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Hi I'm Leslie

I'm a full-time farmer in Western Wisconsin where I raise meat goats and sheep on pasture using regenerative and rotational grazing practices.

I created this website because
I had so many people reaching out, both locally and beyond, wanting to know more about how I was raising and marketing goats.

I also recognized that it IS so hard to find information in this space. I wanted to share what I've learned along the way and reduce your time searching the depths of the internet.

LEARN MORE

using a cardboard shredder machine

Cardboard Shredder Machine

July 22, 2023

A cardboard shredder machine can help solve the issue of having used cardboard boxes, by providing a way to repurpose the cardboard. 

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Marketing Meat Goats

pregnant goat with text how long are goats pregnant

How long are goats pregnant [ gestation calculator]

July 21, 2023

Understanding the goat gestation period is important for successful and healthy pregnancies.

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Raising Goats

What is scrapie in goats?

July 15, 2023

One important facet of making a business out of raising meat goats is ensuring that your operation abides by certain USDA regulations.

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Raising Goats

Goats with electric fence

Gallagher Smart Fence Review

July 15, 2023

The Smart Fence is a great option for portable goats since it is so easy to use.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Birdsfoot Trefoil for pasture productivity and livestock health

July 7, 2023

While often overlooked as a pasture legume, Birdsfoot Trefoil is an excellent option to consider given it’s forage quality, long stand life, and antiparasitic traits.

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Grazing Meat Goats

goats and sheep grazing in a field, with the text rotational grazing

Rotational grazing: A practical guide

June 17, 2023

When done correctly, rotational grazing offers many benefits to your livestock, soil quality, and pasture productivity.

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Grazing Meat Goats

how to test an electric fence

How to test an electric fence: A troubleshooting guide

June 9, 2023

Learn how to test an electric fence and troubleshoot grounding and conductivity issues when your electric fence is not working.

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Grazing Meat Goats

calculating goats per acre for your farm text over goats in a pasture

Determining how many goats per acre for your pastures

June 3, 2023

When getting started with raising goats, one of the most common questions that comes up is how many goats per acre can I raise?

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Grazing Meat Goats

The Case for Email Marketing

May 31, 2023

Email marketing: It’s a term that strikes fear in the hearts of so many farmers and ranchers I’ve met. With a million things to do each day, taking the time to sit down and craft and send out an email can feel like an understandably daunting task.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Featured on the For the Love of Goats Podcast

May 16, 2023

Recently I was featured on the For the Love of Goats Podcast, where I talked about about marketing goat meat farming and online sales.

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Marketing Meat Goats

goats standing in a green pasture with the text goat terminology

Goat Terminology

May 8, 2023

Learn about goat terminology, including the scientific name for goats, as well as the terms for goats related to gender and age.

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Raising Goats

Goat fencing requirements and options

May 2, 2023

Having the right goat fence is one of the most important things when it comes to raising goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Two goat primals on table with text overlay stating recommended goat butchery reference book

Recommended goat butchery reference book

April 22, 2023

One of my top reference books for goat cuts, processing, and butchery is the book Butchering by Adam Danforth.

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Marketing Meat Goats

goat pen design ideas over architecture drawing

Goat pen ideas and design

April 21, 2023

Goat pens are an important component of housing your goats. While pens keep your goats contained, the right design provides many benefits.

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Raising Goats

Goats with two kids and text that says how to use and set up kidding pens

How to set up goat kidding pens

April 14, 2023

Learn more about how to set up and use goat kidding pens.

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Raising Goats

The Top 5 Meat Goat Breeds

April 13, 2023

There are many factors to consider when choosing a meat goat breed so you can make the right decision for your future herd and farm.

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Raising Goats

Knowing Your Ideal Customer for your Farm

March 24, 2023

Knowing your ideal customers, and how they differ from your current customers, is an essential part of developing your farm business.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Featured on the Farmside Chat Podcast

March 24, 2023

This week I was featured on the American Farm Bureau Farmside Chat Podcast, where I talked about about goat meat farming and conservation practices.

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Grazing Meat Goats

How to use a soil map for your pastures

March 19, 2023

The USDA Web Soil Survey is a powerful tool that can be used to map out your pasture’s soil type in great detail.

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Grazing Meat Goats

goats on pasture

All About Goat Pasture

March 3, 2023

Creating the right pasture for your meat goat herd may be easier than you might think.

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Grazing Meat Goats

A Guide to Goat Meat Cuts

February 14, 2023

Learn more about the primal and basic cuts of goat meat.

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Marketing Meat Goats

How to Price Goat Meat

February 7, 2023

While basing goat meat prices off your competition a start, it’s important to also know your production costs and margin goals.

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Marketing Meat Goats

favorite. goat hay feeder text in front of goats eating hay

Goat hay feeders

January 21, 2023

Finding the right goat hay feeder is important for many reasons.

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Raising Goats

What We Can Learn From Consumer Trends

January 17, 2023

Undoubtedly you’ve heard the phrase “know your customer” but what about “know your consumer?”

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Marketing Meat Goats

A Guide to Goat Meat Nutrition

January 10, 2023

So many farmers and ranchers who raise meat goats know very little about the meat, largely because of a lack of information widely available.

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Marketing Meat Goats

How to Bale Graze with Goats and Sheep Guide

January 3, 2023

One of my absolute favorite things to talk about (and something I always get a lot of questions about) is bale grazing and how we make it work with our goats and sheep. Wisconsin winters bring heavy snowfall which means that at a certain point we can no longer rely on stored forage. That’s where […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

Interview with Regenerative Farmers of America

December 16, 2022

This past month I had the pleasure doing an with Regenerative Farmers of America and shared more about our journey with raising meat goats.

