NOTE: Due to serious health issues we need to liquidate our herd ASAP.  Please see the Does, Bucks, and Kids & Youngsters pages for more info.

Ballylara has the finest of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat herds!  Our herd was founded in 2013 after a long search for the perfect foundation does and bucks with the right coloration, milking characteristics, temperament, and conformation.    We chose Nigerian Dwarfs due to their miniature size, the fact that their milk has the highest butterfat content of any dairy goat breed in the US, and that they make the perfect pets too!

Our pairings have resulted in many blue-eyed, perfect babies!  Our does are super-moms and are excellent on the milking stand.  Our bucks are sweet puppy dogs that also know how to get their job done :-).

We have a closed herd that was veterinarian tested and certified (via drawn blood) in 2014, 2016, and 2017 for Caprine Arthrities Encephalitis Virus (CAE), Caseous Lymphadentitis, Johne’s, Bruscellosis, and TB.  All tests were negative.

After much debate and anguish, in the fall of 2017 we began showing for the first time.  Showing pretty much negates all of the disease testing we have done for our closed herd, so we will be fully retesting the herd in December 2017 for CAE, CL and Johne’s to maintain our “disease tested status” for our buyers (we are in a Bruscellosis and TB-free state).  At shows we tarp the floor and pen sides to prevent any nose-to-nose contact with other goats at the show, bring our own bedding, hay and water, and put up signage to discourage any passer-byes from touching our goats.

Our goats are registered in “the” Nigerian Dwarf registry… the AGS (American Goat Society).  AGS was the first organization to register purebred goats exclusively. Unlike some other goat registries, the AGS does not allow goats to achieve purebred status by breeding and thus does not offer any registration for mixed-breeds, experimental breeds, or non-pedigreed ‘grade’ goats.  We also now register our goats with the ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) which has the most active show schedule. Because of their AGS & ADGA registrations, our goats may also be registered with the NDGA (Nigerian Dairy Goat Association) depending on where you want to show your goat.

New in 2018 will be milk testing via the national DHIR program, Linear Appraisals (ADGA), and Classifications (AGS).  We are truly excited to to be participating in these programs!

Our herd has been fed certified Organic goat feed when available, and are on organic pasture that has never been sprayed with chemicals or synthetic fertilizer. We carefully source our hay to be non-GMO and untreated with pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

All kids are disbudded by a veterinarian under sedation, microchipped, and tattooed. We do not believe in on-farm breeder disbudding due to the tremendous stress and pain it puts the babies through. The kid prices include these vet services and the microchip paperwork for you to register the babies as your own (there is no additional charge to register the microchip).  The microchip is an acceptable alternative for registrations with AGS but not ADGA which requires tattooing.  Please let us know if you do not want your baby tattooed.

Nigerian Dwarfs are dairy goats – not meat goats – and we will not sell to a meat buyer as these are also our pets.    Also, goats can die without a companion…. so we will not sell to anyone that does not have a playmate in place for the goat.  Who can have just one of these characters anyway?!? 🙂