The New Beginning: Aug 8, 2009

Every good story has a beginning. Ours starts with an idea; the idea that a small family farm can re-invent itself into something special. I married into a family of farmers and have, over time, fancied an opportunity to join the family business in some capacity.

For years the farm was a dairy farm, but the Holsteins and the dairy operation was sold in the 1990's, just before I became a family member. Since then the land has been rented and the buildings were rented for hogs. The hog operation was quite busy, but that ceased to be part of the business model a couple years ago. So, the question was, "what next."

Over the past year or so my father-in-law and I have started talking about farming/ranching ideas. Seeds of these ideas started to grow. And then we thought maybe there were some ideas that we could pursue on a relatively small scale. So what would be the answer to a farm that had not had a lot of building use over the past couple years and plenty of opportunity? Goats and chickens. Meat goats in particular. Dual purpose chickens, eggs and meat, was the other. All of which would be free range and, eventually, organic. We might add a cow or two to the mix, but the focus, right now, is goats and chickens.

This past week my father-in-law, Wendell, purchased Percentage Boer goats, which means they're not 100% pure, but mixed with other goat breeds in their bloodline. I thought he was getting four. He ended up with 7 does who were exposed to a pure-bred buck and 4 kids doelings. So we are starting with 11 female goats for our small operation which will grow, if each exposed doe has the typical twins, by 14 come January/February 2010. That's what you call a starter herd: 25 goats!



This shed (above) is where the goats will stay. A tree fell on the shed so there is a bit of work to do and we'll be adding panels to the gates for predator protection and Houdini protection of the kids...they might be able to wrangle their way out of the gates. A side door to the shed will let the goats out into the pasture.

The above photo shows the buildings from which the goats will come/go and the photo to the right shows the pasture. The ladies will have a lot of work to do eating the tremendous amount of weeds and grass that have come up in this pasture. It is perfect feed for them!







We have a few fence panels to put in place, a gate that will be added to the pasture in the above picture, and a waterer for the pasture, then we will be ready for the does to come to their new home in about 2 weeks.