We live on a small homestead with our four young kids, just trying to be good stewards of all God has blessed us with. We are passionate about regenerative agriculture and raising animals for a purpose. Our goats were supposed to help keep the weeds down and help with soil renewal, but we fell in love with their personalities and milk! It has blossomed into a wonderful hobby for the whole family. My kids show the goats in 4-H and we drink so much milk in this house that we rarely have leftovers for other dairy products! We participate in DHI milk test as well as ADGA linear appraisal in order to use data to back up our breeding decisions.

My biggest goal in breeding is to have hardy goats – I am uncomfortable with how much money, time, and heartache is spent on goats that do not thrive. It is my firm belief that health is the natural state, and if we support our animals with wholesome nutrition and a healthy environment, they will naturally thrive. To this end we utilize a rotational grazing system, free choice mineral buffet, and feed a bit of hand-mixed, whole food grain on the milk stand. We take a holistic approach on our farm, and I try not to interfere too much with our goats’ God-given immune systems. I do not use chemical dewormers (unless absolutely necessary) and in general, use herbal treatments whenever possible. I test yearly for CAE, CL, and Johne’s and we always have negative results. We also dam-raise because it makes the most sense to me, and I feel like it adds the least stress both to the animals and our family. We are always learning, growing, and tweaking our management practices. Ultimately the health, happiness, and performance of our goats lets us know when we’re doing things right. Please let me know if you have any questions!