ICE Acres Dairy Goats
Established 2023
Breeding show and performance dairy goats
About Isaac
My love for goats started when I was young. As a kid, I’d make my parents take me to petting zoos and stop at every farm that had goats in their pastures. When I was 10 years old, I had bugged my dad enough about getting goats. He told me if I wrote 30 essays about goat management, breeding and provided him with an outline of a business plan to be profitable, he’d buy me a goat. After a lot of unreadable essays and a few months later, my dad bought me a doe and wether La Mancha from Forrest Pride dairy goats. The does name was Sassy and she was a huge part of my life for many years. Eventually, horses became a priority in my life which turned into my lifelong career and Sassy was giving to a close family friend as a home milker.
In 2023, I rescued two boer Nubian goats from a neighboring farm that was abandoned. The two does were feral and one of them gave birth shortly after arriving to my farm. My love of goats was reignited. I decided to purchase a small herd of Nigerian Dwarfs in a dispersal sale. The family of mixed boer goats were given to my blacksmith’s sons. At this point, my focus became breeding a small herd of Nigerian dwarfs as a hobby and Ice Acres Dairy Goats was established.
About Harry
I grew up with an urban lifestyle, in big cities primarily. Did not have much exposure to livestock throughout my life until I met Isaac. If you know Isaac, you know that he is a huge animal lover. We have horses, chickens, a pig, peacocks, 9 cats (6 indoor, 3 outdoor), and 3 dogs (indoor) on the farm. I was not as much of an animal lover initially. Plus, the Florida heat kept me indoors most of the time. However, that slowly changed over time when Isaac decided to raise Nigerian dwarfs as a hobby.
End of February 2023, Isaac brought home his first ND and in a months-span, he had 12. I was skeptical to help at first because of concerns that it would lead to more NDs magically appearing on the farm. His mom was a huge support to him on the farm for a long time while she lived with us. However, she was unable to help show the goats. As his partner, I felt I had an obligation to help him out, at least with showing. Plus, I saw it as a great opportunity to spend quality time with him. Although, I had a hard time memorizing which goat was which for a while, being more active in the goat barn and starting an Excel spreadsheet to keep us organized helped me remember who was who. Raising the goats is something that we both truly enjoy together.
