Our Goat Herd

Our goat herd consists of four pure bred Nubian dairy goats. We started three years ago with Zoe and Lilly purchased from a farmer in Oak Harbor. We asked if they were CAE free, and she said yes. We failed to ask if she had them tested. Toward the end of that year we had some concerns about the quality of care this farmer was giving her animals and had the local vet test for CAE. Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE) is a virus that affects goats in multiple ways. Most often characterized by big knees, the virus also does irreparable damage to the lungs as well and affects the immune system leaving the goat defenseless against most common ailments. CAE is the bane of many goat producers and much emphasis is placed on raising "CAE free" goats.

The tests came back positive for Lilly and negative on Zoe. None of the local breeders will allow their bucks to visit CAE positive goats so we made the decision to put Lilly down. We then purchased Surely, a CAE free and CAE tested goat from a well known breeder. Surely is currently three years old just completing her second year of being milked. We purchased her from Kim Puzio of My-Enchanted-Acres Dairy Goats in Snohomish Washington in the spring of 2008.

Their goal in breading is to "create a combination that produces a style of strong, powerful, elegant animals who pulls it all together in the milk parlor and show arena."

We don't show our goats but understand how important it is to start with the highest quality stock. Surely produced 5 quarts of milk each day at her peak this last year - that being once we weaned her kid this last spring. She is long legged and the current leader of the herd. Very intelligent and affectionate, she is truly our favorite. Surely was bred to Monty My-Enchanted-Acres last fall and we expect her to kid on the 11th of February.

Zoe is still with us.  She is pure bred but not registered.  The first year we had her, her milk production was about ½ gallon per day.  We bred her that fall and kept her doe kid, Nettle.  Zoe is an ok milk producer, giving us 3 quarts per day.  Her teats are huge and she is so easy to milk, but Pam and I are planning on selling her and Nettle this fall if we get a girl kid from Surely and Alure.  Nettle was bred for the first time this last fall and will birth this spring.