SCHUYLERVILLE — Goats frolicking in a grassy field were not part of Annelise Wood’s dream. But barely three years in, her Nigerian Dwarf goats are winning blue ribbons at county fairs – even being proclaimed Grand Champions.
“I grew up on a dairy farm in Madison County but became a registered nurse,” Wood said recently at the Saratoga County Fair. “But eight years ago what with the kids growing up I decided I wanted to get back into ag. It’s snowballed since then.”
Because of limited space at the family farm – her kids are the fifth generation to live there, she knew cows would be too much. But a visit about four years ago to a national agriculture show in Ohio gave her direction.
“I saw these gorgeous dairy goats and stumbled on this breed by accident,” she said.
Nigerian Dwarf goats are much smaller than a standard size goat by as much as 100 pounds. They also have complicated color genetics in that they can be a mix of several greys, browns, whites or black with no two being the same despite their parentage. Their milk, too, has a very high butter content, which makes it perfect for cheese, and the sugar in the milk makes a bubbly lather when the milk is used for soap.
Intrigued, Wood bought a buck and doe.
At first, the family had enough milk to make cheese and yogurt for themselves and to give to friends. But as the herd grew they had too much milk, and because they were not licensed to sell these products to the public, Wood decided making the milk into soap might work. By then, they’d also changed the name of the farm from WildWood to RebelWood because goats were a departure from the family’s traditional cow farm.
Wood began selling the soap and lotion at craft fairs and found a market. Today her products are sold at the Old Saratoga Mercantile just down the road from her, at Gorsky’s Farm Market in Stillwater, Hand Melon Farm in Greenwich, and at a small Amish shed at her farm’s roadside.
The herd now numbers forty dairy goats out of which twenty are milked twice a day. The others are “on break” until they’re ready to breed. She keeps a few bucks around at their “bachelor pad” for that purpose, but other boys that are born are usually fixed – they’re called wethers, and sold as pets.
Wood is glad she’s gone with goats.
“I loved, loved my Jersey cows and had milked sheep, but the goats have proved less expensive, take up less space, there’s less mess, less overhead,” she said. “It was a steep learning curve. I was not intending to go into business. It was a leap to go from a job with a steady paycheck to something that is seasonal.”
But when she looks at her goats like the handful that were for show at the fair, her eyes light up especially on a dark grey and white doe.
“This one is Bodhi, she’s four years old and a finished champion. She’s the Queen Bee of the herd,” Wood said. “She’s my favorite, but don’t tell her.”
Visit rebelwoodsoapworks.com or Facebook for more information.
