Our Goats
Our starting point was quite simple...
We began raising goats in 2005 after we purchased our home which included 3 acres and a bank barn. We attended a seminar at Shippensburg University by Sue Ellen and Nathan Haver from Southfork Farms in Goshen Virginia and were instantly sold on the idea of raising goats for meat. Our herd started as a small group of 13 and has at times grown to over 100 goats. On aveage we are caring for more than 50 goats more-or-less. We raise Boer and Boer-cross goats. The main focus of this operation is to produce quality animals for meat. We also sell goats for 4H projects, breeding stock, pets and brush clearing.
Early on we learned some hard lessons about all grain-based diets...
Many goat ranchers raise their goats entirely on a grain based diet (packaged feed from farm stores containing corn, molasses, oats, grains, minerals, etc.). They do this because many of the books instruct/encourage new farmers to do so. When we began our operation, we did this as well. A heavy grain and corn based diet fattens up a goat very quickly and to the goat, that type of feed is like candy. We were having problems with our breeding and we were going BROKE paying for grain (no joke!). Through various discussions with goat ranchers we decided to stop the conventional method and try something different.
Now we have a management plan that involves rotational browsing sites...
Since our goats are not raised on a grain based diet, we had to get creative about how to keep their nutritional requirements met. Since 2007, because our pasture space is quite limited, we began working with our neighbors, friends and farmers in the community to rotate our goats to various browsing sites throughout the spring, summer and fall months. Goats are browsers, which mean that they eat "up" and prefer shrubs, trees and tall grasses. They will of course eat "down" meaning they eat pasture grass, but it is not their first choice. Goats have a high requirement for trace minerals in their diet which are more readily found in the leaves, bark, branches and dead/fallen leaves from established shrubs and trees. Our rotational browsing plan usually becomes a win-win for all involved (and occasionally gets us in trouble with neighbors when the goats escape a fence and eat someone's vegetable garden!) The win for us is that these sites allow us to move our goats to ground that provides better nutrition than our small pasture would be able to afford for an entire season for all of our goats. The win for the individuals that share their land with us is that the goats are clearing overgrown pastures, clearing spaces that are hard to mow, providing a cleaner/greener option for brush clearing and in some cases are serving as companions for the people that offered up their land.
Another piece of our nutrional puzzle with the goats involves hay and Christmas trees...
These rotational browsing sites have allowed our pasture to take a rest from the Spring to the Fall when the goats are "away". At some point in the summer, we bring our buck to the sites or bring the girls home to breed and then they go back. We know the goats are ready to come home when they start causing more (than usual) mischief at the remote sites (e.g., getting out of the fences where they are, searching for "greener grass"). This usually occurs in November or December depending on the weather. When they come home, we feed them bailed grass hay (or alfalfa (from our additional 8 acre property when possible) and Christmas Trees. Why Christmas trees you ask? For starters, we live in very very close proximity to two successful Christmas Tree farms and have a good relationship with both. The tree farms generally have trees that need to be culled due to disease, slow growth, overcrowding or age. Previous to our involvement these culled trees were piled up and burned. Now, we work with the tree farmers to pick up the trees and take them home for our goats. The goats love them, it provides food through most of the winter that is not grain based and the terpine in the needles of the trees has the added benefit of acting as a natural wormer for goats, thus near eliminating our need to administer chemical wormers to the goats. What we have basically found is that the less we treat goats like cows (which we see many people, the more the goats thrive.)
As a result of our efforts and attention, we are experiencing optimal goat health as well as profit...
We still have our problems, don't take this all to mean we never experience loss or problem, but we can say that our problems are predictable (e.g., hypothermia, old age, etc.); however, since we started this method of raising goats and "bucked" the system, we are finally beginning to actually pay for our goat venture (please don't even ask, the figures would scare you how deep our whole was.) We waited to take our goat meat to the public until we got the operation working well. Last year, we started attending farmers markets and our goat meat has been warmly, widely and successfully received. At this point, we are taking a goat a week to the slaughterhouse, bringing fresh (not yet frozen) meat to the farmers market, and selling out every week (or pretty darn close when we don't sell out). Customers are getting a healthy meat option from goats that were treated well, were not force fed corn, and in the freshest possible way. Our customers regularly provide us feedback that helps us to adjust our planning and serve them better.
And we don't do it alone...
We have amazing friends (you know who you are!), amazing neighbors (boy oh boy, you really know who you are!) and we have a very supportive family. Without these, we would not be doing what we do.
Take home message...
We like to let goats be goats,
We try to intervene as little as possible,
Our practices produce a healthy goat that requires little to no medical intervention,
But, if we have a sick goat (it happens), we treat it as necessary,
We limit our dependance on grain,
We work with our customers, ask lots of questions and learn alot along the way,
We invite people to the farm to check it all out and share the success!
Oh, and good fences make good neighbors! :)
