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Hello and thanks for stopping by. Like many
folks we began our goat operation as a 4-H project with our
kids. As our daughters realized the barn yard had cooties
and our boys realized girls didn't have cooties, the goats
were pretty much left up to us. We had to decide if we
wanted to continue in the goat business or not. As a small
row crop farming family we decided the goats were a way to
provide us with an additional income.
We have had some pretty bad experiences along
the way. In 2000 we were expecting our first kid crop from our herd of
fourteen does. We lost all our babies and two of our does. We consulted
our vet, who at the time had very little knowledge about goats, (with the
problems we have encountered along the way, our vet became educated very
quickly). Even after autopsies, no one could tell us what went wrong. We picked
our selves up and started over again. But from 2000 to present we
are much better at what we do and our quality of goats is much better. We have
learned what to look for in a goat. This is something that took some doing.
Every goat person you talk to does something a little different or has a
different type of goat. We were beside ourselves, until we realized we had to
do what worked best for us; We did some soul searching and asked
ourselves what type of goat would we benefit from, how many goats could we
physically and financially handle? Our first step was to strive to improve our
genetics. We researched the popular goats at the time. Chose what bloodline we
felt we could benefit from and was in our price budget. We went from our
original herd of 14 (minus the ones we lost) and jumped in both feet and
increased our herd to 40 does and a buck, overnight I think. I will have to
admit, we were duped by some of the goat producers out there. We ended up with
some fish teat problems, does that produced little milk and does that would not
settle and produce babies. We overcame this problem by learning the
different nutritional requirements for does verses bucks and was able to breed
out the teat problems in our offspring. I am happy to say at present we are
running 150 plus head, and we do not have any teat problems in our herd.
UPDATE: Do to health issues for both of us, we
have sold our herd back down to 30 head, and are concentrating on the current
genetics in the show rings.
Our show career started in the winter of 2004.
We loaded up three does and headed to Ruston, Louisiana for our first show. It
was an all day drive for us. We placed with two of our does, taking a Grand and
a Reserve Champion. The next month we went to Alexandria, Tennessee to a show.
We placed well at that show and received a Reserve Champion. We were hooked. We
spent much of our weekends in 2005 on the road to a show. Our doe received
a few more Reserve Champions and one credited Grand Champion win. We remained in
the top five of every class we participated in. We enjoyed the shows and meeting
all the goat people, but the travel was putting a strain on us and our goats.
In 2005 we decided to host a goat show. We held our show in Piggott, Arkansas
with the show being sanctioned by the USBGA. It was a lot of work
preparing for the show, the incoming exhibitors and being up to speed on all
those show rules, but we enjoyed it so much that we continue to produce shows.
UPDATE: We no longer are affiliated with USBGA,
we only participate with ABGA. All our shows we produce since 2006 are ABGA.
We have so many people to thank for
helping us with our goat adventures.
The Chambers: on a visit to their farm our
daughter played with their new born dairy goats, one goat reached up and sucked
our daughters finger, there was no way to leave that day without carrying one of
those darling babies and a bottle home with us. Miss Priss is still part of our
family today.
The Thigpens: helping us get started in the
shows, allowing us to use their great genetics of the Elite Ennobled Rambo and
Ennobled Zeus. The special friendship we have formed.
Our Customers: you have allowed us to be
introduced to some really special people over the years, with many of them
becoming close friends.
And our Goats: what an interesting animal.
They have taught our whole family so much. To sit outside in the evening and
watch the goats browse and the babies play... and to realize, we're
working...this is our job. We also remember the ones we have lost either to our
ignorance as we learned and to the ones we just didn't know what the
problem was....But foremost
we give praise and thanks to our Maker.
God has been so good to our family and our business. With out Him none of it
would be possible.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR VISIT AT
OUR WEB SITE AND WITH OUR GOATS
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