About our Boer Goats

I have dreamed of having goats on my farm since I was a young child. Goats on pasture are an excellent way to keep invasive plants and brush at bay by utilizing those weeds that cattle would not touch. Further more as our pastures consist of shallow bedrock with ridges there are some steep rocky outcrops; the goats cheekily flaunt their ability to climb these steep embarkments (where cattle dare not walk) utilize all available areas of our pastures.

Our goal with the goats is to breed for working meat animals that thrive in our climate.

Goats, especially Boers, seem to be lacking a bit when compared to other livestock both here and in the rest of the world. In a simple explanation, we don’t use data nearly enough to make informed breeding choices. Using production information I try to select for the most productive animals. Starting with overall structure and soundness following with fertility, maternal qualities, growth, parasite resistance and temperament. It’s very easy to hide genetic imperfections with extra feed and care, however that is not our goal. If one wants good breeding stock you have to invest in good genetics and hard selection; there are no shortcuts. This is the path we are committed to. Although we do raise registered purebred and full blood Boer we are not agains’t doing selective outcrossing to improve our herd in the longterm. There are certain qualities we love about Boers and some we are not so fond of - this is where we bring in select genetics to improve our goats.

We take biosecurity very seriously. Our goats are tested annually for CAE and Johne’s and the results have all come back as negative. We have also never had a case of CL.