Moving Across Country With An Entire Farm

Living in Arizona our entire lives, we never expected to move out of state, let along across

country. We had moved from our 1-acre property to 36 acres less than 3 years ago hoping to start an

amazing farm of fresh food and graze our Kiko herd. This has been a dream of ours for quite some

time and we were finally going to make it happen, or so we thought. Once moved to our off-grid

property, it seemed to be one struggle after another. From drought for 5 months, to dying trees left

and right. No garden to grow and spending over $1,000 a month just to feed the herd. Over two

years of trying, my husband comes home one day and could tell I was upset. He asks me what’s

wrong and I said, “I’m so tired of the dry, why don’t we move where it’s more wet!” We just stared at

each other pondering the words that had just come flying out of my mouth. We then talked about

the possibilities of moving but ultimately decided to keep trying in Arizona.

That evening unable to sleep, still pondering the idea of lush green pastures and trees

everywhere, we both suddenly found ourselves scanning our phones for possible places to live.

After doing lots of research for a few days, we decided to take the leap and move. Searching the

map, we eventually narrowed our search to southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, Kentucky, or

Tennessee. The next day I told my friend Crystal of the news, and she was devastated. She didn’t

want to see us go and jokingly said she was coming with us. I told her to ask her husband and that’s

when things got interesting.

Trying to find a place that would fit both Fish or Price Ranch and Rocking JC’s Goat Farm on

one piece of property and fit all our expectations. It was easier than we thought since we all had the

same ideas. With all of us now searching for properties, the idea of moving became more exciting.

We got our Arizona properties on the market right away, which both sold within about four months.

It then came time to start driving east to look at new properties. This is where the frustration started

to set in.

We were limited on time to move off our Arizona properties since they both sold. We were

lucky enough to both find buyers willing to give us sixty days after closing to move. With a plan in

place, Crystal’s husband Joshua and Brandon made a trip to Kentucky, where our focus was on

moving, to look at a list of properties. One by one, the properties were crossed off the list with

disappointment. A week of searching and spending limited funds to no avail. Coming home, with

nowhere to go, it was back to the drawing board.

After talking with realtors and investors, we realized we were unable to get a loan. Living off-

grid and owning everything was great but with no jobs, we had no income to prove we could handle

a loan. Even though we sold both our properties and planned to go back to work once we decided

where we were moving, it wasn’t enough for anyone to put trust in us. Our only option was to find

someone willing to offer seller financing. This made things a bit more difficult, but we pushed on.

We found another small list of properties in Kentucky that would finance to the terms we had, so a

second trip was in the works. After another week of traveling and more funds spent, we finally put in

an offer. With offer after offer suddenly being refused, it seemed as though we would never find our

property. The feeling of being homeless with over 80 Kiko Goats was starting to seem real.

We decided to widen our search in desperation. At the point of landing anywhere, doors

started opening in northern Arkansas. We found a realtor, Buddy, out of Yellville who was amazing

and so willing to help. With less than thirty days left to move, another trip was in the works,

determined to not come back without a place to go. After looking at everything on the market in our

price range, we were about ready to settle on a property we weren’t happy with. We were so

desperate to find anything at this point. The next day Buddy said he knew of someone ready to

section off some of their land to sell and wanted to show it to Brandon and Josh. This was it; we

finally found the property we wanted! Though it was vacant land, we were prepared to take the leap.

Everything went smooth with the purchase, and we were able to get early occupancy.

With our faith in the guys, since Crystal and I had to stay back in Arizona, we were going to

move to a property we had never seen before. While the guys were heading back successful,

Crystal and I were packing like mad woman. The guys made it home and took a few days before

taking the first load to the new property. They would be gone to put up temporary pens and get

things rolling. What was supposed to take two weeks, took a month! Luckily, we got an extension for

another 10 days to move. By the time the guys returned, we only had 5 days to pack and load up the

animals. Josh and Crystal were working on their move as well, but they closed thirty days later than

we did and had more time.

With three trailers and only one vehicle to haul, Brandon and I were scrambling. My dad and

stepmom offered to haul our flatbed trailer with their motorhome and left a day early. Brandon

would haul our 2-horse trailer with the six bucks and ten chickens and four Karakachan livestock

dogs. I would haul the 35 rabbits and three barn cats, along with a litter, in my SUV. We are so lucky

to have made so many amazing friends in the White Mountains of Arizona that two more offered

help. Craig and Kate offered to haul a trailer, so we rented their neighbor’s 24’ livestock trailer.

