◡◠◡‡◠About Our Herd◠‡◡◠◡

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats are indigenous to West Africa like the Pygmy Goat. However, aside from their continental origins and their shared small stature, they share few similarities.

Nigerian Dwarf Goats’ coats are capable of a multitude of color variations and combinations, their bone structure is less stocky than the Pygmy and despite their size, they produce an impressive amount of rich, high quality milk for drinking, cheese, fudge and other uses. Their milk is actually higher in Vitamins C & D, Riboflavin, and Calcium, yet has less cholesterol and is easier to digest than cow’s milk! Most Professional Cheese Makers consider Nigerian Dwarf Goat milk the premier choice amongst milk from all other dairy goat breeds.

We acquired our original Nigerian foundation herd from a wonderful lady named Nancy Lynch of New Boston, Texas. Her herd consisted of Nigerians, Mini-LaManchas, and Nubian Goats. Due to back problems she was having difficulty milking the smaller goats so she decided to disperse her Nigerian Herd and is now building up her Herd of Nubians.

Nancy, you are the best, thanks for all your help and encouragement!

You can visit Nancy’s website at www.lynchsittybittyranch.com

This foundation herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats was comprised of some of the best genetics from many of the premier breeders in Texas (and beyond) including Flat Rocks Farm, Piddlin’ Acres, Jobi Dairy, Woodhaven Farm, Holly Berry Farm, Dream Acres, Briar Hill, Goodwood, Ponders End, Velvet Acres, Mighty Fine, Little Rascals, Gladys Porter Zoo, Willow Creek, Tupence, Chisholm Trail, MK,

Irish Whisper and Cactus Ridge.

They have been bred for ideal conformation, milk production, dairy character and appearance. We will continue in this course and were happy to bring such a diverse group of show quality specimens to the Mid-Atlantic Area.

Our Farm’s breeding program began in May 2006 and our Farm’s first kids were born in October of 2006. The balance of our does kidded in Spring 2007.

Check out our Kidding Schedule and Goats For Sale Page for more information on our Spring & Summer 2008 Kiddings as well as our Kids and Adult Stock for Sale.

In January of 2007, our herd expanded. A fellow breeder, labored over the decision to reduce her Nigerian herd to a more manageable size. We gladly agreed to incorporate almost a dozen of her does into our foundation herd. These does did not merely increase our herd’s size, but also contributed added diversity to, and enhanced, our already noteworthy genetic base adding new bloodlines to our Farm including Gay-Mor, CornerStone Farm, Stonewall Farm, Caesar’s Villa, Twin Creeks, Rosasharn, Sugar Creek Farm, 4 Fun Farm, Tarla Farms, Allo-Acres, Dav-Lyn, Wooly Dog Down, Pocket Sized Goats, High Acre Farm, Morning Star Farm, Munchranch, Talon’s Herd, Honey Patch, Sol-Orr’s, Love My Critters, Rocky Pines, Unicorn Farm, The Meadows, Sides, and Brick Kiln Hill Farm.

And, in addition, we also adopted all the kids born on her farm from September 2006 through January 2007!!! While we retained a few of the kids, many were sold here on our site!

In April 2007, Old Crowe Farm Domino arrived as a newborn bottle baby. She’s got a solid milking pedigree and will be a great asset to our herd.

In June 2007, Meadow Farm Oreo, and Bar-K Loralei *D ‘VG’ (both in milk!) joined our herd from Kid’n Acres in Chesapeake, Virginia.

In November 2007 we welcomed two new additions to Avolino Farm: Dill's Casino Royale *S arrived from Dill's-A-Little Goat Farm in Pryor, Oklahoma and Pocket Sized MN RhythmNBlues joined us from Mighty Munchkins Farm in Warren, New Jersey.

In early December 2007, four outstanding Nigerian Dwarves (three does and one buckling) became members of our herd: Sugar Creek MO Water Beetle (Blue Eyed), Sugar Creek NT Windchaser, Sugar Creek FR Wisteria Lane and Sugar Creek SV XCalibur (Blue Eyed).

And we ended the year with a "bang" by welcoming the final new addition to Avolino Farm for 2007 who arrived in mid-December from Texas: the 2006 AGS National Reserve Champion Senior Buck, Green Gate Armageddon.

In late winter of 2008, a breeder we had corresponded with often over the last year or so, contacted us with an amazing opportunity. He has raised and bred goats including Nigerian Dwarf and Lamanchas for nearly 30 years. His herd had grown steadily to over 100+ members, and because of an imminent relocation, he realized he was not going to be able to move the herd. He conducted a couple of small-scale herd dispersals, eventually reducing his numbers to about 50 of his best goats. He expressed an interest to see his valued, core herd go to a home where their health and well being would be given top priority. He intimated that he really only had a couple of choices of whom to entrust this herd to. We "fit the bill" perfectly, and after health testing every member, we have acquired his 5 bucks and 47 does. The Heatherwood Herd arrived here at Avolino Farm in April of 2008. Many of the does were bred and are due to kid between May and August of 2008. Although we may retain a few offspring, most of the anticipated 50-100 kids will be available for sale and will bear the Heatherwood Herd name. These new arrivals will be in addition to those already listed on our Kidding Schedule from our own herd. The Heatherwood Herd is comprised of some outstanding genetics representing the best in the breed including Green Gate, Caesar's Villa, Goodwood, Gay-Mor, Piddlin Acres, Lost Pines, Woodhaven Farms, Creek Road, Hill Country, Rosasharn, Flat Rocks, Milky Whey, Blue Ribbon Babies, Steele Ballew, Twin Creeks, Sugar Creek, and Old Mountain Farm.

