When we first started looking at goats around 2019, we fell in love with Guernseys! Partly because that’s also the name of our favorite cattle breed, but mostly because they have such a neat history and everyone who has ever had them says that they’re incredibly hardy and sweet. Guernsey goats are believed to be descended from Swiss breeds, including Oberhasli, and were originally found only on the British Isle of Guernsey. There was a single purebred Golden Guernsey herd here in the US for a while. Most have passed on now. You might still be able to find purebred males and straws of semen floating around, but they are very hard to come by.
Many farms, including ours, have started breed-up programs – pairing a purebred or American Guernsey buck with a Swiss doe. We will be trying this out with a few of our favorite Oberhasli does! We’re still learning the whole process and rules with the guidance of a few very helpful farms (especially Sarah at SWAK in Louisiana), and will write it out once we have it 100% down.
Our top goals for all of our goats, more or less in order, are:
Feel free to check out our breeding plan (subject to change).
BGS HB(2)081028D / ADGA American AG2416755
DOB 03/30/2024
White on Face
BGS BG(1)001702D / ADGA American AG2416754
DOB 04/09/2024
BGS BG(1)001703D / ADGA American AG2416756
DOB 04/29/2024
Tiny white spot on poll
base rate + $0 for kids
base rate + $0 for kids
DOB
HB(2)081030D / Purebred PG2418466
DOB 12/26/2023
Tiny white spot on poll
base rate + $25 for kids
BG(2) / Purebred
DOB 01/14/2025
base rate + $25 for kids
BG(2) / Purebred
DOB 01/15/2025
We’re excited to announce that our poultry pricing for 2025 will remain the same as it was in 2024 and most of 2023!
We are part of NPIP and certified free from PT and HPAI, and we are cleared to ship hatching eggs to almost every US state - some require individual import permits that we can work on as needed.
Because USPS has gotten worse again, we can only ship live chicks via Spee-Dee Delivery to areas that they service. We’ve received chicks using them but never sent through them, so it’ll be a learning experience!
Svart Honas are laying well, Buckeyes are SO close to having shippable numbers, Chanteclers seem to be slow dragging again but at least one is laying now, our one & only Welsummer is laying, and we found out today that both Ameraucana pens are eating their eggs again, so we’ll be setting up rollout nest boxes for them… again. Sigh.
Nothing yet from the ducks, geese, or guineas!
#hatchingeggs #exhibitionpoultry #heritagebreeds #rarebreedchickens #pasturedpoultry
Mar 11
Our teeny Daisy wasn’t handling quarantine alone super well, even though she could still see & talk to a bunch of other goats a few feet away, so we gave her a sacrificial buddy yesterday! She’s a whole lot happier now, although her new buddy still isn’t quite sure about her yet 😅 One day, maybe we’ll manage to get a clear photo of them together!
#goats #dairygoats #rarebreeds #oberhasligoats #guernseygoats #goatlife #biosecurity
Mar 10
We can’t get a clear pic yet because this baby has the post-travel zoomies, but Daisy, our newest Guernsey, is here!
Thank you to @meadowlarkheritagefarm for trusting us with her, and as always, thank you to @medicinemountainpettransport for taking such great care of our critters 💜
#goats #dairygoats #guernseygoats #rarebreeds #babygoats #polledgoats
Mar 9
We’re finally trying out the aquarium pump hack that Kathy at A Better Way uses for cleaning milk machine hoses - it’s working really well! We’ve got the pump in our Super Ultra Mega Shopping List on our site (link in bio), but any 800+ gph one will work!
#goats #dairygoats #milkmachine #goatmilk #foodsafety
Mar 7
This pic looks kinda dirty, but we wanted to show an example of something to watch out for 😅
When breeding animals, especially registered ones, it’s important to check them over for faults. This doe has a partial extra orifice - it doesn’t produce milk, at least not yet, and appears to just be cosmetic. Extra orifices like this are a tough one because they might not be visible until the doe freshens for the first time!
We notified her breeder, and this girl is going to a pet home. Her kids are also up for grabs heavily discounted as pets!
We’re not saying who the doe is on this post, because her breeder is awesome and these things just happen sometimes, even with the best of genetics.
#goats #dairygoats #conformation #showgoats
Mar 5
A couple of our chicken pens are now laying well enough to start testing fertility! First are the Svart Honas - these birds, also called Swedish Black Hens, are a highly endangered landrace and are believed to be descendants of Ayam Cemani.
Being a naturally selected landrace and not a manmade breed, there is a bit more variation in their traits right now. The organization monitoring them allows defects that would be considered cullable in Ayam Cemani - they are allowed to have mulberry wattles, floppy combs as long as their eyes aren`t covered, and blue or black ears.
Traits that ARE cullable are white toe tips, raspberry combs or wattles, pink mouths, light eyes, and any white feathering. We are still working some of these out of our flock - we believe we caught the culprit producing white feathers and raspberry combs, but some of our chicks might still come out with white toe tips or pink mouths. Most are a nice, solid black now, though! The Svart Hona melanistic genes are reportedly more complicated than the Ayam Cemani ones, so it`s a work in progress!
#chickens #heritagebreeds #rarebreedchickens #rarebreeds #blackhens #svarthona #swedishblackhen
Mar 4
We present to you the business ends of the Round 1 girls so far! Most still have a bit of edema to work through and two are FFs that are still developing, so there will be lots of changes as the season progresses. We like keeping a record of these changes!
#goats #dairygoats #udders #goatmilk #oberhasligoats #mininubian
Mar 3
And the girls! They were even worse than the boys - all they wanted to do was get in their photographer’s face 🤣
Honey’s daughter is tentatively up for grabs to a pet home due to her super mild underbite, and Vera’s little polled girl is also available.
