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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

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

Minerals for Goats

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

Always becoming a better keeper of the land

January 20, 2022

My work as a farmer is really rooted in idea of lifelong learning. I’m always learning, whether it’s daily through observation of my livestock or from season-to-season how our pastures grow and flourish (or, not so much with a drought year like last summer).

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On The Farm

livestock guardian dog with goats on pasture

Tips for getting started with regenerative agriculture practices

January 19, 2022

Getting started with regenerative farming or conservation practices may seem a bit daunting, especially when what you’re doing is already working or even if you’re just getting started with your farm. Where do I start?

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On The Farm

Can you still practice regenerative agriculture in the winter?

January 17, 2022

Yes! While it may seem like when everything goes dormant for the season, our work with the farm and the environment around us slows down. That is true, but there are ways we can prepare for winter and during the winter months that still keep the environment, in particular, soil health in mind.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Top 12: Premier 1 goat supplies

January 13, 2022

If you raise sheep and goats you know how hard it can be to find livestock equipment that works for these smaller four-legged farm animals. Just recently I was trying to find a larger stock tank that was only a foot high. I could only find one manufacture and they were out! How could there be ONLY one option?!

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Raising Goats

The importance of soil health

January 11, 2022

Regenerative agriculture, or any agriculture for that matter, starts with the soil. Soil is at the core of everything we do as farmers. It supports the pastures and crops we grow to feed our livestock and our communities

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On The Farm

Land Stewardship Project meat marketing video feature

January 10, 2022

Last summer ​we had the opportunity to have a videographer out to the farm to talk with us and visually capture how we’re marketing our farm and meat.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Goats and sheep in a woven wire fence

Regenerative agriculture: it’s the foundation of what we do on the farm

January 6, 2022

For our goat farm, regenerative agriculture is really at the core of everything we do.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Success Story

December 16, 2021

We were recently featured on the Wisconsin Small Business Development website as a Success Story. Last spring I worked with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls SBDC to help build a business plan and financial projects for a USDA grant application I was working on. I was able to work with a consultant to get this […]

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Marketing Meat Goats

Leslie Svacina

ebook: Goat Meat Primer is here!

December 2, 2021

It’s FINALLY here! I’m SO excited to share the Goat Meat Primer ebook officially launches today!

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Raising Goats

New puppy on the farm, a herding dog

November 19, 2021

Meet Clover, our new border collie puppy! I made the day trip to southern Iowa yesterday to pick up our new herding puppy from Fiona, who is also the livestock manager for Premier 1 Supplies.

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Raising Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Integrazers

October 25, 2021

Integrazers is a vegetation management business in Northern Califorina, running sheep, goats and cattle for wildlife prevention.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Lauren Manning

October 22, 2021

Meet Lauren Manning of White Hoof Acres in Arkansas. I’ve been able to get to know Lauren through Instagram. She’s also raising meat goats, mostly-Kiko, with rotational grazing practices. I admire (and know the challenges) her work to build a low-input, resilient herd of goats. She’s also a talented writer. If you don’t follow her on Instagram, I encourage you do so.

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Raising Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Fiona Harrar

October 19, 2021

Meet Fiona Harrar, livestock manager for Premier 1 Supplies in Iowa. I’ve gotten to know Fiona and the other farm managers at Premier 1 through Instagram. I love this equipment supplier has a working, experimental farm to test and use its products for sheep and goats. Name: Fiona Harrar Farm: Premier Experimental Farms Location: Southeast […]

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Raising Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Ben Habig

October 14, 2021

Meet Ben Habig of Habig Livestock in Parker County, Texas. I connected with Ben through Instagram and love seeing him rotationally graze his goats in Texas. And, not to mention he only uses TWO STRANDS OF POLYWIRE with his herd of 100 goats. He also has a growing YouTube channel as well.

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Raising Goats

Cherrie Nolden with goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Cherrie Nolden

October 7, 2021

Meet Cherrie Nolden of 1DR Acres Farm in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

‘ve heard Cherrie speak at a meat goat producer meeting when I first was getting started raising goats, then later met her through our state-wide grazing organization, GrassWorks. There aren’t many of us in Wisconsin raising meat goats on forage alone, so it was great to connect with her. She’s a wealth of information when it comes to grazing and goats and have appreciated her willingness to share what’s she’s learned through her work with goats and research as well.

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Raising Goats

Kate Estrade with goats

Goatober Farmer profile: Kate Estrade

October 4, 2021

Meet Kate Estrade, goat farmer from Rio Louisiana.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Grazing Goat

3 Things you may not know about raising goats on pasture

September 27, 2021

1. Goats can be trained to electric fence Yes, it is true. Goats can be trained to respect and stay in electric fence. How does it work?  Fence training. Then, keep the fence hot at all times, make sure there’s enough pasture to eat, and repeat offenders/troublemakers find new homes. 2. Quick rotations are important […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

Grazing Grass Podcast: Meat Goat Production in Wisconsin

May 5, 2021

You probably know I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks while working on the farm, doing deliveries or running errands. So I was very honored to be asked to join Cal on the Grazing Grass Podcast to talk about our grazing practices with our meat goat herd. Thank you Cal for the invite and including […]

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Raising Goats

Review: Book explains how to manage water on the farm for long-term resilience

July 15, 2019

As a farmer it’s hard to not think about the weather. What’s the temperature going to be? Is it going to rain? Is it going to be clear for a stretch? Will we ever get any rain? Will the rain ever stop?Our lives revolve around the weather, more specifically precipitation, otherwise known as water, our lifeline as farmers to grow crops and raise livestock.

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On The Farm

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.