Bird's Eye Farm Elena Ferrante 6*M (pending) GVEG 83
ADGA Pedigree
Elena is gorgeous, sweet and feminine. Despite being quite a bit smaller than her dam Ina, Elena gets the job done on the milkstand and in the kidding stall. I love her angularity and body capacity. Also love that she lets human kids follow her around in the pasture, stopping her for hugs.
Elena first freshened in 2024. Of all our does, she is the only one to kid so easily and quietly that we didn't hear a peep on our turnt-up barn monitor. Having been up the previous night periodically staring at the monitor as she labored in peaceful silence, I awoke to find two clean, fluffy kids on the ground. Now that's the kind of kidding you want! (Grandma Ina also helped: details on Ina's page.)
Elena milked 776 lbs of milk, 45 lbs of butterfat in her first 305 of her first lactation and she’s aiming to hit 900 on her 305 for 2026. So we’ll probably keep milking her for quite a while!
While her production is very good, Elena’s mammary is not as impressive as her mom Ina’s and her medial suspensory ligament is rather minimal.
We were tickled when Elena brought her little chamoisée doeling Gilia into the world and onto the farm. Gilia represents the fourth generation of our herd. And when Gilia kidded triplets in 2026: fifth generation!
Given Elena’s lackluster medial and kinda funky shoulder assembly, we’ll probably shift our focus to her buttery-uddered daughter Gilia for our next kidding season in 2028. Elena seems to dig the grandma lifestyle and maximizing her human cuddles, so I don’t think she’ll mind.
