Bryson Homestead, known on ADGA as Bryson Farm is home of the Gate family where we live on our 1 acre Homestead just outside of Asheville, NC. We raise Performance Herd Nigerian Dwarf Goats. As a family, our hope is to be as sustainable as we can in the way we raise and grow our food and take care of the land. We raise our own Meat (Chicken), Fruit, Vegetables, and dairy through our Goats. As we have studied more about the food we eat, we learned about the excellence of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, their creamy milk, sweet temperaments, funny personalities, and have loved them ever since.
In 2018 we started out with our herd of 3 (2 Does and a Wether). It's changed a little over time and we currently have 10 Does and 2 Bucks! (Goat math is a real thing!). We know that 2023 will bring in some new additions and we are excited to share that with you. Our hope is to be able to provide other families with wonderful Nigerian Dwarf Goats for their homestead.
As you can see from the photos in our website, our early days had very humble beginnings, but we have learned you can have wonderful healthy animals without a large fancy barn. We love that our homestead has developed and grown along the way and we hope to share more about that with you through our blog.
Due to having a small herd we are very hands-on with each of our Goats. We try to have all our Does Dam raise their kids and all our herd is incredibly friendly. When we stand near the fence they come to us to be petted or give us a head rub to say hello! It means there is a deep connection that we have with each of them. From the moment we are sitting with the Dams through labor through the moments our babies are growing from Day olds to becoming mothers themselves. It’s been wonderful as I have no concern about our children being with them on their own. They know how to care for and treat the Goats with love and respect.
Over the past two years, we have been focusing on improving our herd. We don’t have Bucks on our property sadly, but we are very excited about how our herd has developed and improved through bringing in amazing genetics from Bucks that our friends have close by.
We are an ADGA Plus herd. Committed to DHIR (the Dairy Herd Improvement Registry), and participate in ADGA Linear Appraisal, DHIR Milk Testing, and DNA Marker Testing in our herd. I LOVE participating in all these things as I can honestly say I have no questions about selling any of my Goats to new homes as I know they are all good quality. We give our herd lots of time, thought, and energy in order to help with seeing our herd improve and grow in strength each year.
Through the years of us having Goats, we have learned lots. With owning Goats we can’t just stick them in a field and hope for the best. They do take research and learning before, but the time taken will be so worth it and you will see how enjoyable they are. I will have pages on my blog with helpful info that I can share with you but also, that you can learn from other Goat breeders who have been doing it a long time.
We have Goat classes and offering Mentoring so you are never on your own!
With us having 1 acre, we have learned that we want and need really good, parasite resistant Goats, ones that we can treat preventively with herbs to have them have optimal health. As we try to treat our herd naturally, they are building up generations of parasite resistance and we are so happy that they can hopefully be passed down to the next generation.
Our herds individual body confirmation, udder attachments, and how their legs stand etc are also a very important factor in our herd. It really helps with their body health, their ability to have a good strong udder that milks well, can carry lots of milk, and where teat placement is good so that helps with preventing problems like mastitis etc It also impacts how they deliver babies and also joint problems as they get older. For this reason we are really careful about who we breed our Girls with in the hope they will pass those great genetics down. Like with all genetics there is no guarantee but we try our best to get it right!
We so appreciate and value the awards received from Goat shows, from those that buy our Goats and participate on DHIR. We give preference to those who participate in the DHIR program.
For us, we want to make sure all our Does are healthy and happy, it’s important they can deliver babies with minimal human intervention and are able to nurse their babies, our herd has been quite parasite resistant as we don’t deworm on schedule but use preventative herbal dewormers which have been effective in our area. Thank you for visiting our website. We are here to help you as you explore having Nigerian Dwarf Goats on your farm as well. If you have any questions about having Goats on your homestead, would like to place your name on a waitlist etc or purchase any, please get in contact.
I would love to help you.
Thank you,
Emilie, David and family.
