Our farm started with two kinds of cattle: Scottish Highlands and Texas Longhorns. We chose these breeds because of their browsing nature. They could bulk up on many different varieties of forage, including the briars and brush covering our property. The farm-to-be was an old logging property that was clear-cut about 10 years prior to our purchase of it. Our first massive task was to convert the less palatable forage into prime pasture. The Scottish Highlands and Texas Longhorns would be great at this.
The other animals acquired early-on to help us with this task were meat goats known as Kikos. The breed was chosen for its parasite resistance and brush clearing ability. They, too, could grow strong on the less-than-desirable forage available and could help turn over the soil to be more palatable pasture in the future. Our thoughts were that we could sell the Kikos for meat as they did this. Meat from goats is popular in major urban centers with a variety of ethnic groups. We happen to be located near one of the largest sale barn distributors of goat and sheep in the country, which could provide us with a stable market as we started out. Our kids named all of the goats after foods – strawberry, blueberry, and one spicy salsa b/c she was feisty.