Our Interview with Regenerative Farmers of America

This past month we had the pleasure of being interviewed by Lauren Lovejoy from Regenerative Farmers of America and got the opportunity to share more about our journey with raising meat goats.

There was a lot of ground to cover, both literally and figuratively, but our conversation centered around our grazing methods and decisions, fencing, being a direct-to-consumer farm and moving to e-commerce.

Our Rotational Grazing Journey

Being able to utilize the land to its maximum benefit through rotational grazing has helped us financially so we don’t have to bring in outside feed and helps improve the land for both our farming practices and the ecosystem it hosts. Ultimately though, we are still on this journey as we continue in our work to build a resilient herd, improve our rotational grazing methods and stay nimble. It’s all about learning by doing and adapting when necessary.

Our Fencing 

You’ve probably heard the saying that if water can get through a fence, a goat can get through. Though that may be a bit of an exaggeration, good fencing is an essential element of keeping goats. 

Choosing to raise goats we knew that having a good perimeter fence that was high enough to keep predators out and was reinforced enough to keep our goats and livestock guardian dogs in would be a must. Luckily we were able to get a grant as part of what’s called EQIP funding in order to have high quality perimeter fencing installed for us, instead of by us. This gave us peace of mind and allowed us to budget our time on other projects.

Selling Directly to our Customers

Before starting to raise meat goats, it was important for us to consider our customer base. We happen to have a diverse population in our area that consumes goats as a meat source, so we knew that we could provide value. Beyond just our immediate area, we knew that there was a hole in the market nationwide for domestically raised goat meat, as it’s most often imported from Australia. Though there was a tangible demand, it was still important for us to market ourselves and connect on a deeper level with our potential customers.

For that reason, we decided to offer ready to use cuts of meat, set ourselves up for on-farm sales/pickups as well as establish an in-house packaging center for nationwide orders so that our products come directly from us to you. We’re also proud to offer transparency in our practices and take you along for the journey across our social media channels, website, and email newsletters.

Moving to E-Commerce

Moving to an e-commerce site has been our biggest game changer.

You might remember that we used to have online forms you could fill out when you wanted to place an order. I knew that making the purchasing process easier was paramount.

Since making the switch to e-commerce as well as streamlining our order fulfillment process, we’ve noticed a significant increase in our sales. I really believe this is due in large part to the ease of ordering direct from a farmer that our website now provides.

For more, watch the full interview below:

You can also check out my new post on my Grazing with Leslie blog.