Dedicated to a healthy Legacy and putting milk in the pail!
We have a small clean, yearly tested, (Johne's, CAE, CL & Q-Fever) herd - breed to build a better goat for milk, show & pets.
Starting Our Goat Herd
Getting Our First Nigerian Dwarf Goats
Once we chose to obtain Goats for our homestead instead of a dairy cow, it took us 3 years before we chose and purchased our first Nigerian Dwarf goat kid. We researched temperament, hardiness, milk production, costs, butterfat and protein for quality milk, production and cheese making
We focused on the Nigerian Dwarf goat's needs, care, medical, worm issues, diet, kidding and housing needs. We joined ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) and AGS (American Goat Society). Lori, the head goat herder here at Mitten Acres, took courses at Michigan State University for cheesemaking to improve upon her skills as a cheesemaker and began taking various goat related courses in preparation of obtaining Nigerian Dwarf Goats for our homestead.
Those courses included Langston University's Course to become a Certified Dairy Goat Producer and a Certified Goat Meat Producer, both of which she took and earned certifications for before owning any Nigerian Dwarf goats. Since we were going to raise Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, we wanted to be as prepared as possible and have a general knowledge of their needs and required care.
In January 2018, we began interviewing breeders. We compiled a list of questions to ask before we made any commitments. We wanted to begin our journey with healthy, tested, registered stock with good lines and genetics in both conformation (show) and milk lines (production).
We want to provide those desirable qualities to others through our breeding program and keep within the Nigerian Dwarf standard while hopefully improving them through carefully chosen mates and genetic insights for breeding, linear appraisal and milk testing.
Mitten Acres is MAEAP Verified
When we purchased our vacant property to build our home in 2012, we wanted to ensure the property remained as friendly & hospitable as possible for all of the critters, large and small, that had made this vacant land their home.
It had been years since we had actually seen salamanders, tree frogs, Praying Mantis and so many turtles we wanted to ensure they survived and flourished with us on our new homestead along with the many deer, turkeys, coyote and fox as they had for decades before.
With those thoughts in mind, we hand-cleared our building site, removed the diseased and invasive growth and have gradually been re-planting with native Michigan trees to supply a natural habitat without the use of chemical fertilizers or spays.
Once we added livestock, our orchard and garden areas, we wanted to ensure we were managing the land and new pastures with those same thoughts in mind so we began and completed the MAEAP verification program to help us ensure we were environmentally friendly for all the critters and natural resources we share.
Our farm became Environmentally Verified October 2021.
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