Skyland Farms is owned by Dave Bernier, a former Army Ranger who also has a business in roofing and waterproofing. The farm just about breaks even, he says, and without another occupation, he wouldn't make enough to survive. He got into goats about five years ago, after fifteen years farming pigs in the Berkshires. Originally, he'd thought to have dairy goats, so he bought a few Nubians. His wife had begun making cheese with their milk, but when they learned the cost and heavy regulation of dairy equipment, they switched over to meat goats. Now Dave's wife makes sausages and stews that she sells at local farmers' markets (along with amazing cookies that she brought out to us while we were talking--chocolate chip with fresh mint leaves in them!), and they sell the meat of their goats, which they have butchered locally.

Dave does everything as naturally as possible, including insemination, weening, and feed. What surprised me the most about his farm was how humane it seemed. Karl and I had both just read a book about the dairy industry upstate, Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, by Peter Lovenheim, which was interesting and in many ways infuriating. The contrast between that world of semen straws, udder pumps, cauterized horns and all-corn diets, and Skyland's wandering families of horned, alfalfa-chewing goats was incredible. Dave's laissez-faire attitude toward his animals even includes leaving his first Nubians mixed in the herd, and as we walked around with him, we saw various kids nurse from the dairy goats' teats. The goats, along with five llamas and two Maremma herd dogs, pretty much had the run of the barn and the field; the only ones who were segregated were the bucks, who take turns in pairs living in the herd for a month at a time (this is how Dave keeps track of his goats' parentage). He says he takes out a few goats at a time for slaughter, but usually waits until they're at least a year old, and never culls the herd of undesirables. As he talked, Dave seemed genuinely respectful of the animals he breeds, and the atmosphere, especially on this warm afternoon that smelled of hay, was utterly tranquil.

We were very lucky in that the morning we visited, Dave had a scheduled appointment with Tim and Colleen Avazian, a pig-farming couple, also from upstate New York, who are interested in starting a herd of Boer goats. They had come to ask questions, get advice, and look at Dave's herd, from which they were considering buying their first goats. It was amazing for us to follow them around and hear, up close, the concerns of people who are starting out as goat farmers. The Avazians seemed pretty excited about the goats so we exchanged email addresses with them, and hope to stay in touch as they make their decisions.

As it turns out, when we got back to Brooklyn we discovered that we'd actually visited Dave's web site, and even bookmarked it on the computer. It was just an incredible coincidence that we ended up there, and a really lucky one, since our first experience with goats turned out to be such a pleasant one. —MMH