26/03/2026
Consider this an educational post based on our research and experience. If you have a few minutes, you may find it interesting. I just read an article in Mother Earth News, a magazine designed to educate on everything farming, whether it be animals or gardening. The article I read was titled "humane practices for happier herds". Mary and I, over the last 10 years, have done everything we can to keep our herd happy. Adequate and clean space to roam, food, water, and attention are all things we lavish on them. Goats are an emotional animal and can form emotional bonds, therefore, it is pertinent that they not only have great relationships with each other, but they have great relationships with their humans.
Not all farmers share our affinity for goat culture. Some, like Heidi Jo, share in it even more than us. Haha. She loves her babies. And it is important to us that we only select families like this that we think will love our animals as much as we do.
As you all know, we breed our goats and get babies every year. We have long held to belief that it is important for a baby to feed from its mom so it gets healthy nutrients and builds a healthy emotional goat relationship with Mom as well. While we have read many studies on it, we have had enough babies now to do a little bit of our own case study as well. This article in the magazine, made a statement that aligns with our beliefs by saying, "what Young animals need is their mother's milk for much longer than the commercial guys would lead us to believe.". I feel good knowing that experts in the industry agree with our approach. Anytime that we have rehomed babies, we have waited until the babies have been weaned off by their mom to do so. The mom decides when the babies are ready to go, not us, and not for profit. We ensure the babies get delivered healthy to their next home.
So why is it so important for the babies to feed from their moms? For multiple reasons. First, in the first few weeks they get colostrum which help build a healthy immune system. Secondly, the milk is extremely healthy and we believe it is far healthier than any substitute that is on the market allowing for proper growth and development of the rumen. And lastly, they form a bond with their mom that is critical for social, emotional and physical development. Mom's protect their babies and teach them how to interact with other goats. Babies that are separated at a young age don't get that socialization.
Interestingly, we have rehomed babies to 10 different families at this point. And four of those families indicated they have purchased goats from somebody else prior to us, that they got them within a month of their birth, and that they had a corresponding infant death after that. 40% of families that we have dealt with have tragically lost a baby due to improper development prior to turning to us. That number is staggering. We have lost zero at our farm due to the same reason. Therefore, we conclude that a baby feeding from its mom throughout its development is the most healthy form of raising a baby.
We have had 3 times in the last 10 years where we have been forced to bottle feed. We have had close to 50 babies born on our farm. And the bottom line is this: babies that had a healthy birth, followed by a strong relationship with their mom allowing for regular feeding sessions, have resulted in zero unhealthy babies or deaths in the first year. Obviously, this doesn't account for accidents, but it does account for immune deficiencies and growth issues and social development that can get a baby in trouble.
So what do our three case studies look like? #1. Most famously, last year we had baby Juniper. Juniper is famous and has met a lot of people In goat yoga and is very popular. Juniper was unconscious at birth and was revived by me while Mary delivered the rest of the babies. By the time we were able to get the baby warmed up and back to Mom, mom didn't recognize the baby. Hence, we were forced to bottle feed. Juniper grew up being bonded with us in place of her mother. Her growth is a little stunted, but because her mother was feeding the other two babies, Mary was able to milk her out and give Juniper her own mother's milk. Juniper remains very attached to this day to Mary and I. While her growth is slightly stunted, she appears to be a healthy baby after receiving her mom's milk. Unfortunately she isn't socialized like a goat and is more like a person. While we have enjoyed that, she doesn't bond with other goats like we wish. #2. We had one of our moms named Daisy die in childbirth and she had triplets. Before she passed, I asked the vet if we could get her to feed her babies one more time. The vet said you will never get her to stand up. But when I told her to stand up, she stood right up and let her babies get colostrum from her. I feel that was important and it showed the love of a mom who had no energy and was dying from sepsis but was still willing to feed her baby. Fortunately, Mary had milked out Daisy a lot the prior year and froze a bunch of her milk. This allowed us to feed her babies her own milk even after her passing. While those babies lacked the emotional connection with their mom, they made it with humans. They were socially challenged within the herd, but are now at a new Farm where they are loved for being the energetic and loving goats that they are. #3. We had another baby that was born unconscious and revived. In this case it's mother didn't recognize this baby either. In this case, we didn't have excess milk from the mother to feed for the baby and used a supplemental milk source instead. We became extremely attached to this baby as it bonded with us. But unfortunately at 6 months, this baby got sick and passed. The vet believes a weak immune system contributed to this. Thus, we have had one baby that was born and became healthy that died due to non-accidental death, and that is the only baby where we fed a milk supplement. This seems too coincidental.
Because of all of this, we find it most humane for the babies to be able to bond with their mom and feed from her. As much as I love the milk, I would rather have the babies have it first. For the health of the baby, we find this imperative. The people that purchase goats from us to start their own farms have always understood why we feel the way we feel. I know it's hard to wait for your baby goats to come to your home, but for the sake of the baby's health, we insist.
The picture attached is a picture of Azalea bonding with her babies. It was a picture from last year. Eventually, the mom's recognize the babies need to be weaned off. This is usually between 12 and 16 weeks. And once the babies are weaned off they become independent and start wandering the fields. At that point, we deem them ready emotionally to leave the home. I use the term "they're off to college". They are ready emotionally to move on. And we feel happy knowing we did our best to do what was in their best interest. It is hard for us to let these babies go elsewhere. It is impossible not to get attached. But we have been rewarded with the most loving and caring people to take our goats and give them new homes. And many of them we still get to see from time to time. We feel very blessed that we have been able to place our goats in homes that love them as much as we do.
