Sheep Go to Heaven G

Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell

For some time now, even before I started thinking about taking on Villa Mir Farm, I have been interested in goats. Despite the fact that I have no way to take care of goats on a year-round basis at this time, I'm indulging my fancy and looking around at various goat-farming endeavors.
Farming goats for meat is an up-and-coming thing, but not something I'm particularly interested in. Goat meat is supposedly lean and pretty healthy for you. There are only a few goat farms in Geauga County now and almost all of them are meat goats. Boer goats seem to be the most popular meat breed in the area. Randy James told me there is no pasteurization facility for goat milk in the county.

Nevertheless, I'm more interested in dairy goats. Maybe that's because I love goat cheese and the idea of making cheese from fresh goat milk. Of course, that's also a lot more work than meat goats! Also you have to have some plan to deal with the males, who are not particularly useful in a dairy!

So I found a couple of goat farms in Connecticut, and made the rounds to see what I could learn.

Lisa and Rick Agee run Goatboy Farm in New Milford, CT. I met up with them at the Bridgewater Country Fair. They are farmers on a very small scale - they have a handful of mixed Alpine-Nubian goats, extremely beautiful animals who are obviously much-loved and pampered. They got into the goat business in an odd way - their son was extremely allergic from birth to many things, and they found that natural, additive-free goat milk soap was wonderful for him. After their supplier of soap closed up shop, they got a goat and started making soap from the milk. As Don chemistry students could tell us, making soap is essentially a process called 'saponification' that breaks down fatty esters (found in lots of animal products, including milk) into glycerol and salts of fatty acids. Lisa's soaps are all natural, she adds olive, coconut and palm oils and shea butter, and you can get them with various fragrance or unscented. I'm not a big cosmetics person, but I bought several bars, and I LOVE them! Support small farmers, and go to Goatboy Soaps website and buy some. Here's a picture of Rick and one of his goats.

Although Lisa and Rick do not have a dairy license, they did point me to a nearby goat farm and dairy, Meadowbrook Farm in Southbury, CT. This is run by Liz Tapester, who has a herd of about 25-30 purebred Nubian and Oberhasli goats, and milks about 10 of them. There were two little Nubian kids there, who were so cute I wanted to take them home with me! (Okay, I know serious farmers are not supposed to call their animals 'cute', but these were really charming little animals!) It is clear from talking with Liz that dairy farming is non-stop hard work. You milk twice a day, morning and evening, without fail. Chores take her 7-8 hours a day - a full-time job! Liz has a raw milk dairy license, which I don't think you can get in Ohio. She is inspected monthly by the State of Connecticut. The dairy itself is small, one room for milking (she milks by hand only) and one with lots of stainless steel sinks/shelves, a chiller, and some refrigerators. Her goats are not on pasture, and she did give me good advice about pasturing, fencing, milk handling, etc. After seeing her operation, I still want goats, but I am sobered by the commitment it would take!

Based on the interest I expressed in cheese-making, Lisa Agee pointed me to the New England Cheesemaking website, which carries supplies and instructions for home and farmstead cheesemaking. What a great site! In addition to helpful instructions and information about cheesemaking, they offer a foolproof kit to make your own mozzarella and ricotta cheese at home, from pasteurized cow's milk you can buy in the grocery store. I bought the kit and made some last weekend. Wow! This was the best fresh mozzarella I've had this side of the Atlantic! I think it made a huge difference to have it really fresh - after 48 hours in my refrigerator it tastes like store-bought, but an hour after it was made, it was divine! Very much fun, as well, and a great project to do with your kids (probably best for ages 7 and up). Next I want to try a chevre, using the raw goat milk I can get from Meadowbrook. I will write more on cheesemaking adventures on the Kovac-Valentine family blog.