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Cecelia Shane
Erin explained that after studying French literature in college (like me!), she went to work on a farm. The love was immediate. She soon found herself interning at Consider Bardwell Farm, learning about goat husbandry and cheese making. She knew this was what she wanted to do with her life. Homesickness soon brought her to her native Massachusetts, where she started keeping goats of her own. In 2013, she turned her passion into a business: Dancing Goats Dairy was born. The farm has grown steadily since then. She has added new goats to her herd every year, and she is experimenting with new cheeses to offer her customers.
As Erin was saying all of this, the babies constantly danced around her hands so that she would pet them. They nuzzled her, and she nuzzled back. The mutual love Erin and her goats have for each other was apparent in each moment of our visit to her farm.
[Update on June 23, 2015, 10:45am PDT]: Folks have asked about what happens to the male goats on the farm. Erin sells them to folks who will use them to clear away brush and grass. Think of them almost as lawnmower goats.
We had no idea that we'd end up with goats. However, they've had such a profound effect on us, that we decided raising goats is what we wanted to do (at least in our "spare time"). And we thought it would be FUN to share the joys of raising our goats, which is why we started this website. Of course there's a lot more to our little farm than just goats, so you'll find pictures and stories about all facets of the farm and our "family" members.
Welcome to Poplar Hill Dairy Goat Farm. We are Minnesota's oldest Grade A dairy goat farm. We offer many services and products including a great selection of fresh goat milk, goat milk soap, guided farm tours and dairy goats for sale.
Then, with all those goats, it quickly became about milk. And then, happily cheese. We became students of cheese and met wonderful, generous cheesemakers across the country. The more we learned, the more we wanted to learn.
Along with cheese from the self serve fridge, visitors may enjoy taking home a t-shirt, mason jar travel mug, photo buttons featuring our goats, and seeds from our sunflowers for you to plant next year.
You never know what you will find in the self serve fridge. We love that so many people come directly to the source to get their cheese! Around apple season we also make cajeta. While here, visit the goats and peek through the window at the cheese kitchen.
Come hold, cuddle and snuggle with our newborn goats for a full hour! Relax and laugh as our adorable baby goats jump and play all around and on you. Watch the kids nurse from their mothers and get your farm fix!
Reserve a table and bring a packed picnic lunch to enjoy in the pasture with the goats and horses roaming around you. (Animals not inside picnic area). Treats will be provided for you to feed the goats. Picnic time is 45 minutes and then move to the Snuggle Session for one hour!
An agricultural-educational experience with goats on the farm. Practice yoga with goats, bring family and friends to a mingle & learn class with our baby goats, or enjoy a hike in the woods with goats.
The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the tribe Caprini, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat.[1] It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.[2]
The Modern English word goat comes from Old English gāt "she-goat, goat in general", which in turn derives from Proto-Germanic *gaitaz (cf. Dutch/Frisian/Icelandic/Norwegian geit, German Geiß, and Gothic gaits), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰaidos meaning "young goat" (cf. Latin haedus "kid").[5] To refer to the male goat, Old English used bucca (cf. Dutch/Frisian bok and giving modern buck) until ousted by hegote, hegoote in the late 12th century. Nanny goat (females) originated in the 18th century, and billy goat (for males) originated in the 19th century.[citation needed]
Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males are called bucks or billies, and juvenile goats of both sexes are called kids. Castrated males are called wethers. While the words hircine and caprine both refer to anything having a goat-like quality, hircine is used most often to emphasize the distinct smell of domestic goats.
Goats are among the earliest animals domesticated by humans.[6] The most recent genetic analysis[7] confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild bezoar ibex of the Zagros Mountains is the likely original ancestor of probably all domestic goats today.[6]
Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which was used as fuel; and their bones, hair, and sinew were used for clothing, building, and tools.[1] The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran.[8] Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jericho, Choga Mami,[9] Djeitun, and Çayönü, dating the domestication of goats in Western Asia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago.[6]
Each recognized breed of goat has specific weight ranges, which vary from over 140 kg (300 lb) for bucks of larger breeds such as the Boer, to 20 to 27 kg (45 to 60 lb) for smaller goat does.[10] Within each breed, different strains or bloodlines may have different recognized sizes. At the bottom of the size range are miniature breeds such as the African Pygmy, which stand 41 to 58 cm (16 to 23 in) at the shoulder as adults.[11]
Most goats naturally have two horns, of various shapes and sizes depending on the breed.[12] There have been incidents of polycerate goats (having as many as eight horns), although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited. Unlike cattle, goats have not been successfully bred to be reliably polled, as the genes determining sex and those determining horns are closely linked. Breeding together two genetically polled goats results in a high number of intersex individuals among the offspring, which are typically sterile.[12] Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins, and are used for defense, dominance, and territoriality.[13]
Goats are ruminants. They have a four-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. As with other mammal ruminants, they are even-toed ungulates. The females have an udder consisting of two teats, in contrast to cattle, which have four teats.[14] An exception to this is the Boer goat, which sometimes may have up to eight teats.[15][16]
Goats have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils. Because goats' irises are usually pale, their contrasting pupils are much more noticeable than in animals such as cattle, deer, most horses, and many sheep, whose similarly horizontal pupils blend into a dark iris and sclera.[citation needed]Goats have no tear ducts.[17]
Goats expressing the tan pattern have coats pigmented completely with pheomelanin (tan/brown pigment). The allele which codes for this pattern is located at the agouti locus of the goat genome. It is completely dominant to all other alleles at this locus. There are multiple modifier genes which control how much tan pigment is actually expressed, so a tan-patterned goat can have a coat ranging from pure white to deep red.[citation needed]
In temperate climates and among the Swiss breeds, the breeding season commences as the day length shortens, and ends in early spring or before. In equatorial regions, goats are able to breed at any time of the year. Successful breeding in these regions depends more on available forage than on day length. Does of any breed or region come into estrus (heat) every 21 days for two to 48 hours. A doe in heat typically flags (vigorously wags) her tail often, stays near the buck if one is present, becomes more vocal, and may also show a decrease in appetite and milk production for the duration of the heat.
Bucks (intact males) of Swiss and northern breeds come into rut in the fall as with the does' heat cycles. Bucks of equatorial breeds may show seasonal reduced fertility, but as with the does, are capable of breeding at all times. Rut is characterized by a decrease in appetite and obsessive interest in the does.[13] A buck in rut will display flehmen lip curling and will urinate on his forelegs and face.[22] Sebaceous scent glands at the base of the horns add to the male goat's odor, which is important to make him attractive to the female. Some does will not mate with a buck which has been descented.[13]
Freshening (coming into milk production) usually occurs at kidding, although milk production is also relatively common in unbred doelings of dairy breeds.[25] Milk production varies with the breed, age, quality, and diet of the doe; dairy goats generally produce between 680 and 1,810 kg (1,500 and 4,000 lb) of milk per 305-day lactation. On average, a good quality dairy doe will give at least 3 kg (6 lb) of milk per day while she is in milk. A first-time milker may produce less, or as much as 7 kg (16 lb), or more of milk in exceptional cases. After the lactation, the doe will "dry off", typically after she has been bred. Occasionally, goats that have not been bred and are continuously milked will continue lactation beyond the typical 305 days.[26] Meat, fiber, and pet breeds are not usually milked and simply produce enough for the kids until weaning.
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