Everyone was loaded and on the road March 31st

.

Before we left our Arizona property, I was already sick to my stomach with stress. Loading

the does and kids took longer than expected and they were trampling kids trying to get off the trailer.

I was so sure we would have dead babies by the time we got to Arkansas. With Brandon leading the

way, followed by Craig and Kate, then myself, and Joshua at the back with his goats, we were on the

road. This would be all of Fish or Price Ranch in a convoy heading across country. Crystal stayed

behind with their remaining animals and her mother, who would come at a later date.

We drove a little over an hour to Holbrook, Arizona where we would fill gas tanks and check

animals before getting on I-40. The goats seemed to have dispersed a little in the trailer making me

more at ease, though the stress would remain. We were officially on the move. About an hour later

we crossed into New Mexico and already had our first escapee. Quill, our male barn cat, escaped

his crate and was wondering about in my SUV. After a bit, he calmed down and laid by the window,

he would ride this way most of the trip. Suddenly, I look back and Josh is gone. He popped a tire on

his horse trailer and had to pull off quickly. Unable to get to him, we had to continue on and hope he

would catch up. The rest of our first day on the road went well other than the potholes on I-40

through the entire state of New Mexico. At lunch, Josh was able to meet back up with us, so we

made a plan to stop in Texas. We stopped in Vega, Texas for the night and got animals clean, fed,

and watered.

Very little sleep and we were on the road early morning. Only about thirty minutes on the

interstate and suddenly, Hulk, one of our LGD’s busted the window in the trailer and was hanging

out with his front feet on the fender while going 75mph. Brandon had to take immediate action, cut

off a Semi, and get off the road before our dog fell to his death. It was a good thing we had scrap

plywood and boarded up the window. Though we had the same incident another 10 minutes down

the road with the other window. With both windows boarded up, Hulk tied inside, and my anxiety

through the roof, we were back on the road. We made it to Oklahoma, heading to Calumet, when

Josh’s truck shuts down without warning. Luckily, he was right next to an off ramp and was able to

pull off safely. Apparently, his gas gauge is broken, and he ran out of fuel. Again, unable to turn

around easily, we pushed on another thirty miles to our next stop. There, we met a buyer for one of

our Kiko bucks and got him unloaded. We were able to meet up with Josh soon after. Making it to

Fort Smith, Arkansas, we were able to veer away from the interstate onto smaller highways. About

30 minutes from Fayetteville, while driving through rush hour, Josh pops another tire on his horse

trailer. Come to find out, the axle on his trailer is bent and wearing the tred quickly. We made it to

Yellville, Arkansas at dark, Josh arriving shortly after, and decided to leave the last hour of driving for

in the morning.

Winding our way through the green trees and across flowing springs and rivers, we finally

arrive in Flippin, Arkansas at our new property. Unable to drive the large livestock trailer across the

terrain to our goat pens, we must find another option. Can we trust our goats to follow us over two

steep hills, through a flowing spring, and past the pond to their destination? Contemplating the

idea, we started by taking the five bucks and four dogs in the small trailer and got them unloaded

with no issues. We then went back to the first hill where everyone was parked and waiting. Letting

seventy-seven goats out of the large trailer, they immediately start grazing and completely ignore

us. Finding the trailer empty and everyone arriving alive, my stress started melting away. However,

how will we get all these goats to walk about ¾ of a mile to their pen? After calling, pushing, and

enticing to only end up down the first hill and three separate herds. We had to wait for full bellies

and about two hours later when suddenly they all went single file and followed me all the way into

their pen with no issues.

Josh made another trip back to Arizona to pick up the rest of their animals along with

Crystal and her mother about two weeks later. There is still one more trip for them before they are

over here full time. This will be a huge learning curve for us. Going from dry desert climate to wet

and humid. Dust, clay, and dirt, to grass, trees, and almost constant rain. We are as prepared as we

can be and have done our research with what to expect for the animals and their health. We now

have two fully working farms on seventy acres, but the real work has just begun. With no utilities, no

house to live in, and coming into tornado season, we are just getting started on our journey.