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Raising Goats

Goat at Mineral Feeder

Goat minerals: Nutritional needs, pasture feeder options

December 16, 2022

Goats need minerals to help their bodies function properly. Feeding loose minerals can help make sure they’re getting the nutrients needed.

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Raising Goats

working chute for goats blog

Working chute for goats

November 17, 2022

We recently invested in a working chute for our herd of meat goats. The handling system we chose is a portable chute from Sydell. We chose this working chute because we raise our goats and sheep on pasture with rotational grazing and needed a portable handling system option.

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Raising Goats

finding grants for farmers

Strategies for finding farm grants

October 29, 2022

It can be challenging to find grants for farming. Learn how to find funding for your farm, including where to find grants.

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Marketing Meat Goats

grant writing tips for farmers

Grant writing tips for farmers

October 6, 2022

Applying for grants can be time consuming and the process is competitive. Learn how to successfully write grants to help fund your farm.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Yoga save this farmer

October 4, 2022

Four years ago I wasn’t in a good place. I was struggling. I’m not sure if many outside my immediate family sensed anything was off.

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On The Farm

how much does a goat cost? with goats lined up in the background

How much does a goat cost

September 30, 2022

There are a lot of factors to consider when planning how much it will cost to start your herd of meat goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

electric fence training for goats

How to keep goats in a fence

September 26, 2022

Training goats to respect electric fence is often overlooked. With simple training, you should be able to keep your goats in their fence.

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Grazing Meat Goats

How to select a buck

August 23, 2022

A breeding buck for your goat herd has the potential to greatly impact the future success of your entire meat goat herd for future generations. In fact, selecting the right buck is probably more important than the breeding does you might consider adding to your goat herd. I recently covered this topic in one of […]

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Raising Goats

New: Raising Meat Goats with Rotational Grazing Online Workshop

July 26, 2022

When I first learned about rotational grazing, I knew right away that’s how I wanted to raise goats. But no one was really doing it, at least in my region. So I dove in and learned how to raise goats on pasture using rotational grazing and regenerative practices. I should say I’m still working on […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

Can goats be trained to poly wire? One-strand? Two-strand? Live Q&A Replay

June 29, 2022

Live Q&A Topics: Using 1 or 2 strands of polywire with goats. Options for portable goat electric fence for dividing paddocks.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats and fly control on pasture | Live Q&A replay

June 22, 2022

This Live Q&A covered fly control with goats on pasture and using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats.

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On The Farm

garage screen door

Pack shed upgrade: Installing a screen door

June 21, 2022

Around the farm I’ve been making little changes and upgrades along the way. My most recent one was adding a “screen door/wall” to my pack shed.

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On The Farm

Getting started selling cuts of goat meat | Live Q&A Replay

June 20, 2022

This Q&A Replay covers how we got started selling goat meat, including planning from harvest to the type of cuts offered.

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Marketing Meat Goats

New Live Q&A Series

June 2, 2022

Catch the replay of the Instagram Live Q & A on all things raising, grazing, and marketing meat goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats

May 5, 2022

Here’s a quick rundown on how our lamb and kid auto feeder works. We have a Lac Tek II from Biotic. We had purchased it when we were originally feeding male dairy buck kids. Since that time we’ve phased out of that part of our farm and have been focusing on our meat breed herd. […]

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Raising Goats

Recommended Books

May 2, 2022

Here are a variety of recommended books related to farming and marketing:

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Uncategorized

Bottle feeding goats research articles

March 27, 2022

Kid Goat Feeding Trial MSN174849 DATCP (PDF) Results of a trial conducted by Dr. David L. Thomas (dlthomas@wisc.edu), Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Tera L. Montgomery (montgomeryt@uwplatt.edu), School of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Early Weaning of Dairy Kids – report UW Spooner Research Station Raising lambs and kids artificially, University of […]

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Raising Goats

My favorite tool for the farm

February 15, 2022

I bet you’ll never guess what my favorite tool is for the farm! It’s my iPhone! Yes, that’s right.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Moving to e-commerce for farm sales

February 11, 2022

Moving to an e-commerce site was a big jump for our farm three years ago, but I knew it was the direction I needed to go with our farm business. This was pre-pandemic. At the time we had a basic website with an online form that operated as our means for placing orders.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Buying in bulk to help the bottom line

February 4, 2022

Running a business, especially a farm, can get expensive. With a farm that direct markets, the type of expenses can be more vast.

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Raising Goats

Regenerative Agriculture Blog Series

February 2, 2022

Learn more about regenerative agriculture in this recent Blog Series

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On The Farm

Cold-weather gear + tools to get the job done

January 28, 2022

It’s Wisconsin. It gets cold, but we as people and livestock adapt every season. But it helps to have good gear and tools to get the job done.  Here are some of my favorites ? For the farm Sweeter Heater: infrared heater for our warming huts for goat kids. Nice way to get a bit […]

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On The Farm

Livestock can help with carbon sequestration

January 24, 2022

On our farm, much like many across the region, the trend to pull livestock off the land started to happen about 60 years ago. For our farm, that noted the beginning of our oak savanna grassland no longer seeing livestock.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Legal disclaimer: All information provided is based on personal experience and is provided for educational and information use only. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless our website, company and owner for any direct or indirect loss or conduct incurred as a result of your use of our website and any related communications. This applies to, but is not limited to, business operational information and consulting, as well as farm and goat management practices.Any animal health information provided on this website is based on personal experience or information provided by others whose treatments and practices have been discussed with a veterinarian. In all situations, it is the responsibility of the livestock owner to consult with a veterinarian before using any animal health practices shared on this website or by this company and its owner. See the full legal disclaimer here.