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Thank
you for your interest in Ryan's Ridge Dairy Farm!
We live on 26 1/2 acres in beautiful northwest Pennsylvania and bought our
first goat in 1992. She was a Toggenberg. As you all know you can't have just
one goat----so we acquired a few Alpines and then added a LaMancha. By 1994
we had sold all of the other breeds and chose to keep only LaMancha. Last
year we acquired 3 Nubian does and a buck from the Old Glory herd in Texas.
So we are back to raising two breeds again. Maintaining a small herd, usually
around 30 animals works best for us.
We have participated in the ADGA Linear
Appraisal program every year since 1993 and have been on DHIA since 1995. I
like to go to shows with my animals, but I don't always have the time to get
weekends away from home, so therefore I usually make only a couple of shows a
year.
In addition to our goats we have a few beef cows, a Registered Morgan
gelding, and raise pigs, chickens and turkeys. We prefer to raise our own
meat and produce. All the livestock are fed our goat milk and grains that are
produced locally, containing as few chemicals as is possible. We have two
Anatolian shepherd livestock guardian dogs named "Luke" and
"Lindie". They are wonderful herd protection animals!
Both Dave and I were raised in this area,
but in 1978 we relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. After living there 11 years we
moved back to our roots here in Pennsylvania and might I say to the country
rather than the city. We were blessed with just one child, a boy, Ryan, who
is thirteen years old. We also homeschool, so our lives are very full and we
are always busy.
Our kids (goats) are on a strict CAE
prevention and we test the herd annually. Kids are fed heat-treated colostrum
and only pasteurized milk. We use Albon every 4 weeks in the kid's milk for coccidiosis.
The kids receive "Bar Guard 99" in their first colostrum for E coli
prevention. They are also given Probios and a small amount of baking soda is
added to their milk until they are weaned (usually around 10-12 weeks).
The bucks are given Bo Se and a CD&T
vaccination in the spring and then, BoSe again the last week of August in
preparation for breeding season. Since we are in a selenium deficient area
BoSe is a must. Buck's are wormed as needed or every 4 months. Doe's are also
given BoSe and a CD&T vaccination 4 weeks before they freshen. They
receive another BoSe the day they freshen and again in late August prior to
breeding season. I worm before breeding and then I don't worm again until
freshening day. I worm as needed throughout the summer because the does are
on pasture. .
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