaga 'yon base sa dam at sire niya.
Nag-isip 'yung bata. Tapos tinanong niya kung alam kaya ng mga kambing ang lahat ng 'to.

Hindi. Wala silang alam. Kumakain lang sila.

Puno ng sorpresa ang mga kids — pareho, 'yung dalawang klase - dalawang binti o apat na binti.

Walang makakaalam nang tiyak kung ano ang idudulot ng isang breeding. Pero tama ang tatay niya. Hindi naman namin hinahabol ang katiyakan.
Binabawasan lang namin ang tsansa sa lotto.

At ang hulang may basehan, mas matimbang pa rin kaysa sa walang hula.

01/09/2026

Magkapatid na Bulugan: Bingo! at Gran Reserva

Marami kaming natatanggap na tanong mula sa mga breeder dito sa Pilipinas at sa ibang bansa, iisa lang ang tanong:
"Paano ninyo pinipili ang inyong mga herdsire. Kung walang production records?"

Simple lang ang sagot namin:

Kung walang registration papers o production records, bumisita sa herd ng 5am at maghintay. Gatasan ang ina. Makita mo mismo ang mga hayop.
Napakahalaga ng pedigree at performance records. Pero kapag wala ito, walang makakapalit sa pagkakita mismo sa dam habang nagagatasan. Ang dam ang pinakamainam na batayan kung ano ang maidudulot ng isang buck sa inyong herd.

Bumibili ka man ng iyong unang herd sire o pinapabuti ang matagal nang breeding program, ang buck na iyong pipiliin ay makakaapekto sa bawat kid na isisilang sa mga susunod na taon. Isang maling desisyon lamang, maaaring maghatid ng pagbagsak sa iyong breeding program sa loob ng ilang henerasyon.

Bakit Bingo!

Nang pinili namin si Bingo!, hindi dahil sa kulay, laki, o hitsura na pang-showring. Pinili namin siya dahil sa production genetics.

Ang pinakamalaking asset ng isang buck ay hindi ang nakikita mo—ito ang mga milking does na nasa likod niya. Ang pedigree ni Bingo! ay suportado ng maraming henerasyon ng napatunayang Top Ten Breed Leaders:

Sire Line • TT Blue Sparkles • TT Xamphany
Dam Line • TT Frida • TT Sophy

Hindi lamang ito mga pangalang kaakit-akit sa papel. Kumakatawan ito sa henerasyon ng nangungunang produksyon ng gatas, matitibay na udder, at mga anak na palaging nagpapakita ng magandang performance.

Ipinakikilala si Urbiztondo MCV Reserva — Full Sibling ni Bingo!

Kasabay ni Bingo! sa aming programa ang kanyang tunay na kapatid na lalaki, si Gran Reserva—iisa ang ama, iisa ang ina, iisang henerasyon din ng Top Ten Breed Leader genetics ang nasa likod niya.

Ang pagkakaroon ng full siblings mula sa pedigree na ito ay nagbibigay sa amin ng bihirang oportunidad: ang kakayahang ihambing, patunayan, at subukan ang isang bloodline gamit ang dalawang magkaibang buck, hindi lamang umaasa sa isa. Ito ay sadyang paraan upang mabawasan ang panganib at palakasin ang tiwala—dalawang pagkakataon na maipasa ang parehong napatunayang production genetics, sinusuri nang magkatabi sa aktwal na kondisyon ng herd.

Ang mabuting breeding ay nangangailangan ng disiplina, hindi damdamin.

Ibinabahagi namin sa ibaba ang aming praktikal na gabay:

"Mga Katanungan sa Pagpili ng Bulugan."

Ito ang mga katanungang tinatanong namin bago pumasok ang alinmang buck sa aming breeding program.
Ano ang pinakamahalagang katangian na hinahanap mo sa isang herd sire?

30/08/2026

Why We Love Production Records

Beauty catches the eye. Production pays the bills.

Milk yield.
Butterfat.
Protein.
Lactation length.
Longevity.

These numbers tell us what a goat actually contributes.

Good records remove guesswork.

Data allows us to breed with confidence instead of opinion.

Measure what matters.

28/08/2026

Reading the Numbers: What the Data Says About Your Next Buck's Dam

In our previous post, we laid out four questions that matter before buying into any doe family:

Did she milk well?
Did she age gracefully, staying strong past her first few lactations?
Did she have a good, well-attached udder?
Did she keep performing kidding after kidding — or peak once and fade?

But how do you turn those questions into hard numbers? We've always leaned on the wisdom of legendary Saanen breeder Scott Hoyman of Caprikorn Farms.

Pull up a doe's Production Evaluation on ADGAGenetics.org and you'll find three numbers that answer them:

☝️ REL (Reliability) — how many lactations and tested daughters back the number up. Hayman put it bluntly: a low-REL doe is like flipping 9 coins and calling it proof.
✌️ Percentile Rank — how she stacks up against 1,000 does under identical conditions.
👌 PTA (Predicted Transmitting Ability) — what she's actually predicted to pass on to her offspring, not just what she herself produced.

Before committing to a herd sire, we ran the dams of our foundation bucks through this exact lens.

Pennyroyal Frida, dam of our foundation buck Jupiter, showed a dependable profile: ☝️ REL of 72, ✌️ percentile rank of 83, 👌 milk PTA of 134 — proof enough that her son had something real to carry forward. She has daughters and granddaughters who went on to become Top Ten Breed Leaders, and Jupiter's litter mate, Corazon, was a Top Ten Breed Leader in her own right.

Veteran’s Gran Reserva, dam of our current buck: ☝️ REL of 57, ✌️ 99th percentile, 👌 milk PTA of 401 — the highest in her line.

Two different reliability scores. Two very different herds. Same discipline: read the numbers before you trust the pedigree.

Why this matters more than looks or a single lactation record: Hayman estimates that roughly 80% of a top-milking doe's performance is management (feed, climate, milking schedule) and only 20% is genetics — the same goat in Pantabangan will milk around 60% of what she'd produce in Pulilan. So buying on genetics means stripping out the environmental noise, which is exactly what the percentile/REL pair is designed to. When this is done the doe could with high probability consistently perform with the similsr management in any herd.

Want a practical checklist for evaluating a herdsire? Like and SUBSCRIBE ❤️