When we first got dairy goats, I read everything I could find before purchasing my first goats. Unfortunately, all the stuff that I read did not prepare me very well for finding and raising dairy goats. I was not very patient and found the first goats that I could. I quickly added many others.

We learned a lot from that first herd including the fact that we needed a CAE free herd.

In 2008, we sold all the goats (which wasn’t easy on the children) and started over with two registered Alpine Goats. Those two goats gave me more milk than what I had gotten from all of the goats that I had sold.

Dayton and Victoria are still with us and act as joint herd queens. The only doe kid we’ve kept to date is one of Victoria’s daughters, Veanna. The boys enjoy milking Veanna even more than they do Victoria.

I’ve never regretted getting Dayton and Victoria, and I’m so glad we went with Windrush Farms to get our first Alpine goats.

Quite often, people tell me that they just got their first goat. When they describe them to me, I inwardly cringe. I’m left in a tough position. What they’ve described to me often does not sound like a good first goat. But the decision was made, and I’m left with the choice to congratulate them or warn them.

For anybody out there who is thinking of starting a relationship with dairy goats (and it is a relationship b/c you spend a LOT of time with them), I’ve written an article about What is the Best Goat to Get. I hope it helps you to start a great dairy goat herd of your own.