September marks the end of our farm’s 8th Anniversary. Every year we try to capture the highs and lows as a way of sharing the positives and not so positives with our follower base. It also allows us to evaluate progress from years past. Overall we had a very good year. Our dairy business has really taken off with demand significantly exceeding supply. Our two retail stores, Cliff’s Market and McIntyre Farms continue to consume large quantities of milk and cheese with the rest going to our loyal farm customers through direct sales. This year we installed a self serve refrigerator which has been a Godsend scheduling wise. No longer do we need to publish farm hours, customers have access 24 hours a day !!!
Our livestock sales continue to be down from years past and seems to be a common theme among all breeders throughout the country therefore we scaled back on does bred to reduce the number of kids we’d need to sell in the spring. We ended up breeding 17 does and milked through 11 does which provided a reduced but steady supply of fresh milk throughout the winter months. This coming year we intend to limit our breedings again and milk as many does through as feasibility possible.
Kidding season went much smoother than expected with 36 kids born. We had another “doe year” (more doe kids than buck kids) which put a HUGE smile on our faces. The downside is deciding which kids get to stay while still maintaining a reasonable overall herd size. As of this date we retained two buck kids as future herd sires and 10 doe kids. We may cut some of the doe kids as they mature but for now, they get to stay. We peaked at a herd size of 83 after kidding season and have managed to get it back down to 45 which is a manageable number. The downside is that some of the goats we started the farm with are now geriatrics and will live out their lives in retirement as they’ve more than earned it. We did experience our lowest moment in February, losing our herd queen, Sybella shortly after kidding to a torn uterus. Fortunately Sybella blessed us with 2 doe kids that we plan to retain as well as Penella, her doe kid from the 2022 Breeding Program. We are hopeful they will carry on her legacy. On a more positive note, this was first year doing Artificial Insemination (AI) Breedings with an overall success rate of 50%, somewhat expected when first starting out. We were able to retain 3 kids out of this year’s AI Breeding, introducing new genetics into the herd.
We had a reduced show schedule this year in large part due to lack of farm coverage. We normally attend 6-8 shows a year, this year we only were able to attend 4. That said, we were still pleased with the overall results: 25 class wins, 5 Reserve Grand Champion placings, 6 Grand Champion placings, 2 Best in Breed and 1 Best in Show. Next year we plan to make the long haul to Nebraska for the 2025 ADGA National Championship show.
In addition to the ~45 goats, the farm still has 3 llamas, providing excellent predator control, Scarlett and Bella, the farm’s standard poodles, Estelle, the barn cat that keeps mice at bay, APPI our 10 yo Appaloosa, Tophat, our 14 yo Paint Quarter Horse and Blaze, our 10 yo Norwegian Fjord and 2 Peacocks which recently arrived totally unannounced and deciding to make this their new home. Adding to the fun, we recently finished construction on a horse riding arena that frequently gets used as an agility course for the 3 boys. Sure beats having to load them in the trailer, drive to the trails, unload, ride, reload etc etc …. Now it’s a quick walk from the pasture to the arena !!!!
It’s been a good year and we continue to retain great farm help with minimal turnover. Fingers crossed this continues to be a recurring theme.
We are fortunate and thankful in so many ways for all the friends and mentors we’ve made along the way. Without their support, we’d never have made it this far. Onward to Year 9 !!!!