The General Rules :
If you are considering purchasing a goat or goat kid from our farm please read this page carefully and fully. Going forward with a purchase will mean that you understand and agree to these terms. We will happily clarify any questions or concerns you may have prior to purchase. We believe in full disclosure and provide as much information as possible about all our goats; health, temperament and lineage. Of course, we do our best to be available to assist those we have sold goats to with any questions or issues they may have in the future as well. As breeders, our primary aims are healthy goats with sweetness of temperament and good dairy capabilities. Our registered purebreds come from show quality lines as well, though we choose not to show. When the time comes for kids or (more rarely) adults from our herd to go to new homes, making a sale is not our first priority, creating a good match between people and goats is. We care about our goats and we care about our customers. As such, we will need to know about your situation and your priorities. Are you looking for pets, wanting a couple of goats to provide milk for your family, thinking about starting up as breeders, or already farming? Are you on a small or large property? Do you have children, other animals, experience with goats or other livestock? We keep a small herd and know it well, and every goat, just like every person, is different. Along with such concerns as colour preferences, projected adult size, milking genes, and pedigree, we pay attention to temperament issues such as how friendly, how active, how quiet, how sensitive; all the things that make up the whole goat are considered in helping you find the absolutely right goat(s) for you and the best home for our beloved babies! Goats are herd animals, and although they do bond strongly with their human family, and very much enjoy interacting with other animals, they really need the constant companionship of a brother or sister (2nd goat). Goats are often born as twins, and we find that the twins often bond together strongly. Singletons invariably find another singleton to buddy up with. We like to honour this bonding if possible, and also know how much fun it is for their new family to see them doing everything together, so unless the buyers are experienced goat hands with a few already on board we often prefer to sell these bonded babies in pairs. In any event, we will not sell a single goat to a purchaser who does not already have one or more goats. You would not thank us if we did; a single goat will cry non-stop for companionship, will suffer badly, and will not thrive. Much better to give the goats the basic same species companionship they need and enjoy their interaction with each other as well as with you.
Pricing :
Goats are priced individually based on various attributes, but usually start on the following basics: Purebred, Pedigreed, Registered Breeding Stock: $400 and up. Purebred, Pedigreed Non-registered Does or Intact Bucks: $300. Mini-Samanchan Non-registered Does or intact Bucks: $250. Wethers (neutered males) or other pet stock with non-breeding contract: $100-150. Prices may be greater for preferred characteristics, such as polled or blue-eyes, or may be discounted if there are any known faults in an animal. We offer a 10% discount to registered 4H members & certified Organic farms.
Deposits :
We cannot hold any goats without a non-refundable deposit of $50 per head, payable via PayPal, cheque, money order or cash. This deposit will reserve the goat for you until 2 weeks after the date the goat is ready to leave its mother (or 2 weeks past agreed upon pick up date for adults). Beyond that time, full payment is due and boarding arrangements will need to be made if you would like your goat to remain with us and delay pick up, for which there may be charges. Deposit is forfeited and goat may be sold to other buyers if pick up (or boarding arrangements) and balance of payment are not made as scheduled. Further, as breeders, we reserve the right to return your deposit and void any sale that we do not feel would be best for you or the goat, for any reason.
Reservations :
At this time, we are not offering guaranteed reservations on unborn kids. If you are particularly interested in a kid from a specific future breeding, for example, if you would very much like a black and white doe from our Queen Amelia, we would be pleased to make note of your request and contact you after her next kidding. As breeders, we reserve the right to keep any kid from any breeding that has not had a deposit paid upon it, and to decide what bucklings will be wethered and what may be kept intact.