We cannot wait to introduce these goats into our breeding program, and to campaign them on the show circuit for years to come.

Once again, we have several reservations on kids from outside herds due to arrive throughout 2008.

We now maintain the largest herd of 100% Health Tested, High Quality, Dual Registered Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats in the State of Maryland, on the entire Delmarva Peninsula, and in the Mid-Atlantic region. Despite the size of our herd, we pride ourselves in giving lots of love and attention to our goats. Although becoming the biggest herd in our state was never our goal, we have grown steadily through selective retention of kids from our own breeding program and the judicious acquisition of new herd members that will cross well with our bloodlines.

We spare no expense to ensure that our herd receives the best forage/hay, ration/feed, supplements, and preventive and acute medical care that are available.

As a dedicated breeder, raising healthy and happy goats is not only our goal; it is our mission. An extension of this mission is to educate and welcome new members into the Nigerian Dwarf goat breeding community. We are proud that we have assisted customers over the last three years to found and grow 24 new Nigerian Dwarf goat herds throughout the Mid Atlantic region. Thanks to all of our fantastic and loyal patrons!

All of our breeding stock is dual registered in both AGS (American Goat Society) and ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association). In addition, some of our goats are also triple registered in NDGA (Nigerian Dwarf Goat Association).

When purchasing a kid from us you have the option to register with one, two or all three registries.

We have genetics that produce BLUE EYES, WATTLES, FROSTED EARS, MOON SPOTS as well as POLLED (naturally hornless) goats. Some of our kids can have one or more of these traits. Unlike some breeders, we do not charge "extra" when our kids bear these traits, as they do not influence milk production nor do they contribute to the scorecard in a show ring.

We also maintain pedigree information that goes back a minimum of 6 generations. The majority of our pedigrees reflect thoughtful line breeding, yielding exceptional outcomes and multiple ARMCH, MCH, CH, PGCH, and even National Champion Show and National Champion Milking bloodlines.

We are always researching and making contact with breeders to learn more about the heritage of our herd.

We perform annual health testing on our entire herd and we are CAE, TB, Johnes, and Brucellosis negative. Our annual tests for 2008 have been concluded and once again EVERY goat on our farm was tested and found to be 100% negative!) None of our goats have ever had any abscesses. We have testing performed on every prospective member of our herd before we purchase them to ensure the health of our herd and bio-security of our farm is not compromised. Unlike some breeders, whether you are purchasing a newborn kid or an adult as breeding stock from us, we will gladly make available to you the testing results for every goat on our property to assure you of our testing claims. We have nothing to hide and feel total disclosure and transparency is the best policy!

We use Colorado State University for all our testing and consistently run only c-Elisa CAE as well as PCR CAE tests to obtain the most accurate information on our herd’s health.

Our herd receives routine de-worming (utilizing the FAMACHA system), hoof trimming, BoSe (Selenium) Injections, and is up to date on all vaccinations.

After researching goat nutrition for several months, speaking to dozens of breeders and several nutritionists, we feed our herd horse quality, lab-tested, orchard grass hay & pure alfalfa, a super-premium, nutritionally balanced ration and a premium, low sodium dairy goat mineral supplement. Our does receive an additional super-premium ration supplement when bred and while lactating to provide for their special needs. Our goats receive copper supplementation, and their water is double filtered.

They also ruminate around our improved pastures.

While some breeders must bottle feed newborn kids to prevent the spread of CAE from their CAE positive does to the offspring, here at Avolino Farm-- with a CAE negative herd-- we bottle feed all our kids by choice to ensure they are extremely friendly and easy to handle. In your own herd you will need to make decisions regarding whether to dam raise or bottle feed, whether to heat treat and pasteurize or feed raw milk and how to manage potential transmission sources for disease. We manage our herd using sound, proven, and thoughtful practices.

All of our kids are either born hornless (polled) or are humanely disbudded using a Rhinehart X-50 disbudding iron while they are comfortably asleep. (We administer low dose Xylazine [a.k.a. Rompum] to ensure they are spared the unpleasantness of the disbudding process.)

Most of the goats in our herd had never been taken to show prior to 2006, with a few exceptions. We participated in 3 shows in 2006 and planned to heavily participate in 2007, however due to a severe shoulder injury Chris suffered in late 2006, we took the 2007 season off. We hope to be back on the show circuit in 2008.