I've had many people contact me with interest in buying goats from us.  After about a dozen or so inquiries, I've decided to add a mailing list to the site.  If you subscribe, you will be notified when new animals are available for purchase.  To give everyone an idea of our breeding schedule, we are getting ready to expose our senior doe to Topper, and she will kid around February of next year.  Trixie will be bred around November of this year to kid in April, and Tator should be ready to breed next spring, so we are anticipating kids from her in early Fall next year. We can't really take any prenatal reservations right now, since our herd is very small, but when we do have kids available for sale, the mailing list subscribers will be the first to know! Follow the link above in the navigation menu to subscribe.

Yesterday, we attended the Summit City Classic ADGA All Breed Goat Show in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  As newbies, we really didn't know what to expect, but we knew we had to get our feet wet.  We took our buck, Topper, and our little doe, Tator.  We wanted to take Trixie also, but her papers didn't come through in time.  Precious had to stay home, because the show did not have a category for a dry doe of her age.  Tator took home two first place finishes, and was considered both times for Grand and Reserve Champion Junior Doe. 

Topper was also shown, and although he didn't do as well as we had hoped, we are confident that he will soon come into his own.  Topper placed last out of nine in the first show, because the judge was concerned that he was too tall for his age.  In the second show, the judge placed him fourth of nine.  In both shows, Topper was commended for his body capacity and his dairy character.  We are very proud of Topper.  He behaved really well for his first time in the ring. 

We are very glad that we attended this show.  We learned alot about showing goats, and we met some great goat people.  Our "real" kids even got to help out in the show.  Here is a pic of Kara showing a goat for another farm.  She was SO excited and she did a GREAT job!!

In other news, we finished the bridge to the pasture.  Now the does can hang out in the barn, go out to the intermediate yard, or climb the bridge to the big pasture.  They now truly have the run of the place. It turned out REALLY well!!

Precious has arrived at Twin Willows Farm!  Brandon and I drove up to Jasper Pine for another visit with Jim and Kathy Sullivan.  We always learn SO MUCH when we visit and we really can't express how grateful we are to both of them for being so accommodating and kind.   I snapped this picture this morning when I went in the barn to let the girls out.  Needless to say, Precious came right out, but Trixie and Tator would NOT step out into the dewy grass.  Precious will need a few days to adjust to her new surroundings, but so far she seems to be just fine.  She went right to the hay feeder last night and didn't even look at the other girls.

This Sunday, we will be attending our first goat show!!  The Summit City Classic is being held in Fort Wayne.  It is a very competitive show, and we are looking forward to the experience, and to doing well there. This will be our first chance to show our babies.   Topper is going for sure, and Trixie and Tator will also be shown IF we get their papers back from the ADGA in time.  Precious will have to sit this one out, but there will be many more goat shows in the future.   We will be very busy this week with grooming and getting them ready for the show.  And, of course, I will be updating pics when they are all dolled up. =)

We worked hard this weekend, building out the second half of the barn and making a small intermediate paddock for the does to be able to go outside whenever they want.  When it is finished they will be able to go into the small fence and then if they want to, they can climb a bridge over to the large pasture with the ponds. 

We also built an area for hay and straw storage and Brandon came home with the truck LOADED DOWN with fresh hay.  It smells SOOOO GOOOD!!  And more importantly, the goats love it!  They could barely contain themselves when they saw it coming!

The puppies are almost ready to go to new homes.  They will be 6 weeks old Sept. 1st.   They will be weaned, eating puppy food daily, and will have had their first shots.  We will be charging an adoption fee of $100 per pup to cover the cost of their care, and vaccinations, AND to ensure that their new owners are serious about taking care of a new puppy.  Having a puppy is a HUGE responsibility, and we only want to see these pups go to capable, loving homes. The pups are absolutely adorable, and are coming out into the yard every day to run around and play.  They get along very well with our cats (they cuddle the kittens!), goats, chickens and other dogs.  They all have very distinct personalities.   I will be taking new pics soon and will post them here. There are 3 week pics of the pups further down this page. The pups are 1/2 Shih-tzu (Lily, Dam) and 1/2 Dachshund (Fat Man, Sire). The Shih-tzu/Dachshund cross is a designer breed called a Shiweenie.  We will have 2 males and 3 females available. First come, first served.

We are so excited to be picking up a new doe this week!!  Her name is Jasper Pine Precious, and we just can't wait to meet her!!

We have been so busy on the farm, but that doesn't mean we can't have FUN! My brother, Jeremy, came in from Los Angeles this week for a nice long visit.  We also had nine family members visit from Illinois on Saturday and we had a big cookout.   All in all, this week has been VERY productive!  We finished the fencing and installed the sign at the corner of the property.  We have also been working diligently trying to get all the fallen trees and limbs cut up and stacked in our wood pile.  Friday morning, we released ten more grass carp in our ponds.  Grass carp eat 3-5 times their weight every day, and are great for keeping the ponds clean. We released 3 more into the large pond to help the other two (4 ft +) carp already in there, and 7 into the lower pond since it gets less circulation.  Below are some pics from this week.  Check the Farm Pictures page for more.

Monday night a SEVERE storm came through west central Cass County.  High winds and rain caused extensive damage.  All in all, we lost two trees completely.  One tree fell across 400 W, took out the power lines and blocked the road for several hours.  Our "twin willows" are now more like two half willows.  =(

We lost power for about 20 hours and spent all day Tuesday starting the clean up. We are very lucky that no animals, people or buildings were damaged. At least we have fire wood now!

Below are some pictures of the damage.

The puppies were two weeks old yesterday and they all have their eyes open now.  They are wiggly, wobbly and curious, and hard to photograph!  I knew I couldn't keep their adorableness under wraps much longer though.  So, with a little help from Ethan and Cameron, here they are!!!

Brandon and I went on a mission to find another doe to add to our "herd" this weekend.  After an unsuccessful buying trip to Michigan, we decided to once again visit Jasper Pine farm where we had bought Trixie and Topper a month ago.  Once again, Kathy and Jim Sullivan were very hospitable and accommodating to our spur of the moment timing.  We decided to bring home a little doeling named Tator Tot.  Tator was born at the end of April, so she is just a little younger than Topper.  Tator Tot is very very sweet, just like our other two goats!  She is fitting in nicely, as Trixie seems to be curious but happy about having a new friend to run around with.  Trixie is definitely boss though, but we expected that since Trixie is three times her age.  (BTW, Happy Birthday Trixie!  Trixie is nine months old today!)

Before we brought Tator home to Logansport, she had to get her tattoos.  The kids thought it was AWESOME that Tator came home with green ears, and commented that she looked very "IRISH."

We are so excited to add Tator to our little herd.  We anticipate breeding her to Topper next spring. Big thanks, once again, to Jim and Kathy Sullivan at Jasper Pine Nigerian Dwarf Goats for selling her to us!  You guys are so awesome!