Welcome to Little Milkers at Weathertop Farm!
Registered Nigerian Dwarf Goats - Great milk in a little package!

 

We have some first fresheners and a buck for sale - check them out by clicking here

 

Welcome! We, Carol and Jamey Thompson, run an ecologically based farm near Albany in upstate New York.  Here we raise super awesome registered Nigerian dwarf dairy goats - just right for your backyard, your home dairy, or the show ring.  We breed for a healthy goat that thrives on pasture/browse and is a great milker with excellent conformation.  This program works just as well for the show ring as it does for the backyard dairy.  We raise our goats to provide fresh milk and cheese to our family, but in our endeavor to raise the healthiest , most productive goat we focus heavily on conformation.

• Backyard - Nigerian dwarf goats make wonderful pets, not too big, not too small and affectionate.  Think of them as hoofed dogs!
• Home Dairy - Nigerian dwarf goats produce a creamy milk that is great for cheese and drinking (kids love it!).  Nigerians easily produce 1.5 quarts of milk per day.
• Show Ring - Nigerian dwarf goats were recently recognized by the ADGA and they are starting to rack up the show wins against their bigger cousins.

Please follow the links on the left to see our goats and check out the highlights below: We have finally updated the first freshener pages with udder pictures! We also have a couple first fresheners for sale, check them out on the sales page Our newest herdsires,Chenango Hills Gil-galad *S and Dragonfly IH Tenzin *S have been busy in the barn.  So far Gil-galad's kids are all long, level, angular, and have even more dairy character than their mothers.  We couldn't be more pleased with the characteristics he has brought to our kids this year. We did not use Tenzin as extensively as we originally planned, so we will need to wait until next year to see what he brings to our herd.   Gil-galad's mother and his paternal grandmother are both top ten milkers and Tenzin's mother milked 1252 lbs in 313 days at 7 1/2 and she is an ARMCH 'E'.  We are lucky to have them and their amazing genetics.  We have created a new management guide to help the beginning goatkeeper.  If you have bought a goat from us in the past or are thinking of buying from us in the future, send an email and we will send you a copy.

some of our 2009 kids hanging out

Though showing Nigerian dwarf goats is an important way to confirm outstanding conformation, we currently do not show our goats.  Our farm works towards self-sufficiency and minimal impact on the environment, so we tend to be too busy with food production (including milk and cheese) and home-schooling our beautiful girls to devote any time to the show ring.  When our children are older this may change.  However, keeping our carbon debt at zero while driving around for shows may be completely impossible.

 

For now, we test our effectiveness with raising goats by how healthy they are, how much milk each doe is able to give, and the overall conformation of each goat.  Although we have loaded our herd with the best genetics for conformation and dairy quality, we find that herd management is just as important for the amount of milk you will get.  Feeding goats correctly with the right mineral balance, giving them a lot of exercise and open space (forested areas are ideal), and keeping them on a preventative herbal program will ensure healthy, happy, milk-rich goats.

 

Our entire herd was purchased from CAE, CL, Johne’s, TB, and brucellosis free herds.  We are proud to say that we test regularly and our herd continues to maintain the healthy nature that it started with.

Click here for a pdf copy of our 2008 testing results

 

Weathertop Farm
Registered Nigerian Dwarf Goats
Johnsonville, New York 12094
Rensselaer County

Email us: weathertop@littlemilkers.com

 

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Goat kid outline done by GriffinHillGraphics.com