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My wife and I, nearing retirement, wanted to move to an area in CA with a larger property so that we could start a small hobby farm. It has always been a dream of mine to have a farm with a big red barn and a collection of farm animals. We purchased a 5-acre property in San Diego county with a home and had the big red barn built. Now we needed some animals. We were not looking for pets but more an animal that would provide us with something. We didn’t want that something to be meat, but rather something that we could make into a sellable product and start a small business to keep us busy in our retirement. After much discussion about what type of animals we wanted, we thought we would start with goats. Goat cheese, goat milk soap, and goat milk lotion sounded like it would be a place to start as sellable products. Goat milk is known to be very good for the skin and also makes excellent cheeses.  |
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We purchased two 3-month old Nigerian Dwarf sisters, Gemma and Juniper. Shortly after that our neighbor’s goat, Luna, a Nubian, had a single female kid. We named her Bella and acquired her at 10 days old. Luna came along for the first 8 weeks to nurse Bella and then she was returned home. Our journey was off to a fast start. We created two pastures both about an acre in size. Both pastures are completely fenced in which allowed us to let the goats free range during the day. At night we bring the goats into the barn to keep them safe from coyotes. Jack, our dog, gets along very well with the goats. Even Luna was OK with Jack being close to Bella. |
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In case you don’t know, goats need to become pregnant before they will produce milk (this was news to a few people). So after about 8 months I borrowed Red Bull, a Nigerian Dwarf buck, from a friend and got the girls pregnant. About 5 months later the kids started coming. Juniper was first and kidded two bucks, Finn and Milo, and one doe, Sweet Pea. Gemma was next and kidded two does, Ellie Mae and Lola. Bella was last with a single doe, Buttercup. |
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We quickly had gone from 3 goats to 9 in a matter of a week. The experience of baby goats is one I would recommend for everyone. They are not only adorable but their antics are something to behold. Unbelievably athletic and energetic within the first week, you could spend hours watching them. I let the moms nurse the kids until they were 8 weeks old and then sold the two bucks, and one doe, Ellie Mae, and kept the other three does Sweet Pea, Lola, and Buttercup. Hence the Six Goats company was formed. We then started milking all the moms in the AM to build up our supply of milk for our products and let the babies nurse the rest of the day. We began making cheese (Chevre and Feta) as well as a variety of soaps, lotions, and lip balms. We also have been expanding our beehives that are on our property and we harvest the honey which we use in the soap. It was a huge learning experience, but with help from others who had experience and of course “YouTube” we learned how to do it. When the soap and lotion were ready, my wife and I began using them and were amazed at how quickly our skin improved. We both have chronically dry skin. We also never realized how harsh regular soap is on your skin and how ineffective the moisturizing lotion we used was. Goat milk contains fatty acids and several beneficial vitamins and minerals which protect against dry skin among many other benefits. We decided not to sell the cheese (we give it away or eat it ourselves) but launched our little company “Six Goats”. It’s been quite a journey and we are excited to share our goat milk products with you. We hope you love them as much as we do. If you do please tell your friends. Remember your skin is a vital organ, treat it like one. |
