Diary of a New Goat Lady...

This past weekend I had the privilege to attend the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan along with my husband, Ed.  Awaking after a restful night at Allegan Country Inn, a beautiful & highly recommended Bed and Breakfast situated in the town of Allegan, we toured the various displays of fiber animals at the fairgrounds as well as spoke with many fiber vendors, anticipating the beginning of the first santioned Pygora goat show ever held in Michigan, scheduled for that afternoon.  Many Pygora breeders from various states were in attendance and most brought several of their precious pygoras to the show for judging.  It was an exciting afternoon for all as group after group of pygora goats were paraded into the ring.  I even had the opportunity to assist when a friend had too many goats and not enough hands!!  It was great fun to be involved in such an event and to meet other people with the same love for the breed.  We made new friends and had a chance to catch up with past friends and fellow breeders.  It was a very special time.  The day was topped off with a potluck supper for all Pygora breeders in attendance, where George rallied the group to continue what has now begun and to work together to spread the word about these great goats!  It was a thoroughly enjoyable and educational weekend for this new goat lady.  There is always something more to learn...

Country Lighthouse Farm

About Us  Country Lighthouse Farm is owned and operated by Ed & Linda Marak.  "Three years ago, the opportunity presented itself for Ed to make a career change.  After 15 busy years of raising 3 children and balancing 2 full-time careers, and with our 2 oldest children away at college and university, we decided to take the plunge and purchased a 47-acre hobby farm in mid-western Ontario, close to the location of Ed's new job.  Moving from town into the country was an exciting challenge, one that we had been thinking about for a few years, despite the fact that neither of us had ever lived on a farm before! " A couple of years before the move, Linda and her daughter had taken some horseback riding lessons and they fell in love with horses.  When they moved to the farm, the opportunity to own their own horse became a reality.  "Our first pony (a Shetland/Halflinger cross) soon became 2 ponies (another Shetland) followed by 2 riding horses (a registered Tenessee Walking Horse and a registered Morgan).  Our farm was filling up fast! We brought one dog and a house cat as well as 2 rabbits and 2 kittens (intended for the barn) with us to the farm.  They were soon joined by a second dog, 2 more rabbits and a few barn cats that adopted us!  Some days Ed thought he was living in Noah's Ark!"  Three years after moving to their farm, Ed & Linda's daughter graduated from high school and left for college.  Now with an empty nest and a barn not yet filled,  Linda began to explore the possibilities for a farm business to supplement her part-time job in town.  Having always been fascinated by goats, she discovered, while surfing the net, an exciting breed of goats only available in the USA.  The more she investigated, the more she liked what she saw and after about a year of researching and making numerous phone calls to government offices, she finally imported her first 4 Pygora goats (2 does and 2 bucks) from Michigan to Ontario, Canada in July 2009!  "It was an exciting day when we carried our first goats from our truck into our barn!  It didn't take us long to fall in love with these adorable fuzzy little goats!  They are so full of personality and produce beautiful soft fluffy fleece that can be turned into a marketable product."  After enjoying her first 4 goats for just a short time, Linda began making plans to begin a breeding program and decided that she needed to purchase a few more goats before winter.  In October of 2009, Linda imported 4 more does and another buck to complete her starter herd.  "Country Lighthouse Pygoras" was born! "Our breeding program was begun and our first Spring kids were born in February/March 2010.  We have sheared fleece and trimmed hooves!  We have dewormed and vaccinated!  We are learning as we go with lots of good advice from our neighbors "to the south" , fellow Pygora owners and breeders, as well as from our local veterinarian, who breeds sheep!  We have learned a great deal since moving to the farm.  We've been building livestock fencing, renovating our old cattle barn to make it work for goats & horses, keeping water troughs and buckets filled, keeping our horses and goats groomed and healthy, as well as unloading hundreds of bales of hay and straw into the barn!  The third summer on the farm we purchased 6 day-old chicks and raised up our own hens for egg laying.  Our first "home-grown" eggs appeared 2 weeks after Thanksgiving of that year! Our move to the country has demanded lots of hard work and we have muscles now that we haven't seen for awhile but it has been well worth it!  Every time we look out the window at the beautiful view and gaze upon our grazing horses and frolicking goats, we just smile and thank God for every blessing!"

If you would like to chat more about Pygora goats, we can be contacted by e-mail (countrylighthouse@bmts.com), by mail at R.R. #2, Kincardine, ON, CANADA, N2Z 2X4 or by phone at 519-396-4273.