Hinds Feet on High Places

Pasture Walk

Last evening our family visited Hill Place Farm in Hornby, New York, to tour the farm and learn about their fencing improvements, feeding, winter management, and marketing strategies. The event was sponsored by sponsored by the Finger Lakes RC&D and Cornell Cooperative Extension. 

We enjoyed our evening tour and the scenic view amongst the ridges capturing a peaceful sunset. On our pasture walk, the owners Don and Deb Borden discussed their effective fencing improvements to eliminate the threat of coyotes, control deer contamination, and improve herd confinement. Also discussed were pasture rotation and parasites and the concern of deer worm, which is not harmful to deer but causes paralysis and death in goats. We were reminded of the danger of wilting leaves in the prunus species, such as cherry, peach, and plum trees, as drought, frost, and cutting will cause wilting; prussic acid (cyanide) develops as the leaves wilt and is extremely toxic. Also discussed were invasive plants such as Russian olive and multi flora, which have been dominating much countryside. Goats are great for reclaiming land inhabited by brush, but not everyone has goats to control the invasiveness effectively.

The Bordens currently run about 130 boer does, the majority being purebred with a few alpine and sanaan crosses, on about 30 acres of browse and pasture. They have developed   a pelletized grain formula to ensure that all of their goats get equal nutrients. Goats fight over food and have established heirarchy, so the younger and less dominant does would be left with fewer nutritive elements.

Hill Place Farm's claim to prestige in the goat world is their premier bucks...Pipeline's Sparkplug *Ennobled,* Magnum's Maximus, and Rommel, all top winning show sires. They wait until the doelings are a year old to breed them, giving time for sufficient pelvic growth for kidding and overall bloom. Breeding begins in late July to have kids in December and January, thus meeting the market for 40 lb Easter kids. In order to balance the busyness of kidding season, they currently breed a number of does for September kiddings. The other top market is for 100 lb. kids is at Christmas time. The Bordens have found that the value per pound is only half of what it is at Easter time. So it is a better financial decision to sell at Easter instead of having to feed and maintain the market kids from spring through to December. The annual Northeast Premier Breeders Annual Boer Goat Production Sale at the NY State Fairgrounds is where they sell their top line production stock. .

We enjoyed our visit to Hill Place Farm and learning about their management practices and seeing their goats!