Our Story

We decided to get into goats so our boys would have an opportunity to participate in 4H...and goats were animals that we could keep on our small property without too much heartache.

We joined our local Fauquier County, VA 4H dairy goat club, NuttinButKids, and spent some time learning as much as we could about goats.  We decided on the Nigerian Dwarf breed because they were small and manageable.  A pair of "loaner" pregnant does from one of the club's members provided us a start.  The plan was to let the boys go through the birthing process and we'd pick out doe kids for them to raise as their own.

We encountered our first surprise when all the babies from these two mamas were boys...5 total.  We helped deliver them and, of course, the family matriarch, Sue, fell in love with the first one on the ground. And the second, and the third...and so on.  She didn't want to get rid of a single one.  But, this was an adventure in raising and breeding afterall, and we didn't want a herd of bucks running around displeasing our neighbors.  Billy Goats are such nasty critters.  So, Sue decided to keep the first one and she picked out one for the family patriarch, Mel.  Did I mention the two litters came, first, on Valentines Day and the second two days later on President's Day,  So, naturally, the first, Sue's favorite, was named Valentino.  The second one we kept was from the President's Day litter, a little black and white runt we named Lincoln.  That was a no-brainer...what else would you name a little black and white buck born on President's Day? 

As the good Lord would provide...all was not lost.  While we had 5 little bucklings, the family that loaned us the moms were having their own bunch of babies.  They had kept a couple of other moms who were pregnant when they loaned the two to us.  And...as the good Lord would provide...each of them gave birth to triplets on the same days as ours had given birth, one on Valentine's Day and the other on President's Day. And...you must know what's coming next...all those babies were little girls...does if you will.  So, we let the boys pick out and purchase one doe each from those babies.  Jordan, our oldest son, picked out a little doe that looked identical to her mom.  Lance, our youngest son, picked out a little doe that was adorably pretty.  She was tan and white and her hair was a bit curly, giving her a definitive "female" look.  Lance named her TigerLily. 

I guess I need to explain the naming convention dictated by our national association.  We register our goats through the American Goat Society.  They set out letters for each year and you are to name a goat born in that year with a name that begins with that year's letter designation.  When we began to acquire our little critters we were in the "T" year.  So, all our registered goats had to have names that began with a "T".  The boys didn't matter because we didn't register them.  So, Lance chose TigerLily but we've always just called her Lily.  And, just so I don't forget to mention it, Lily is the probably the sweetest goat we have, or have had.  And, we almost lost her forever...but that's another story.

Ok...so now we have four little critters, the two boys, Lincoln and Valentino (Tino) and the two girls, TigerLily and...well, I didn't tell you the name of Jordan's goat did I?  Now that's an interesting story in itself.  When we brought her home we didn't know what to name her and Jordan was dragging his feet picking out one.  About the 2nd day we had them home I put them all in a large wire crate we'd gotten for our dog, Sadie.  I'll tell you about Sadie later.  When I put all four of the little caprine (goat) critters in this crate, Jordan's goat provided us with her name rather quickly.  It was apparent she was the "Alpha" goat of the four of them and, right away, she set about letting the other three know that she was the boss.  She butted them all three into a corner of the crate and when one would try to get out of the corner she butted them back in.  She would stand in the opposite corner of the crate and "guard" them, making sure they didn't leave their assigned positions.  Assigned by her, that is.  What else could you call something like her except "Taz", short for Tazmanian Devil.  And she certainly lived up to that name...for a couple of years anyway.  But more on that later too.

Well, that's how it all began with Hidden Hollow.  But...I didn't tell you why we call our place Hidden Hollow, did I?  What with all the goats. Sadie the dog, and the cats...yes, we have 4 cats too...you'd think we lived on a farm.  Far from it, our place is actually just under an acre and a half.  And, we're on a cul-de-sac in the rural fringes of the Warrenton, Virginia area.  In fact, for a long time we were actually not legal having goats here because livestock in this county were not allowed on parcels less than two acres.  But, we helped change all that and I'll tell you about that on another page, later on.

Ok, why Hidden Hollow, right?  Our house is on the highest part of our property and just about everything outside the house falls away down to a small creek that runs through the back of our property.  Our goat pens are in a hollow that is bordered by the creek and some woods.  From the road, you cannot see the pens at all.  So, the name Hidden Hollow just seemed fitting for our little place and even the goats seem to like  the name...especially since we adopted it as our herd name also.  And, we even label our homemade goatmilk soap under the Hidden Hollow label...but then, that's another story altogether.

And that's our story...but it's only the beginning.  I hope you will come back occasionally and read "the rest of the story."

...more story (Click Here)