Candidate #1

Hello, my name is Jordana Heath.

I have raised nigerian dwarf goats for 3 years in eastern North Carolina. We began our adventure with nigerian dwarfs due to our children's severe digestive disorders and our small amount of land. It did not take long to realize the possibilities of the breed to produce a lot of milk verses feed consumption, and we fell in love with their personalities and sweet milk. We also saw that getting excellent milk does could be a challenge as the breed is also heavily marketed as pets. We are very active in teaching those in our area more about the breed, often attending functions with one or two of our goats and doing milking demonstrations for schools and perspective homesteaders interested in the dairy aspect of the nigerian dwarf. I keep a blog of our farm life and routinly answer questions about our goats, including their production, affordability, and friendliness. We hope to be able to participate in DHIR and linear appraisals in the future as our income permit, and are very interested in preserving, and improving where we can, the nigerian dwarf as a productive part of any dairy or farm. For that reason I submitted my name for the position of secretary of NDS, that I might serve, in some small way, the community of people who love the nigerian dwarf goat. I do not have work experience as a secretary, but have had to keep records and handle file cabinets full of paperwork regarding our children, who have special needs and required years of therapy and testing, all of which I had to keep track of and spear-head, in addition to keeping records of our homeschool for the state. I am very willing to learn anything required to be effective in the position of secretary of NDS should you choose to use me.

Jordana Heath
www.nigerianmeadows.com
 

Candidate #2

Carla James

Well, I spent some time thinking about running for secretary for NDS and have decided to throw my hat (hoof?) into the ring!

As far as qualifications go, I have worked in customer service, insurance, at a residential facility for at-risk teens (oh Lordy!).  I also have been secretary in a military wives' club, and held other positions in various organizations, though none having anything to do with goats - hehe.

Let's see - I play well with others - I believe in everyone being able to have their opinion heard, even if I might not agree with them.  I would love the opportunity to assist with the Nigerian Dwarf Society, and help advance our breed.  Oh, yes, I have a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats, though I do not think that is a qualification for the position..;-)

Respectfully,

Carla James
JustRSize Acres
 

Candidate #3

Kathy Winters

It is my sincere hope to support a Nigerian Dwarf focused club that is truly of and by the membership with the specific aims to promote the Nigerian Dwarf breed and to facilitate education, networking, promotion, and research into the quality and production efficiency of this unique breed.  I have volunteered to help the club in this endeavor to help assure its success to the best of my ability.  I have no political agenda, and serving as the club’s secretary for me personally would just be a way for me to support the group.  If I should not be elected as secretary, I will certainly support the club in whatever capacity the group would feel that I could be most useful.

I am a “newbie” to Nigerian Dwarf goats, only purchasing my first in 2009.  However, from the beginning I’ve desired to breed high quality, productive NDs, and to ensure that, I started DHI in 2010 with my goats’ first freshening.  This year I’ve continued on DHI throughout my move from California to Missouri, and had my first annual Linear Appraisal in August 2011.  With my employment as a Research Scientist at Amgen, Inc in the field of Metabolic Disorders while living in Thousand Oaks, CA, I did not have time to show.  Since my career change to full-time goat farmer and my move to Rolla, MO, I have not had the opportunity to show since my “help” is still living in California pending my husband’s move to MO subsequent to finding employment in this terrible job market.

My college tenure began at the University of Missouri – Rolla.  My secretarial experience began while employed with the Air Force Recruiting Office, and continued in college when elected secretary of the General Delegation of Independents.  I did not serve a full one year term however, as I moved to Michigan after marrying my husband.  I earned a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.  I earned a MS degree in Biology with an emphasis in Developmental Biology from the California Institute of Technology.  During my graduate school tenure, I worked producing transgenic mice and general developmental biology research.  After graduate school, I worked for the City of Hope involving gene therapy and cancer research.  Subsequently, I worked for Amgen, Inc in diabetes research, drug discovery and development.

While I’m relatively new to NDs, I have had plenty of animal experience beginning as an adult with Border Collie Rescue.  I first acquired Katahdin cross sheep for my border collies and fosters to focus their energies.  I had hoped to milk sheep and produce cheese to help support their keep, but alas, even dairy sheep aren’t as good of long-term producers as our Nigerians!  Since we used to start training sheep herding puppies on Nigerians since they aren’t as flighty as sheep, I knew a bit about them.  I soon dispersed my sheep herd and replaced them with the finest Nigerians I could find available at the time, and I haven’t looked back since!

I would be pleased to be considered for the position of NDS secretary.  Thank you for your support of the NDS!

Best Regards,

Kathy Winters