It’s looking like both of Vera’s kids will unfortunately lose part of their ears to frostbite - we looked for labor every .5-1 hour, but she must’ve kidded super quickly right after one of the checks 🙃
#goats #dairygoats #mininubians #oberhaslidairygoats #babygoats #kiddingseason
Mar 2
We made our first attempt at individual pics of this round of kids - some cooperated, others not so much 🤣
First up, here are the remaining boys! Two Obers went to their new home today. Almost all of these guys are up for grabs - the polled black one is pending and we’re holding onto one of Raindrop’s sons for now. We’ll add deets to each pic on our FB page, or feel free to contact us for more info!
#babygoats #goatkids #dairygoats #mininubian #oberhasligoats #kiddingseason
Mar 2
Someone gave us this StirMate for Christmas, and we’re trying it for the first time today! It’s an automated stirrer that will hopefully help keep milk from burning to the bottom of the pasteurizer 🙏
We choose to pasteurize our milk, at least for the next few years. After each of our does have gotten 3 clean health tests here, we might change our minds, but Jess has immunity issues from Ehlers Danlos and there would still be a risk of contaminants like E. Coli.
So for now, we pasteurize! There are a few methods, but we like one of the most easy-on-milk ones: Low Temperature, Long Time (LTLT) - we heat milk to around 140°F and hold it there for about a half hour.
#goatmilk #pasteurization #foodsafety #homesteading
Mar 2
Farming unfortunately isn’t all fun & games - we’ve got our first loss of the season 💔
Vivi’s boy just wasn’t quite right - he looked like he had scoliosis and his digestive system didn’t seem to be working - we had to tube feed him and found out that there was still milk in his stomach hours after it should have been digested. The poor little guy passed sometime last night.
#farmingishard #godmadeafarmer #farmlife #homesteadliving
Mar 1
Not to be outdone, while we were taking care of Gazelle and her kids, Cornerstone Farm Miss Vivi went into labor with CA Blackberry BQ Encore’s ginormous buckling 5 days late! Jess had to reach in and fish out a leg because his big fat head presented first and he was stuck (goat kids should ideally come out in a Superman pose).
Both of this guy’s parents are covered in moonspots, but he doesn’t seem to have a single one. He is on our keeper list as a backup to Encore!
2025 Tally So Far: 11 bucks, 6 does 🙃
We get a bit of a break to recuperate until the next round of kidding begins 3/19 ish!
#goats #dairygoats #mininubian #farmlife #kiddingseason #babygoats #goatkids
Feb 27
A buck and doe for Autumn-Acres GT Gazelle & Sublime OBV Son of a Sinner! Gazelle kidded fashionably late again, 3 days after her due date this time.
The buckling is up for grabs as market/pet and the doeling will be offered unregistered to people who promise to stay in contact - we want to see if Gazelle’s weird hormonal flaky skin thing is hereditary.
2025 Tally So Far: 10 bucks, 6 does
#goats #dairygoats #goatkids #oberhasligoats #kiddingseason #babygoats #goatlife
Feb 27
We tried out our new Coburn lambar today, and it’s a hit! Now we just have to convince the kids to spread out and use the other one instead of squishing onto just the one 😅
We’ll be splitting up the bucks & does today, so that’ll help!
#goats #babygoats #goatkids #lambar #dairygoats #bottlebabygoats #mininubian #oberhasligoats #goatlife #farmlife
Feb 25
Following what seems to be our trend for the year, two bucks and a doe for Soaring Heart’s Raindrop and Foggy Fork Farm Hot Shot! She’s the first we’ve had to help a bit this season, when the last two kids tried to come out together.
These pics are even worse than usual because we had to rush before work 😅
One buck has blue eyes, a cute blaze, and a moonspot inside a brown spot on his back. The next buck also has blue eyes but no moonspots at first glance - we’ll look harder later! The doe has adorable moonspot pantaloons and is our second official retainee for the year 😍
Raindrop’s udder is really, really nice so far, and as long as it holds up, we’d consider these boys herdsire material. We’ll see how she matures over the next couple months - if they go before then, they’ll make super cute pets!
2025 Tally So Far: 9 Bucks, 5 Does
#goats #dairygoats #mininubian #mininubians #farmlife #kiddingseason #babygoats #goatkids #goatlife
Feb 24
Next on the watchlist due this weekend are Raindrop (still), Gazelle, and Vivi! We’re not entirely sure that Vivi is still pregnant - she definitely was, but is showing zero signs that she still is, and we’re afraid to bump her in case it dislodges any kids that are there. We could do another blood test, but results would take a few days. We’ll find out soon enough!
#goats #dairygoats #oberhasligoats #mininubian #kiddingseason
Feb 23
Two bucks and a doe for Green Gables SOF Penny Candy & Foggy Fork Farm Hot Shot! One buck is brown and covered in moonspots, one is black with a partial white belt, and the doe is black with frosted ears and two little moonspots 😍
The doeling stays and both bucks are up for grabs - they will inherit their *B if registered. One might be polled - we’ll be able to tell after they’re finished drying!
2025 Tally So Far: 7 Bucks, 4 Does
#goats #dairygoats #kiddingseason #mininubian
Feb 22
Jess came out of the milk parlor to find two bucks and a teeny doe (left to right in the video) out of Foggy Fork Farm HoneyPot of Gold and Storybook’s Denarius! One buck and the doe inherited Denarius’ chocolate genetics and the big boy is a beefy blonde copy of Honey 💛
Both bucks will be up for grabs and the doe is retained for now! She has a super mild underbite, so we’ll see how that grows out before we make any decisions about her.
2025 Tally So Far: 5 Bucks, 3 Does
#goats #babygoats #goatkids #mininubians #goatlife #homesteadinglife
Feb 22