MIDDLE LAKE, Sask. – In addition to erecting a big log home on their farm, Ryan and Guenette Bautz should have considered building a wooden ark.
It would have been an appropriate fixture on a ranch inhabited by cattle, horses, sheep, miniature ponies, pigs, laying hens, geese, llamas, cats, dogs and Saskatchewan’s only licensed goat dairy.
Yet most of the animals are there for a decidedly different purpose than Noah intended for his flock.
“We try to be self-sufficient as far as our eating,” said Guenette, who recently took a bigger role on the farm snuggled among the rolling hills in central Saskatchewan near Middle Lake.
Read Also
Research looks to control flea beetles with RNAi
A Vancouver agri-tech company wants to give canola growers another weapon in the never-ending battle against flea beetles.
In an attempt to generate extra income, the mother of four children, aged three to nine, decided to get into the goat business instead of seeking off-farm employment.
“I didn’t want to drive 30 miles to a job that didn’t cover my babysitter and gas costs,” said the self-confessed animal lover.
She entertained a number of diversified livestock ventures but settled on goats because they are child-friendly animals with well-established markets for their meat and milk.
It started out as a meat business but expanded when Guenette received her category 2 provincial dairy licence on Sept. 11, 2003, entitling her to market up to 100 litres of goat milk a day. It’s the first regulated dairy of its kind in the province.
The couple bought their dairy herd and milking equipment from an outfit in Carstairs, Alta. The small milking machine is similar to one cattle producers would take to livestock shows.
Including the construction of a 43 sq. metre barn, the whole operation set them back $32,000. Ryan said the dairy made a profit during the first year of business if the debt servicing costs are ignored.
The operation has grown rapidly, from four goats purchased from a friend in 2000 to today’s 100 Boer meat does and 60 Lamancha, Nubian and Alpine dairy does.
“You need a bunch or it’s not worth the hassle,” said Ryan, who spends most of his days attending to the 1,600 acre grain farm and 100-head cattle operation the couple co-owns with other members of Ryan’s family.
The dairy business has not been without its challenges, including meeting what they call conflicting, sometimes nonsensical provincial regulations.
Caring for a different type of livestock has also been a steep learning curve. A straightforward task like building a fence to contain the curious critters is a complicated endeavour.
“We built lots of fences, tore them down, then rebuilt,” said Ryan.
He finally discovered the answer after three attempts, using cheap economy studs to build a simple rail fence. However, he’s still struggling with the pasture boundary, where he added a couple of wires to an old cattle fence.
When the grass in the ditch looks more enticing than what is in the pasture, the goats somehow slip out, quickly scampering back to safety as soon as a car passes by on the grid road.
Contrary to popular belief, they don’t eat anything and everything in sight when they break free.
“They get used to good quality hay and then them buggers don’t want to eat anything poorer than that,” said Ryan.
Another challenge has been finding a qualified veterinarian. The local clinic in Melfort has made a good effort to learn about the animals but sometimes it has proven more beneficial to call fellow breeders to pick their brains about specific problems.
And then there’s the marketing.
The category 2 licence limits the couple to selling fluid milk on a pre-ordered basis. Each two or four L plastic jug sold has to be numbered so it can be tracked. Guenette arranges with customers to pick up their orders at farmers’ markets in Saskatoon and Humboldt.
They have 20 regular clients who drink a total of 65 L of goat milk a week. Guenette milks five does twice a day to generate that volume. She also has one dairy cow that produces another 12 L of milk a week.
The milk is stored at temperatures below 4 C in two refrigerators located in the barn. When it’s time to go to market, it is transferred to a small trailer equipped with freezers.
Guenette sells lotions and soaps made from the milk. She also sells goat and lamb meat at markets and health food stores, although she is in the process of reducing her Boer herd by 40 animals due to the shifting emphasis on the dairy side of the business.
Travelling to town to sell product isn’t her favourite part of the venture.
“It’s time consuming. I just keep hoping we can get to the point where we can step into a category 1 (licence) or hire a part-time worker.”
With a category 1 licence, she could sell milk and processed goods like cheese and yogurt directly to grocery stores. But among other improvements it would require a commercial pasteurizer, which costs more than $12,000 compared to her $600 machine.
In the meantime, Guenette will be satisfied to gradually ratchet up her volumes over the next three to five years and tend to her animals, a skill she learned as a child on her uncle Henry Koenning’s farm near Bruno, Sask.
“That’s where my passion and education of livestock came from.”
It’s a passion she is passing on to her four children.
