Sunny Acres Farm

Sunny Acres Farm A six-generation family farm, established in 1897, located in New York's scenic Hudson Valley.

The farm has been in our family since 1897, and has evolved through the years from a dairy and market crop farm in its early years to a beef and dairy goat farm during the 1970s, '80s and '90s. For a brief time, we operated the farm primarily as a market hay farm, but found that we truly missed being involved with raising animals, especially goats! In 2002, we purchased our first two Boer doelings

, and welcomed their kids in January 2003...and so it goes! In 2010 and 2011, we expanded from Boer and Boer-cross goats with the addition of Kikos to our herd.

06/03/2026

The goats are a few seconds ahead of me this morning heading into the paddock for today. There is more than one hundred goats of all sizes in the paddock. I move the fence ahead each day so that they have a new meal in front of them each morning. When I was mowing the paths for the fences, the heads of the grasses were over my shoulders. Very thick and lush and we have never put fertilizer on this pasture. This is the result of using Adaptive Multi Paddock grazing practices. Some people would look at this after they leave and say that we are wasting too much grass. They do trample what they don’t eat, but that covers the soil and over time breaks down and feeds the soil microbes that then feed the plants and give us this tremendous sward of grass and legumes that then will feed the goats again in a few months after the grass has had a rest period and then regrows into a new multi paddock pasture.

05/21/2026

If a picture is worth a thousand words this video is priceless! This is the remnants of the round bale that was left behind when we took the feeder out last evening. Truly a fantastic playground for the crazy hooligans zooming around in the pen. Don’t you wish you had this much energy?

The round bale is now eaten enough so that the hooligans can climb in! The feeder now has to be removed ASAP! Little g...
05/20/2026

The round bale is now eaten enough so that the hooligans can climb in! The feeder now has to be removed ASAP! Little goats climbing in and out can get a leg caught and we end up putting popsicle stick splints on broken legs. It has happened before, but I called for help and the Farmdaughter came right over and helped get the feeder out of the pen. But the core of the bale is still in place so to see how this plays out watch the video in my next post. 🤪

05/16/2026

This is our last set of kids for this year. I promised some statistics for this year and here we go. We bred 36 does with 2 bucks. 35 does had kids. Of the births there was 6 single kids, 20 sets of twins and 9 sets of triplets for a total of 73 kids. This year we had a very tight schedule with the whole duration of kidding being only 19 days long. Most kids born on a single day was 16! Sadly there was a kid who was born DOA, but was part of a triplet group. It happens. The weather was absolutely perfect for the goats with the milder temperatures and no big storms. The weather being on the cool side was perfect since they haven’t completely shed their winter coats yet. It was also comfortable for us as we hustled around tending to everyone. Next step is to get everyone heading out to the pastures to graze and spend time in the sunshine.

On April 27th the first kid of the year was born. I happened to be doing chores at the moment he was born. I took his ...
05/15/2026

On April 27th the first kid of the year was born. I happened to be doing chores at the moment he was born. I took his picture today while I was in the barn and he has grown quite nicely and is very curious and quite friendly. Today when I went in the barn I was greeted by the last of the kids for this year. They were born during the night and were all dry and nursing. I have a video of them that I will post and share some of the numbers from this year.

Started the day out before breakfast by meeting Stormy’s big boy. Almost a ten pound baby and was following mom around ...
05/06/2026

Started the day out before breakfast by meeting Stormy’s big boy. Almost a ten pound baby and was following mom around the barnyard. Very nice stocky kid! Turned out to be a busy day with ten kids born with the last two coming at supper time. Another very nice set of stocky kids. Boy and girl. They were moved into a kidding jug in the barn before we had our dinner since it was calling for a shower. Moms and babies are all doing well and settled in for the night in the jugs to make they stay safe and dry. As a side note to our friends of Houdini, most of the kids born today are his. All very cute and sturdy! And at this point we are not even halfway through kidding season! Lots more to come!

This time of the year never ceases to amaze me with all the many shades of green that reveal themselves as the trees beg...
04/29/2026

This time of the year never ceases to amaze me with all the many shades of green that reveal themselves as the trees begin to leaf out! I have read that the human eye is capable of discerning the most subtle variations in color. Makes sense that there are so many choices when you want to repaint the kitchen. Today I stopped as I was working on my chores to take in this view and take a quick photo. Still a busy day here with eight more kids born this morning and still taking care of the rest of the chickens and goats. We are so very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place as this and get to see the world around us changing with the seasons.

And so it begins! First kids of the year. Many more to come! First time mom. Boy and girl. Doing good.
04/27/2026

And so it begins! First kids of the year. Many more to come! First time mom. Boy and girl. Doing good.

Old apple tree in the yard is starting to explode with blossoms! The tree is likely over a hundred years old. Many blo...
04/26/2026

Old apple tree in the yard is starting to explode with blossoms! The tree is likely over a hundred years old. Many blossoms opening in the morning sun but as I stood there for many minutes looking and listening I saw only a single bumblebee going from blossom to blossom! What is happening to our world today that this tree that in years past would have been hosting many thousands of honeybees and yet today is silent. Maybe, instead of the many toxins that we supposedly need to have a w**d free lawn and all the toxic chemicals that the government has approved to make crop production more efficient we should be working towards using organic and regenerative methods to grow crops. Without the pollinators the trees and plants that need them will not produce the food that we rely on. I really don’t think this is a problem that can be solved by embracing technology. I don’t really see robotic bees in our future to solve this problem!

I didn’t make a post on Earth Day. It was one of those days when you think about stuff that you want to say and then yo...
04/24/2026

I didn’t make a post on Earth Day. It was one of those days when you think about stuff that you want to say and then you just get busy and it falls off the list. That’s life on a farm. The irony is that if we were honest the values of Earth Day are pretty much the values that we attempt to live by, as far as caring for our planet is concerned! Today we had a bright and sunny day that was a bit on the cool side and I had a chance to mark out the willow cuttings and water the honey locust saplings that I wrote about a few weeks back. Very pleased to see the saplings all starting to leaf out and most of the willows sending out new growth. Excellent! Still have a few more trees ordered to be planted as soon as they arrive.
I planted these red tulips many years ago for my honey and every year they do not fail to flower and add a splash of color to the yard!
Busy time of the year coming up very quickly with baby goats due to start arriving in the next few days. Stay tuned for updates and pictures of the little cuties really soon.
Great time of year to make an effort to spend some time in the sunshine to reconnect with the natural world and enjoy the many benefits of the season.

Address

433 FLATS Road
Athens, NY
12015

Telephone

+15189452745

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