Some of the things Farmers do is Not show what they deal with. Hard days, Hard choices,
and Hard lessons. Farm life isn’t for the faint of heart. It is not all fun and games, happy bouncing
baby animals, and beautiful green pastures all the time. Some days we will see drought with dry,
dead pastures and must pay a ton of money to feed the animals. Some days we have an animal die
because we didn’t know how to help it and we learn the hard way. Some days we deal with hard
choices in life and death situations and must make a difficult decision. Being a Farmer is hard and
some days we don’t want to continue.
We have been Farmers for about 10 years now and in the Kiko’s for 8 years. Born and
raised in Arizona, we never expected to live anywhere else. Never knew what it was like to have
green pastures or running water on the property. All we knew was hot and dry, dirt and bushes,
and a lot of strong wind with blowing dust. Seeing photos of other Farmers with rolling green hills
of lush pasture and huge trees was just imagination to us. We never thought it possible that we
could live that way with our farm. After careful consideration, lots of research, and talking with
other Farmers across the country, we decided to take the leap. What a fairytale life it could be.
Moving from dry Arizona to wet Arkansas, we knew we would face new challenges. New
weather threats, more rain causing more parasites, and who knows what else. I’m sure many of you
have followed us at Fish or Price Ranch for many years and have been waiting to see our new
journey unfold. Waiting to see how our Kiko’s will stand up to change. I know I have been
wondering what will happen with our herd as well. This is a completely new journey we have never
faced before. With our herd being closed and only 7 of 47 being from different farms, we are
about to assess how our homegrown stock will rate against top producers.
I’ve got to start out by saying how proud I am of our herd so far! They have been doing
well considering everything they have faced. Moving to vacant land sure can be a challenge in itself,
but moving an entire farm there as well was an even bigger challenge! They have sure been through
the ringer these last 4 months. From a horrifying 2.5-day trip across country, being crammed in a
trailer while nursing 3-week-old kids, to 10 inches of rain in just 12 hours and no shelter. An F3
tornado hitting only 2 miles away causing devastation for over 30 miles. Being without the mineral
buffet for 2 months (for the does) and 3 months (for the bucks) and living is small pens, let out to
graze when we are able until we fence more pastures. Those are just some of the things our goats
have faced.
We have been breeding our Kiko’s to have high parasite resistance, be amazing mothers,
have good hooves, high milk yield, one-by-one teats, and disease free. We knew moving would be
a huge challenge but are striving to keep the quality herd we have worked so hard for. With that
comes those hard choices we hate to make. Since living in Arkansas, we have put down three goats
who couldn’t handle the changes. They were showing signs of illness due to the wet weather and
low temperatures. We pulled them through that but then they came down with parasites because
of their weakened immune systems. I know many would fight to save the animals no matter the
cost, but as a Farmer, it is a situation of letting nature take its course.
We opted to put the goats down because even if they would pull through with heavy
treatment, they are not meant to reproduce. Not every animal is worth breeding just because they
can. Only the healthiest and best quality should continue as breeders. We are striving to breed
better, not make the breed weaker. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love animals and wish
they all were healthy and perfect but that is not the case. Anyone can breed animals, but it takes
the right people to create a quality animal worthy of reproduction. We will continue to manage our
herd as we see fit and hope to make this Kiko breed proud.
Comments