“I didn’t realize I was going to be so passionate about goats!” says June Small, the owner of The Small Farm, an 8-acre enterprise situated just outside of Texas city limits that she runs with her husband.
Goats play a starring role at The Small Farm—and their milk makes its way into a range of handcrafted beauty products that Small offers for sale. “There’s wonderful skin benefits to using goats milk,” she explains.
Taking time out from daily farm duties, we spoke to Small about the charms of Nubian goats and the virtues of ruminant poop. We also got the details about moving an entire hobby farm from Colorado to Texas.
Upping Sticks & Moving Farms
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Small says that both she and her husband grew up with grandparents that practiced homesteading—an experience that eventually drew them both toward the lifestyle.
After leaving the suburbs in 2012, they bought property in Colorado before deciding to move to Texas four years later to be closer to family.
“It was crazy,” says Small of the logistics of the move. “We had to do three different trips, and each was 1,000 miles. The first was a tractor on a flatbed trailer along with horses, the second was all my goats and more farm equipment and then the third was finally our stuff!”
Read more: Check out these creative ways to use milk from your goats!
Getting to Grips with Goats
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Back in 2012, Small hadn’t even been close to a goat, but she did hear that the animals “were good for weed control and that their poop is great fertilizer.”
Suitably inspired, Small secured a couple of goats and fell in love with the Nubian goat breed.
These days, the original two incumbents have bloomed into a trip of 20 goats.
The Sweetest Animals
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“Goats are so sweet, and they’re very kind,” says Small when asked what it’s like to be around the animals all day.
“A lot of people get nervous around goats if they haven’t been around them before, but goats are prey, not predators, and they can be scared easily,” she adds. “But for the most part they’re really gentle and sweet animals that just want to eat grass all day.”
Read more: Get to know the Nubian goat breed.
Handcrafted Benefits
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The goats at The Small Farm also contribute to the beauty line that Small produces.
“I put goat’s milk in a lot of our products along with our beeswax,” she explains. “I originally got started using goat’s milk to make soap and lotion for friends. Now I get a lot of great feedback from people struggling with eczema and dry skin, so there’s clearly some good things in there.”
A Rewarding Lifestyle
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When it comes to the joys of a farming lifestyle, Small says that she “loves what it’s doing for our kids” most of all.
“I love that they’re learning that it takes a lot of work to run it,” she explains. “We’re busy all the time with it, but there’s a great deal of rewarding feeling seeing your animals grow and improve year over year.”
Follow The Small Farm at Instagram.
