04/14/2026
The goat world kind of sucks today. Most days, I love seeing everyone’s posts about shows, new kids, and recent purchases. And scroll past those that I disagree with. Social media is great at spreading awareness about breeding and showing livestock. But it can also be really disheartening at the same time, especially on days like today when others choose to use their platforms to blast others without taking accountability for their own actions.
But it’s days like today that remind me why I’ve done this for so long- for the love of the game and trying to breed a better animal. Some years we have rockstars, some years we have duds. Some seasons of life, like recently, make it so we are doing what we need to do to breed does and keep our breeding program active and preserve the genetics we have, and quite frankly, just making it work. Other years, and hopefully in the near future, there will be room for the goals of the herd to be able to shift and more of an investment can be made in showing on a more regular basis. And of course make more soap 😉. But regardless, there are pretty goats that sit in my backyard, that I can look at and they each tell a story in my journey. Some have multiple generations of my herdname attached to them. Others are recent purchases from some of my favorite herds across the nation. And that’s where I choose to look- not at other herds and certainly not comparing to another. I learned a long time ago that what I like to stare at may be different from someone else, and dairy goats are like the fashion industry, there are trends that come and go. There is no jealousy or animosity that another herd is doing “better” than us. Sharing an opinion doesn’t equate to jealousy. Our goals are different. And I promise, the best is yet to come.
Today was yet another reminder that the joy comes from the animals I get to share this life with, and that is and always will be the priority. They have set me on a path that has led me to graduate school and, as of today, having submitted my dissertation on workforce skill development through SAEs. There’s a 15 year old Jessica with a oberhalsi/ saanen grade doe named Tibby who can’t believe that one goat turned into a herd full of beautiful animals and an (almost) completed PhD.
Picture of my fav 2025 doe kid, J. SWITZER’S P KIWI JELLIE because she’s one of the pretty goats I get to stare at and watch grow up and a representation of the goal to begin a high quality lamancha grade group within our program🤍
