Nigerian Goats

Herd Philosophy

Foggy River Farm is starting up a herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats from champion milking and show bloodlines.  Our goal is to produce small goats who are great milkers, friendly pets, and elegant examples of the breed standard. We are big believers in “pets with benefits” — friendly chickens who make you breakfast (or at least lovely eggs), sweet goats who provide delicious rich milk for yogurt, kefir, cheese and butter, and sheep who mow your lawn for you.  We hope that all kids born on our farm will find loving families to live with, where they’ll provide endless hours of entertainment, milk, and maybe a few ribbons at the local fair!

About the Herd (scroll to bottom for reservation & pricing information)

Our Nigerian Dwarf pedigrees consist of Castle Rock Farms, Twin Creek, Rosasharn, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and others.  Our herd sire Gobi (see “Buck” page) is out of Castle Rock Farm’s Infinity by Rosasharn Sitka Spruce — and not only are his mother and father’s mother both finished champions with gorgeous udders, but he’s pretty much the sweetest little buck you could ever hope to meet.  I went to Castle Rock Farm to pick up another buckling entirely, but he stole my heart by hitting on me (the other kids all ran after Sarah; he came over and sat in my lap.)  He was the cutest kid there and I couldn’t resist his adorable, freckled, white-and-light-buckskin face.  Add to that a nice dairy sharpness, levelness of top line, long body, and lovely udders in his lineage, and we’re hoping he’ll give us many beautiful daughters!

Then, of course, there are “the girls.”  We don’t have an unfriendly doe in the bunch.  In fact, we have a bunch of puppies that spend their days eating hay to prove they’re goats.  (Our real dog, by the way, eats hay to try and prove she’s a ruminant and should spend her days roaming the fields with the sheep and goats.)  There’s Tuxedo, named after my favorite and friendliest Barred Rock chicken (who is now residing in chicken heaven eating all the sunflower seeds she could possibly want, RIP.)  Tuxedo fills the large shoes (uh, chicken feet?) of her namesake  — while she bosses the other goats around, she is a total lap goat.  She follows me around the pasture, and the moment I sit down she settles in to my lap and looks at me with a satisfied expression like “finally, my Lazy Boy is working again.”  It’s pretty endearing.  She, like Gobi, is a Castle Rock kid.  She’s by the beautiful buck Guy Noir which makes her the half-sister to Ginger, my first goat and bottle baby.  Ginger is a stunning, long and level buckskin girl with only one fault as far as I can tell:  whenever the gate to the pasture is open, all she wants to do is sneak into the chicken coop and eat lots of chicken feed.

To finish my quick overview, there’s also Sedona, a beautiful long Castle Rock kid who is sweet as pie, and will hopefully have the level milking curve of her mom (instead of peaking and sharply tapering, her mom is a constant producer throughout the milking season).  Next up is Pippi Longstocking, who I call my little misfit.  She’s a tiny little girl and a bit awkward; we’re hoping she’ll grow into her body as she matures.  Still, her mother had a beautiful udder as a first freshener, and it’s not bad to have small, friendly goats — which is exactly what Pippi is.  Then there are Zoe and Calamari, two wee ones from Phoenix Farms.  Cala has a beautiful long body and a strong milker mother, and Zoe is a compact, dainty girl. Finally, Elizabeth (an older doe) has a great milking pedigree, and Emily has two finished champion legs and 5 best udder awards.

We hand-selected our goats based on temperament, milking ability, and conformation.  Any kids purchased from us should make excellent pets and backyard milkers (if they’re female), and we hope that many kids of both genders will be competitive in the show ring.  The saying goes that the buck is half the herd, and with Gobi’s lineage, not to mention the lineages of many of our does, we’re hoping to produce some show winners.  While we’re new to the goat world, we will always do our best to address the strengths and weaknesses of each goat and goat kid we sell.

Reservations

We will take reservations for kid goats with a $50 deposit for doelings/bucklings ($40 for wethers) made payable to Foggy River Farm.  If you are reserving a dam-raised kid, the kid will go home at 2-3 months old disbudded, wormed (with a natural herbal wormer), vaccinated for CDT and castrated (if wether).  If you are reserving a bottle-raised kid, you will be responsible for the second CDT vaccination — and also for feeding the baby for the first two months of his or her life!  We prefer to let the mamas raise the babies, as most breeders agree that they’re more vigorous and healthy this way — but we’ll consider bottle-raised babies on a case-by-case basis if you have a strong reason for wanting a bottle-raised kid.

Prices will be as follows:

Doelings:  $300-$450.  Price will depend on lineage and quality of kid born.  If you’re new to goats, this may sound expensive — but I have never paid less than $300 for any of my female Nigerian Dwarf Goats, and as a general rule of thumb I will price the kids according to what I paid for the parent doe.

Wethers:  $125.  These neutered boys don’t smell like intact bucks do.  They will make great family pets and weed-whackers.  As an added bonus, they can be shown in NDGA shows and make a very affordable option for 4-H and FFA students looking to hone their showmanship skills!

Bucklings:  $400.  We will not leave males intact out of first fresheners or goats who haven’t proven themselves either in the pail or in the show ring; therefore, for 2010, the only intact buckling we would possibly sell would be out of Emily.  (She has two of three finished legs for her permanent champion status, but hasn’t finished because of an elbow injury that causes her to walk funny, a detriment in the show ring.  She has won 5 Best Udder Awards, has great attachments, capacity, and MSL. Many thanks to Gene for letting her come to our farm!)