My husband and I (Sharon) happily run our small farm on 6 acres just outside the Mobile city limits.  We have a 3 year-old son, Luke, who absolutely adores the goats, and a baby girl named Brooke.  We typically keep a herd of around 30-35 goats, though these numbers may jump to the high 60s when we have a bunch of kids born at once.  In addition to the fainting goats, we also have rabbits, chickens, a turkey, two livestock guardian dogs and a cat.

We started raising goats when we moved to this location in 2001.  There were 7 brush goats left on the property and since we had no experience with goats we had to learn quickly.  In researching goats and their care we learned about the Fainting Goats and decided we definitely wanted a few.  It took us almost 6 months to find some available within a reasonable driving distance.  My husband made two trips to North Alabama to pick up a total of 6 goats and we purchased 4 more in South Mississippi.  These first ten goats were the start of our addiction to fainting goats.  Over the years we’ve learned more about goats than we ever dreamed we would know (or need to know) but it’s been an enjoyable journey for the most part.

Most of our fainting goats are the standard size, but we do have a few mini-sized does for our customers who like the smaller sizes.  We have a variety of colors, some with blue eyes, and have both horned and polled goats in our herd.  I prefer the sleek, shorthaired fainting goats to the longer haired ones due to our hot and humid climate.  All of our goats are registered with the Myotonic Goat Registry (MGR) and we test our herd for CL and Johnes annually.

I do most of the goat maintenance myself including deworming, vaccinating, hoof trimming, and more recently, even the tattooing.  My husband works a full time job but he still finds the time to help me with the mature bucks.  Our bucks are gentle, but because of their size and strength it’s easier and safer to have him hold them while I work on them.  My husband also does all the fence repairs, builds shelters and any other construction projects around the farm.

Our goals have evolved as our herd has become very diverse with genetics from all over the U.S.  My current project is to get a more uniform look to our goats so their kids will consistently have faster growth rates, good parasite resistance, nice muscling, and good conformation.  Though we enjoy having goats with flashy colors and blue eyes, we breed for good muscle, conformation and hardiness first, and coat color and eye color last.  I feel it’s very important for every breeder to have goals for what they are breeding towards to both protect and improve the genetics of this wonderful breed.

Enjoy your goats!
Sharon Reeves