Two Kids Farm began with a retirement plan to make and sell goats milk soap. While planning this new life venture I discovered that raising dairy goats was a little more work than I had thought. Once I began exploring what it would take to raise goats in general, I discovered fiber farming. Our first fiber animals were actually alpacas. When we purchased our alpacas, I had no knowledge of these beautiful majestic creatures. Thank you to my mentors Maureen and Larry Macedo of Macedo Mini Acres (https://macedosminiacres.com) in Turlock Ca. Maureen and Larry were an absolute dream to work with and learn from.
After building a suitable barn for the Alpacas Larry and Maureen were kind enough to deliver our first 3 girls. Next, I was able to locate a goat breeder that specialized in both Cashmere and Angora goats. When I was finally ready to add goats to our little heard I wanted “bottle babies”. Purchasing a bottle baby promised a more friendly goat. We purchased three Cashmere bottle babies and began our goat raising adventure.
I enjoyed the experience of raising our bottle babies and was soon ready to add a few Angora goats to our herd. I had a difficult time locating a breeder with available Angora kids for sale in California but was ultimately successful in locating a breeder in Organ who had two beautiful color Angora doelings that were available. These two girls were not bottle babies but one of them was “in your pocket friendly” and she is a love. The second girl was a bit skittish and still is to this day, but she is beautiful. My little herd was complete. But as any goat enthusiast knows, you never have enough goats.
Our next goat added to our little herd was actually a dairy goat in need of a new home. Goats are herd animals and really need to be with other goats to be truly happy. Our Brown Betty is one of our sweetest goats. She is not part of the fiber producers, but I could not be happier to have her in our herd. Next, I thought wouldn’t it be fun to have a Fainter. We found a local breeder and purchased our first Fainter.
All fiber animals have to be sheared at least annually, but Angora goats require shearing at least two times a year. As you might imagine each year, I have lots of fiber to process. What is involved in fiber processing you might wonder; well check out my blog for more information.
Along came COVID and many of my plans required a pivot. As I am running this farm as a business the IRS requires that I make a profit, so my next thought is I will breed the animals and sell their offspring. I purchased to Angora bucks and bred my does. My first year of kidding I was gifted with 11 kids to sell. We only lost one kid which was heart breaking but it does happen. Farming is not for the faint of heart.
The kids can be a joy, but area a great deal of work.