It all started back in 2012, I wanted goats and found Nubian doelings for sale at a farm not far from where I lived. And to save a hundred bucks, I bought them without papers. Looking back, that was really dumb, I could have had so many more options on what to do with my beautiful new goat kids. But no matter, their future was bright and they didn’t need a fancy pedigree to be amazing. I named them Phoebe and Gabiel.
A few years down the road, we left NY and moved to the beautiful state of Virginia. The winters are very mild and easy to deal with compared to a good ol’ Buffalo winter of moving feet of snow with each scoop of the snow shovel just to make a path to the animals, not to mention the subzero temperatures that would freeze the buckets of water every night for weeks at a time.
Once settled in VA, I found a nice looking buck and introduced him to my young ladies. Sadly, the move was hard on my girls and took it’s toll, Phoebe was too stressed and became ill. Being still new with goat health and husbandry, I did not have the resources I do now, nor the knowledge of nursing them back to health without a vet. We lost Phoebe and were now in danger of Gabiel becoming stressed and ill. Thankfully had become good friends with a couple who had Boer goats and they gave me two of their kids. Gabby had a herd again! She was still depressed from the loss of her sister but she was not lonely, and after 5 months of gestation, she finally birthed her own set of twins in the spring. Gabby’s eyes had a new twinkle and she had a wonderful new skip in her step.
After the first set of twins was born on the farm, it was love at first site; kids are so adorable with their long ears, big knobby knees, and their natural desire to jump, spin, and sprint across the yard, they’ll have you laughing every time . After that there were kids born every year (Nubians and Boers alike) on the farm, and eventually, I ended up with a large goat problem of either having to downsize or make them earn their keep.
I tried milking, and though it was fun and the milk delicious, I had more disasters and spilled milk with that than was worth my time. When we discovered that there were “targeted grazing” companies all across the country, I knew my goats would make great employees. I had already done some brush clearing for friends and was pleased with how effective it was and how quickly they could go through overgrowth; so I reached out to a couple different companies, some were very helpful, others not so much. But I consider Mary from Barnyard Weed Warriors my mentor and friend, as she gave me so much courage and information on how to begin.
And so, in the summer of 2023, we began our official journey as Caprine Weed Eaters, LLC.
Caprine Weed Eaters, LLC 