It's been a busy kidding season this year! All of our kids have found new farms. We n=are already looking forward to next Spring with a new crop of babies.
Thank you everyone for your coat donations to our 1st Annual "Goats for Coats for Kids" coat drive this winter. We collected and donated 37 coats for Central Texas area kids and youth in need of warm coats.
Who We are...
Howdy! We are Manning (age 16) and Stratton (age 13); our Mom and Dad's oldest children and big brothers to our 2 younger brothers and our 2 younger sisters. Our family moved out to our farm in 2016. We brought home our first 3 baby registered, Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats in 2017 and have been raising and breeding them; growing our herd ourselves. We are working as a family to turn our cedar tree filled 10 acres into a productive, working farm, and learning to be good stewards of the land God has given us. We have had some interesting experiences along the way and are excited about what is next.
My brother and I have been milking our goats for our family's breakfast table, tried our hand at making and selling what we believe to be the best goat milk soaps and lotions in Texas, and now as our herd grows we sell high quality registered baby goats (kids).
My brother and I have been milking our goats for our family's breakfast table, tried our hand at making and selling what we believe to be the best goat milk soaps and lotions in Texas, and now as our herd grows we sell high quality registered baby goats (kids).
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We are Mom and Dad, Sandra and Brian. We are the parents of our six children. Manning and Stratton are our oldest boys. Silas, Asher, Marley, and Coralynn are our youngest children. After our family grew suddenly in 2016 (we adopted our four youngest kiddos) we decided that we needed more space for our family to grow and prosper. We found our little farm (in the making) next to our best friends and it was the perfect (well, it had lots of potential) place for our family to run, play, work, live, love, laugh, and learn. Fast-forward three years and we have a budding farm and lots of adventures still to come.
Our oldest, Manning and Stratton, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and a "go get'em" attitude and we are blessed to be walking down this new adventure with them. It's exciting to be able to teach and learn from each other. We as parents, 50% business owners, and financiers, are blessed to be able to work alongside our children. This is not a DIY kid's summer hobby. We all agreed that if we do this, we do it right. We plan on being around a long time.
Our oldest, Manning and Stratton, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and a "go get'em" attitude and we are blessed to be walking down this new adventure with them. It's exciting to be able to teach and learn from each other. We as parents, 50% business owners, and financiers, are blessed to be able to work alongside our children. This is not a DIY kid's summer hobby. We all agreed that if we do this, we do it right. We plan on being around a long time.
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What are we doing...
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A lot of work...
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...and a lot of fun!
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Kingston the Newfie (Newfoundland Dog)
The best farm mascot and the worst LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog)
Beyza the Akbash (Turkish Akbash Dog)
Patteran Eli's Beyza of RHTX is our new LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) in training.
On The Farm...
Meet our three girls. These ladies provide our exceptional milk, we not only use in our products, but drink at the breakfast table. Merida is the herd queen. She is the boss and is the first doe to be milked every morning and evening. If it doesn't go her way it's not going to be fun! Lola and Havana are full sisters. Lola knows what she is doing. She's second on the milk stand and does her job. No fuss, no muss; in and out. Havana is third in line and likes to take her time. She goes on a sight-seeing tour on the way to the milk room and on the way back to the doe barn exploring what might have possibly changed in the day between milkings. All three have been excellent mothers to the little girls born on the farm Spring 2019. The are teaching their daughters well We even have mother-daughter trips to the milk stand every once in a while. Mom's teach so much better than we could.
The Girls
The Baby Girls
What we feed our goats...
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No, they don't eat tin cans and trash. Goats are actually particular in what they eat. Yes, if you starve a goat it will eat what is available just like any animal, or human, would. On our farm, we choose to feed our goats as close to all-natural feed as possible. Utilizing our experience, as well as various academic caprine nutritional studies and feed analyzers, we have chosen to feed our lactating does a diet rich in protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals consisting of free-choice Coastal Bermuda hay, and a blend of alfalfa, whole oats, and black-oil sunflower seeds. We also provide free-choice loose minerals formulated for the area of the country where our farm is located. We have eliminated any commercial goat feed blends and other manufactured animal supplements prevalent in the dairy goat industry. We believe the quality of feed we provide to our girls directly impacts the quality and quantity of milk our girls give back to us as well as their overall health and happiness.
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