The goats have been a work in progress, so we're still figuring out how to best include them in our fold. We got them since they graze different things than all our other mammals, and they are another source of milk. We initially got Nubians, and have had them for three years now. They are technically a dual purpose breed, although they've been mainly selected for dairy in recent years. They are very beautiful, with lovely long feminine bodies and long pendulous ears, they don't have "goaty" tasting milk, aren't as drawn to escaping as other goats, and have a fairly nice carcass. Now for the cons: they aren't very winter hardy (although the kids born here have begun to naturally become more hardy), they don't produce as much milk as we'd like since they don't handle tough forage as well, and the kids have a really hard time with the cold when they're first born. We've had to bring a ton of kids into the house off and on for the first week or so of their life due to hypothermia and frozen ears, and have had to heavily supplement several of them to keep them healthy. Due to the issues, we looked into breeds that would help build sturdiness in our goats. That lead us to the Spanish. They are built like tanks and are technically a dual purpose breed as well, although they've been more heavily selected for meat. They grow a cashmere coat in the winter, so they are more winter hardy, and they handle rough pasture well. Due to lack of attention being paid to their dairy side, we're planning on doing a cross between the Spanish and the Nubian to create a hardy, sturdy, thrifty, and beautiful goat which also has a really nicely conforming udder and produces a good amount of milk on pasture without tons of supplementation. We got our first Spanish goats this fall, so the first kids from this cross won't hit the ground until spring of 2024. Stay tuned for updates!

Our entire flock is biosecurity tested.