Health :
Please review “Our Practices” page for complete details as to how our herd is managed. We raise our goats organically and with natural and preventative health practices that have created and maintained our vigorous, disease free herd. As such, our goats are not immunized; future immunization will be your responsibility and personal choice. Our herd has been tested negative for CAE and CL and regular testing is a part of our protocols. We have never had CAE, CL, or any other infectious disease in our herd. We disbud all our baby goats. This means that goats from our farm should not have long horns. We do this for your protection and the safety and well being of the goat. We focus on temperament in our breeding and have never had a “mean” goat born on our farm yet. We do not expect aggression of any kind from any of our goats. However, accidents can happen. A goat may toss its head in play; even an accidental butt shows you how hard headed goats really are, but with horns in the picture, injuries to you or other goats can occur. Goats can also get their horns stuck in fencing or brush or otherwise become trapped and potentially harmed. As such, please do not ask us not to disbud. In the rare event that a disbudding fails, one of two things can happen; a goat can end up with horns or a goat might have a scur (small residual horny growth) develop. Disbudding is never easy and can be dangerous to the goat if performed past a certain age or stage of development, so repeat disbudding is often not possible. In such a case, we may sell an animal with horns or scurs at a discounted price, but only with the buyer’s clear understanding and full acceptance of responsibility for any future difficulties that may occur. We do not use harmful chemical pesticides on our animals or on our farm. As such, we trim and dust our herd with diatomaceous earth several times yearly; all goats leaving our farm will have been treated with diatomaceous earth within 2 months. We do try to delay this process until babies have found their new homes, so that prospective buyers can see babies’ colouring clearly. Some babies won’t need trimming at all, but some babies have thicker coats and need those trims for the treatment to work well. In this case, your baby may arrive with a new hair cut; if so, don’t worry, that lovely thick fur will be back soon! We also use only natural, herbal de-wormers for our herd. De-worming is an important aspect of goat health and we encourage natural means over chemical and will happily share information about herbal options; this is a decision you will have to make. All goats leaving our farm will have had recent herbal de-worming and hoof trims. We are happy to teach buyers hoof trimming when they come to pick up their new friends. If you are new to keeping goats, please review our “Getting Started ~ Basic Goat Care” Sheet well in advance of your new goats coming home to you. Avail yourself of some of the suggested resources and references and make sure you are set up for all their basic needs. We will also be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Pick up :
Babies are normally ready to leave their mothers after 8-12 weeks (depending upon the individual kid) and are due for pick up at that time unless otherwise specified or special arrangements have been made. When possible, we encourage buyers to come to the farm themselves for pick up, so that we can meet face to face if we haven’t done so yet, and to learn hoof trimming and get support on any basic maintenance questions. We occasionally meet buyers in Victoria or at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, or may even be able to arrange delivery to the lower mainland in some circumstances. We will do what we can to help. However, some charges may apply, and in any event, pick up of goats remains buyer’s sole responsibility.
Shipping :
Many of our buyers find us via the internet. As such, some of our goats are destined for homes at some distance from our farm. For those buyers, we will cooperate in any way we can, including shipment of goats by air with approved carriers. We can sometimes offer help with the process, such as arranging specific testing, or health certificates required for import into other countries, supply of crates, or transport to airport. All charges for shipping, including associated costs such as crates or testing are the buyer’s sole responsibility. We ensure that any animal leaving our farm is healthy and fit for travel and always give Rescue Remedy, Traumeel or Homeopet Anxiety Formula (depending upon which product we believe to be most suitable for the specific animal and circumstances) to help alleviate the stress of the journey. However, shipping is always a stressful experience and we cannot accept responsibility for any adverse effects of travel or the shipping process. We reserve the right to refuse to ship any animal in any manner we deem unsafe.
Payment :
Deposits of $50 per head are required to hold goats. Balance of purchase price is due in full upon pick up, or prior to shipping. Full payments can be made via PayPal (prior to pick up) or by cash (at the farm). Unfortunately, we cannot accept cheques or credit card for final payment.
Returns :
We keep our herd disease free, partially by maintaining a “closed herd” (see “Our Practices”) which means that, unfortunately, we cannot accept returns for any reason once an animal has left our farm. Please, do not purchase any animal unless you believe you can offer it a life long home. If some absolutely unforeseen circumstance should occur that prevents you from keeping goats you have purchased from our farm, we will do everything in our power to help you re-home them, and would ask that you contact us in such an instance.
Naming :
Goats learn their own names and identify with them strongly. We feel that a name change along with all the other changes of leaving their herd, going to a new home and new family, is more than any goat should have to bear! However, we know that naming an animal friend is a pleasure and helps with bonding, so we try to delay naming new kids until their new family has found them. We give them lots of snuggles and attention, but avoid assigning a moniker so that you can name your own. When buyers have paid their deposit, they can let us know their kid(s) name(s) so we can start to help them learn their name. Registered goats would then be registered under our farm name, but with the name you have chosen. If a goat reaches two months of age and has not found its new family, we will name and register them at that time. Please let us know your babies’ names as soon as you can!