Last Updated: 9/1 /10
I have listed several more 2010 doelings for sale that I had intended to keep. Check them out here: Does for Sale
About Us
Ten years ago my dream to live in the country finally came true when my husband and I found the perfect little farm situated on 36 acres in Embarrass, Minnesota. We just recently had the opportunity to add 38 more acres of adjoining land. Embarrass is known for its cold temperatures and claims the rights as the "coldest spot in the state". It is not unusual to see 30 to 45 degrees below zero many mornings before the sun comes up during the winter months. The unofficial low temperature set on February 2, 1996 was -64 degrees!
Despite the cold, we had successfully raised a small herd of hardy, healthy, and happy pygmies and dairy cross goats prior to getting hooked on the wonderful Nigerian Dwarf breed. To read about the history of the breed, click the following link. Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats
My goal is to breed healthy, hardy animals that are of correct conformation, good personality, and are excellent milkers that are easily milked by hand. Although I have a milking machine, I have yet to use it on my goats as I enjoy the time I spend with them while hand milking. Nigerian Dwarf goats produce a surprising amount of milk for their small stature and the high butterfat makes them an excellent choice for families that want to make cheese. I am currently working on my cheese-making skills and have tried my hand at chevre and mozzarella. One of my favorite things to make with my goat's milk is yogurt. It is just wonderful! I also froze enough milk that I can make soap this winter too. If there were only more hours in the day ...
In addition to our growing herd of beloved goats, we also are home to a small herd of registered Limousin cattle, our Guernsey milk cow Lilly and her heifer calf Buttercup, a yearling Jersey heifer, a dozen laying hens, two zebra finches, three cats, four pugs, and one Lionhead rabbit.
We are currently members of the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA), the American Goat Society (AGS), the American Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Association (ANDDA), The Nigerian Dwarf Goat Association (NDGA), and the Minnesota Dairy Goat Association (MDGA).
Our cattle are registered with NALF and you can see some photos of our herd on their own page (still under construction). Shere Country Ranch Limousin
To see other family and farm photos, click this link. Shere Family & Farm Photos
Health and Herd Management
** Whole herd tested negative for TB on 3/5/10 **
All of our goats are registered with the ADGA and most are registered with AGS also. Although we don't currently register our goats with NDGA, most of them could be registered there also. Our kids are dam raised and bottle fed both. I dam raise all of my own kids unless circumstances dictate otherwise but am more than happy to bottle raise kids upon request if they are reserved in advance. All buck kids are disbudded at three to fours days old and doe kids are generally done at 10-14 days old. We strive to breed hardy, structurally correct, disease-free animals that thrive and produce well in our rather harsh northeastern Minnesota climate. Our goats are handled daily and are friendly and well-adjusted.
Our feeding program for our bucks consists of high quality locally grown grass hay, free choice Purina goat minerals, free choice baking soda, dried beet pulp, and a 16% protein pelleted goat chow mix that contains a urinary acidifier to help reduce the formation of urinary calculi. Our water quality is excellent and in the colder months we bring our goats buckets of fresh warm (almost hot) water several times a day which they really love. In fact, even in the summer months they prefer warm water, although I still haven't convinced my husband of that! Our girls get the same diet with the addition of some alfalfa hay, a non-pelleted goat grain mix, and a small amount of Purina Animax (Purina's version of Calf Manna). A small amount of black oil sunflower seeds are given as a treat. I have recently added Thorvin Kelp to our nutritional program.
We are blessed to have very few parasites in our area so we are firm believers in treatment mainly based on fecal and blood tests. I have been doing research on the herbal wormers that are available and started my goats on a year round herbal worming program in 2007. I am using the two-part system from Molly's Herbals. Initially I experimented using both the drench method and mixing the herbs in with their feed. The drenching was a struggle, not to mention messy too. They wouldn't eat all their feed when I tried just mixing it in with their grain, so they weren't getting the proper dose of herbs. I ended up making up treat-like dosage balls by mixing the herbs with the slippery elm bark and molasses per the instructions on Molly's web site. That method was a success for me. My goats just love it! You can visit Molly's web site at http://fiascofarm.com. She has a wealth of invaluable information on her site. I just recently received a wonderful gift from my very supportive husband ... a microscope for doing my own fecals! I will continue to randomly check my results with my vet until I am more confident in my results. Although I prefer raising my herd as naturally as possible, I will use commercial wormers and antibiotics if necessary.
Our herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats (all goats over one year of age) is vet tested for CAE annually. We plan on testing all of our goats for Johnes this year (2010) and will repeat as our vet recommends. We have never had CL or any sort of abscess in our herd. We have recently added annual whole herd TB testing to our health program and our herd is registered with the Minnesota Board of Animal Health as part of the Federal Scrapie Eradication Program. Our Scrapie identification number is MN46368.
We received the results of our May 27, 2008 testing for CAE and all tests were negative. Tests were done using the more sensitive ELISA test. All of our goats one year of age and older were tested. We also had a whole herd TB test done at the same time and those results were also all negative. See the notes on the Latest News page regarding our current (2009/2010) testing schedule.
Our herd is very young but is founded with animals from healthy, productive herds that emphasize functional structure and correct mammary systems. We currently are not on milk test but hope to begin in the near future and have chosen our foundation animals with that goal in mind.