Curbstone Valley W Prima Donna

When Aria freshened in 2024 with twin does, we were thrilled. Since selling her daughter from her first freshening, we have been anxiously awaiting a daughter to retain from Aria, so TWO was even better.

Sired by Allie’s son, Wolf 359, the first thing we noticed was how much both Donna, and her sister, Diva, looked like Aria’s dam, Calypso, and Aunt Callirrhoe. The resemblance was almost uncanny.

Regardless, Donna’s dam is a doe that I am always happy to see in the barn. At her first appraisal Aria’s appraiser remarked that her general appearance was near ideal. For my personal taste, I prefer does with more depth in the barrel, with a bit more spring of rib, but Aria does have the width, without being coarse at all, with the best rump in the entire herd, and in some lines, even here, the depth will come with maturity and age.

I have noted since moving to Virginia, that the East Coast tends to select for more Aria-like does in general appearance, often with less depth and spring of rib, compared to our west coast does that have a general appearance more like Allie. Aria fits that bill, a bit more refined all around compared to what I was used to out west, and I was a little surprised to see her float to the head of her class at the NOVA Spring Fling show in 2024, not only earning a Grand Champion leg, but also Best Senior Doe in Show. Regardless, I like both body styles in ND’s, for different reasons, and Aria is a beautiful doe, so finally having two daughters to retain, as we sold her previous daughters, was very exciting. Part of me is hoping that Donna will ultimately end up with a bit more ‘body’ than her dam, though.

If I am truly honest, however, this cross was intended solely as an udder breeding, not specifically for general appearance. As it was Wolf 359’s first breeding season, the general appearance part of the equation was a bit of a gamble, but he did well, and did not disappoint. The udders behind him are spectacular. While I love Wolfie’s build, his principle merit is that he out of Allie, crossed with an Algedi Farm D Capella son. Udder attachment, and capacity, abounds. As Aria was already excelling in her structural traits, including E’s in legs, back and rump, with a lovely well attached udder and scoring VVEE 90 as a three year-old, we figured a little extra boost in udder structure, and capacity, with this cross, might just be the icing on the cake so to speak. We will see, but will have to wait until the spring of 2026, as I still stand by my rule of freshening at two rather than yearlings. Regardless, this is a doe I am very excited to retain, and watch mature, and relieved to be able to ensure the continuation of this doe line.