Who We Are
Abiding Acres Dairy Goats is located on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau of Middle Tennessee, halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. We endeavor to raise high-quality Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf goats with a primary emphasis on traits promoting long, even lactations over a period of many years. Because we breed for excellent general conformation and a well-formed, well-supported mammary system, our goats should also perform well in the show ring.
Our goats, wending along the hillsides on our patch of the plateau, enjoy grasses, forage, and locally-sourced hay as well as the shade of the hickory, oak, and cedar trees. In inclement weather they shelter in the barn, which itself has witnessed nearly a century of winters. And in the early spring, when all the world awakens again—one by one, miracles occur. Baby goats, before felt only by occasional kicks and glimpsed by ultrasound, burst into the sunshine, wriggling with life.
Here, we chronicle these little miracles, as well as the sires and dams from which they spring. If the goats you meet here align with your farm goals, we hope you’ll consider adding an Abiding Acres goat to your herd.
Our History
Our farm was established in 2018 with a small herd of two does, one buck, and one wether (to keep our lonely buck company outside of the breeding season). Since then, our herd has grown through acquisitions and births to nearly 35 goats. This year, 24 does are expected to kid, with 8 anxious bucks looking on (figuratively, of course!).
Our goats have traveled to buyers as far west as Oregon, and have frequently gone to buyers throughout the Southeast and Midwest. We are honored by the trust placed in us by our buyers and strive to ensure that our first-time and repeat customers are happy that they have chosen an Abiding Acres goat.
Our Distinctives
These distinctives explain some of the highlights of our farm:
Breeding Philosophy
From a foundation herd of high-quality dairy goats, we use selective breeding to pursue superior breed characteristics for Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf goats. These traits include:
- Long, even lactations
- Capacious udders with strong attachments all around
- Correct teat size and placement
- Width and depth of body to support capacious udder
- Overall strong general appearance with a strong general structure, including front end assembly, strong feet, legs and topline
- Gentle disposition
Bottle/Lambar Feeding
To start the conversation, although we do bottle raise our kids, we recognize that this is not the best option for all farms. However, we hope that our choice to bottle raise our kids provides our buyers with kids that are healthy and easily handled.
Starting with their first feeding, we bottle feed our newborns. They soon transition to a lambar, and this feeding method continues until weaning. We have chosen to bottle raise because it both works will with our schedules and helps us to achieve these objectives:
It helps to monitor how much nutrition each kid receives. The nutrition a kid receives within the first 24 hours is crucial. The dam’s colostrum (present in the first 24-48 hours) provides irreplaceable nutrition for her offspring as well as functions as a supplemental immune system until their immune systems are established. Because of this, we carefully measure and monitor their colostrum/milk intake during the first week. After we transition kids to a lambar, we continue to monitor to ensure that each goat is drinking from the lambar, and that “bellies are full” after each feeding. Often, a reluctance to feed is an early indicator of illness; by watching for a disinterested kid at feeding time, we have been able to quickly identify an illness in its early stage and begin treatment.
It helps to creates a bond of trust and easy-to-handle goats (even bucks!). We have found that bottle/lambar feeding has nurtured a trusting relationship that results in easily-handled goats. From their first feeding, they identify humans as the “source of good things,” and this relationship continues throughout their lives. This trust is easily transferred to their new owners, and we have often received comments from our buyers about the surprising friendliness of our goats.
It help to ease stressful doe/kid separations. After dam-raising, the separation of a kid from its dam is certainly one of the most stressful (not to mention noisy) times for both dam and kid. Stress may affect a goat’s health just as it may affect our health. Their immune systems can become compromised, which can result in an illness or a parasite bloom. To reduce this stress, we have chosen to pull kids from their dams immediately after birth for bottle feeding. As a result, kids do not develop a bond with a dam from whom they will soon be separated, and nearly all our dams are very happy to return to their hay after they have kidded. Our kids have never, and our dams have only rarely, demonstrated any stress from this transition.
We recognize that there are ways to meet these objectives apart from bottle/lambar feeding and these these goals can be accomplished in both dam-raised and bottle-raised herds. We hope, however, that our bottle/lambar-raised kids will be a benefit to our customers’ farms.
Health monitoring
Because a healthy kid is a growing kid, we carefully monitor the progress of each kid. During their first 8 to 12 weeks (depending on the breed) we have a weekly “weigh-in.” We individually weigh each kid, record its weight, and chart its individual progress. Although time-consuming, this process has helped us to identify nutritional deficiencies or potential health issues in early stages and address and resolve these before they become serious concerns.
After weaning, we continue to monitor and manage the health of our adult goats, using field rotation, famacha checks, on-site fecal testing, and deworming (based on parasite load). Additionally, we are a CAE-and Johnes-negative herd, as verified by yearly testing.
Biosecurity
Because diseases and parasites are easily transferred through contact with goats outside the herd and by hitchhiking on clothing and shoes, we follow strict biosecurity protocols to protect the health of our herd. This includes procedures for visitors to our farm as well as for when we visit a neighboring farm.
Local Sourcing
Whenever possible, we choose local sources for our herd’s nutritional needs. We provide a diet of leafy orchard grass and alfalfa, which is grown, cut, and baled at a farm within 5 miles of our location. Our goats’ diet is supplemented with a feed formulated by a local goat farmer who has it milled to her specifications (ideal for dairy goats) and available for purchase.
Continuing Education
We consider ourselves to be on-going students of goats, goat health, and milk production, and we continue to pursue opportunities to grow in our knowledge and hone our skills. In 2020, we completed the Tennessee Master Small Ruminant Producer program, and we regularly research improvements to our methodologies to ensure the healthiest goats possible.
Further, just as we have appreciated the advice and information we have received from fellow dairy goat farmers, we certainly welcome questions from new or potential goat owners and are happy to assist in any way possible with setting up or maintaining a goat herd.
