Hi my name is Kay Hollaway and I am currently the Milk program Chair, take care of the website and head up the Show committee.
My adventure into goats got started back in the 70's when my kids were young and lasted just a few years. We had some standard goat crosses and loved the milk they produced. Although it did take a bit of trickery to get my kids to start drinking it. They were very reluctant despite the fact we always had a couple of gallons in the fridge. So I started putting it in the carton from the store bought milk and each morning would ask when they were going to try it. It was 3 weeks without a clue it was goats milk when I finally fessed up they had been drinking it. Well there would be no more urging on my part, in fact my son would get up early to drink the cream off the top which of course upset my daughter who also loved the rich cream. She was not an early morning kid.
In 1999, a friend offered me one of her Pygmy babies when it was weaned. It took a bit of talking to get my fairly new husband into letting me have a goat.
Decided it was prudent to learn all there was about the Pygmy and looked them up on the internet. Found a website that compared the Pygmy and Nigerian, The Tyny goat Ranch. After previously having the standard dairy goats it became obvious that the Nigerian was going to trump the Pygmy. So started checking out some websites and asking questions. All the breeders were very helpful but one in particular stood out for me. Gail Cole at Ponders End where we ended up purchasing our first goats. One buck Ponders End Windancer, a wether, and two does, Ponders End Paper Doll and Ponders End Arabecca. My husband didn't have a clue to what was going on, so it was quite a surprise when I told him while leaving for a tapestry class, that 4 kids may show up that day. Will never forget the look on his face. His question after that, 'how did one pet Pygmy turn into a herd of Nigerians?. That was the beginning of the Nigerian herd at Roc N Ewe Ranch. The next year we purchased a few more goats from Gail, Ponders End Victorian Lace, Flat Rocks Keepsake, Ponders End Lucille. My husband was very supportive, helped out whenever needed and loved the goats too.
In 2003 I attended my first goat show put on by Norm and Donna Geiser in Pahrump. Wasn't going to just show but with the intentions of selling my herd. We felt we were not doing these little guys justice and thought it better to sell. We did however enter 3 full sisters, Roc N Ewe JM Brown Sugar, Candy Girl and Sugar Shack out of Flat Rocks Keepsake and Roc N Ewe Ranch Jimmy Mack, who were in full winter coat with absolutely no trimming other than their hooves. Have to say they looked more like Pygmies than Nigerians. The judges were Sandi Liska and David Millison. We did not win anything that day but came away with a better understanding of the Nigerian and what the judges were looking for.
Sandi graciously agreed to go over my buck Roc N Ewe Jimmy Mack out of /float Rocks Keepsake and Ponders End Windancer. She asked why he hadn't been entered in the show as he was very nice and would have done well. So instead of selling my goats, a beautiful young buck, BRB Kakoakis from Heather Chiurazzi, came home with us to use on the kids out of Windancer. The rest as they say is history and I am very blessed to have such an understanding husband.
We attended several shows each year and did well with our goats with a few earning their PGCH status as well as milk awards.
In 2007 I took on the task of becoming the Milk Program Chair for NDGA. Have you ever heard the saying, look before you leap, well it is true. It took awhile to get a grasp on what the rules meant and explain them to others. Then the task of combining two sets of milk rules handed down from previous members to produce the first official Milk Rules sent out in 2008. They were revised again in March of 2014 in an effort to make them easier to understand. Well hopefully they are.
In 2009 I became a NDGA Board Member.
2010 arrived with my husband taking a job across the state and after 3 years it was time to join him and close my business. This was not easy as it came with extremely hard decisions. The animals could not go with us. All the years of building my breeding program with milk records and show wins came to an end.
I stay connected to the goats and the members by serving the NDGA members as their Milk Chair and now Webmaster. In 2015 I took on the Show chair as well.
I am always happy to talk goats and answer questions, my email is Kay@huntleys.org
My adventure into goats got started back in the 70's when my kids were young and lasted just a few years. We had some standard goat crosses and loved the milk they produced. Although it did take a bit of trickery to get my kids to start drinking it. They were very reluctant despite the fact we always had a couple of gallons in the fridge. So I started putting it in the carton from the store bought milk and each morning would ask when they were going to try it. It was 3 weeks without a clue it was goats milk when I finally fessed up they had been drinking it. Well there would be no more urging on my part, in fact my son would get up early to drink the cream off the top which of course upset my daughter who also loved the rich cream. She was not an early morning kid.
In 1999, a friend offered me one of her Pygmy babies when it was weaned. It took a bit of talking to get my fairly new husband into letting me have a goat.
Decided it was prudent to learn all there was about the Pygmy and looked them up on the internet. Found a website that compared the Pygmy and Nigerian, The Tyny goat Ranch. After previously having the standard dairy goats it became obvious that the Nigerian was going to trump the Pygmy. So started checking out some websites and asking questions. All the breeders were very helpful but one in particular stood out for me. Gail Cole at Ponders End where we ended up purchasing our first goats. One buck Ponders End Windancer, a wether, and two does, Ponders End Paper Doll and Ponders End Arabecca. My husband didn't have a clue to what was going on, so it was quite a surprise when I told him while leaving for a tapestry class, that 4 kids may show up that day. Will never forget the look on his face. His question after that, 'how did one pet Pygmy turn into a herd of Nigerians?. That was the beginning of the Nigerian herd at Roc N Ewe Ranch. The next year we purchased a few more goats from Gail, Ponders End Victorian Lace, Flat Rocks Keepsake, Ponders End Lucille. My husband was very supportive, helped out whenever needed and loved the goats too.
In 2003 I attended my first goat show put on by Norm and Donna Geiser in Pahrump. Wasn't going to just show but with the intentions of selling my herd. We felt we were not doing these little guys justice and thought it better to sell. We did however enter 3 full sisters, Roc N Ewe JM Brown Sugar, Candy Girl and Sugar Shack out of Flat Rocks Keepsake and Roc N Ewe Ranch Jimmy Mack, who were in full winter coat with absolutely no trimming other than their hooves. Have to say they looked more like Pygmies than Nigerians. The judges were Sandi Liska and David Millison. We did not win anything that day but came away with a better understanding of the Nigerian and what the judges were looking for.
Sandi graciously agreed to go over my buck Roc N Ewe Jimmy Mack out of /float Rocks Keepsake and Ponders End Windancer. She asked why he hadn't been entered in the show as he was very nice and would have done well. So instead of selling my goats, a beautiful young buck, BRB Kakoakis from Heather Chiurazzi, came home with us to use on the kids out of Windancer. The rest as they say is history and I am very blessed to have such an understanding husband.
We attended several shows each year and did well with our goats with a few earning their PGCH status as well as milk awards.
In 2007 I took on the task of becoming the Milk Program Chair for NDGA. Have you ever heard the saying, look before you leap, well it is true. It took awhile to get a grasp on what the rules meant and explain them to others. Then the task of combining two sets of milk rules handed down from previous members to produce the first official Milk Rules sent out in 2008. They were revised again in March of 2014 in an effort to make them easier to understand. Well hopefully they are.
In 2009 I became a NDGA Board Member.
2010 arrived with my husband taking a job across the state and after 3 years it was time to join him and close my business. This was not easy as it came with extremely hard decisions. The animals could not go with us. All the years of building my breeding program with milk records and show wins came to an end.
I stay connected to the goats and the members by serving the NDGA members as their Milk Chair and now Webmaster. In 2015 I took on the Show chair as well.
I am always happy to talk goats and answer questions, my email is Kay@huntleys.org