Description
While our main focus started out as raising Boer goats, it quickly progressed into something more. A passion, almost a burning DRIVE, to raise whatever we could ourselves. Growing, raising and creating what we needed from the land and the animals that we are stewards of became our life. And doing so as naturally as possible became our lifeblood. I have left the introduction below pretty much as I wrote it years ago, but update it periodically when I see fit. Thank you for stopping by our page and caring enough to learn a little bit about us. Our main focus is raising Boer and Boer/Kiko cross goats. We are building our herd to include some top blood-lines and quality stock. After a few years of raising the Boer and Kiko meat breeds we decided in 2012 to add Myotonic lines into the herd. We want our emphasis to be on healthy, parasite resistant, quick gaining stock. Our goal is to provide quality stock for breeding and meat purposes. With the addtion of some Myotonic does and a Myotonic buck, we are also going to offer a limited number of "fainting goat" pets. We try to keep our animal husbandry practices as "natural" as possible. Some ways we do this are by worming only as necessary, using rotational grazing, using naturally parasite resistant stock and using herbal remedies whenever possible. Antibiotics and other medications are ONLY used as necessary life-saving measures . Worming is done on a limited scale, based on fecal test results. At some point in time we would like to become Famacha certified. Starting in the fall of 2013 we have started making the slow transition to 100% natural animal husbandry practices. This will take us a little while to work on our feed ration formulas and build up our all natural pharmacopeia. Sometime in 2014 we will begin maintaining a closed herd. From there we plan on getting fully tested as a CL, CAE and Johnes free herd. NOTE: We are very near to closing our herd. With the exception of one or two more does we intend to purchase we are DONE (well of course other than keeping some of our best doe kids to expand the herd). We added Pygora to our herd in 2013 but found the smaller more delicate goats did not combine well with our larger meat herd. We regretfully sold those does and are still looking for the perfect fiber animal for us. In keeping with trying to utilize our land without over using it we try to maintain natural gardening and animal husbandry practices. We have two horses which are for pleasure riding and driving, but they help us by "giving back" to the land. They are the largest contributors to our wonderful compost pile, which in turn helps us grow some of the best all natural garden vegetables we've ever had. Although we are by no means fully organic, we use no chemicals on our plants or grounds. We use manual weed control and manual/natural insect control. We use rotational planting and compost to maintain healthy soil in our small garden plot. We utilize methods such as companion planting to boost yields as well as maintain some natural pest control. A few fruit trees: pear, peach, plum, apple, mulberry, cherry and even a couple of pecans make up our "orchard". Although some are newly planted, we do have a few mature trees already established and producing. Since my blackberry/black raspberry jam is my favorite canning recipe, I made sure we got a few good patches of berries in as soon as we moved. We have since added red and yellow raspberry species to the patch and hope to someday get enough berries to can a few jars of them as well. In the spring of 2011 I was given about 25 Heritage red raspberries by a friend. These have all been planted and will hopefully give us at least a small fall crop of berries. Update: We haven't been so lucky to have much of a harvest on our own acreage, but found a beautiful patch of wild red raspberries and another of big juicy blackberries which we utilized. In the summer of 2011 we gathered at least 6 gallons of berries from these "secret" patches. Update: We have finally gotten some blackberries to grow on the farm...of course we had to fence them off to keep the chickens from tearing them down. Sunny early spring days bring the flow of maple sap and the making of maple syrup.....MMMM. Lot's of work and time involved, collecting the buckets and boiling down the sap, but so very well worth it. Cold winter days bring not only cold outside chores, but perfect weather for quilting! I am learning the age old art of quilting. So far I love it and have had lots of success. In 2013 we added two Pygora does - Patty and Pepper - to our herd. I am hoping to add working some of our own fiber as another winter project. At the start of 2013 I have begun work on using a new drop spindle to spin purchased fibers, but will be working my own fiber this spring. Again in 2012 (what a busy year for us!) we added a pair of Satin rabbits to the homestead. We are hoping to integrate this additional meat source into our pantry as well as a supply of fine lovely pelts with that gorgeous satin sheen!! A Checkered Giant/Flemish doe has also been added to the rabbit barn. She has given us a couple of very fine litters of meat rabbits. In June 2014 we have now added Angora rabbits for their gorgeous fiber and a pair of Silver Fox rabbits for another good meat rabbit with fabulous pelts. In the fall of 2011 we added two Yorkshire/Old Spot gilts to our garden. They headed to the freezer in early spring - and were delicious. We did our own butchering, processing, curing and smoking. They did an awesome job tilling the soil and eradicating many weeds and grasses (from the seed heads to the roots) in the garden!! We sold one and the other made it into our freezer. We also added a pair of Asian Heirloom Hogs to our breeding program. They are giving us the same rototilling action in the fall/winter/spring months as well as allowing us to breed our own feeder pigs, both for sale and our own consumption. Update: Our first litter of 5 AHH were born in May of 2012....oh boy are they adorable. We sold all but two and those two moved into the freezer late in 2012. They far surpassed any expectations of meat quality I had, being THE MOST delicious pork I have ever eaten. Not much produced in the way of bacon, but a few nice sets of ribs, hams and lots of ground pork fill up a large hole in our freezer. They also produced a good amount of lard that we rendered and find to be an awesome addition to our home-grown pantry. A Mulefoot cross sow has been added to the farm. She is docile and friendly and we will be crossing her with our AHH boar. Bees!! In the summer of 2013 we added a few empty hives to the property with hopes that we could lure in a swarm. In early July of 2013 a swarm moved in! We are still in the very beginning stages of this and really hope that we are able to keep the hive healthy and with us through out the rest of the summer and the upcoming winter. NOTE: our feral swarm did not survive the first winter. We will try again in 2014. We finally have a pair of livestock guardian dogs (LGD). A female Great Pyrenees, Icee, was brought into our family in January 2012 at 7 weeks of age. Then in February 2012 we added a 7 month old male, Reign, to the mix. They are both beautiful, sweet dogs who take their jobs very seriously. We have one permanent barn cat (and a few nomads) named Carol. While Carol patrols for the ground dwellers (and snags her share of the milk at the milking stand), watch out for her leaping onto your shoulders! We also have three house cats, Titts Magee, Seven and Red Chief (a.k.a Cheese). Our house is also home to two lovely wonderful house/farm dogs. Bailey is a Border Collie/German Wirehair cross born in 2009 and Buddy the Jack Russel Terrier who was born in 2007. In January 2013 we added a 10 acre parcel to our original 2 acre piece. We still maintain most of our stock on the original two acres. The 10 acre addition has been mainly turned into a hayfield. We chose to fence off only 2 of the 10 acres to allow for more pasture for the horses. Turkeys!! Our first foray into turkeys is beginning the spring of 2014. We will let you know how that progresses. Muscovy ducks were added in the spring of 2014 also. A drake and three hens....and two of the hens began sitting on around 15 eggs each shortly after their arrival here so we also seem to have a good supply of ducklings. 2014 had brought quite a few new things to the farm.....including A HEIFER. Ginger is a Jersey heifer we purchased at the age of one year. We look forward to having her bred and getting our first calf.
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