Citrent Ranch was established in 2017 on a small one-acre homestead in Southern California. We started with chickens and eventually branched out to ducks, goats, a turkey, and even a Guinea Fowl. In 2018, we purchased our first registered Nigerian Dwarf doeling named Lemon, and from there, we were off to the races. We continued adding to our dairy herd for a few years, and everyone thrived in the Southern California weather. Raising goats in Southern California was easy and enjoyable. Our herd thrived and grew without incident for the next three years. That's not to say that we never encountered any issues (there are still predators in SoCal!), but they were all manageable.
In 2020, we were transferred to Virginia, and we were excited at the chance to expand our property and, as a result, our herd. We went from a 1 acre, mostly dry lot in Sunny California to a ten-acre property split between woods and grasses. We had dreams of significantly reduced feed costs now that we would have so much available pasture. Now, anyone with experience with goats, especially in more humid environments, can probably guess what happened next. However, we were totally unprepared! We went from a totally parasite-free environment to an area loaded with them. Neither we nor the goats were prepared. It was such a huge change and a major learning curve that it was almost like I was starting with goats for the first time. I had to learn how to do almost everything over again. On top of major parasite problems, we had extremely mineral-deficient soils and well water that made things even worse. We spent the next three years battling barberpole worms, mineral deficiencies, and meningeal worms. Despite our best efforts, our losses those first few years were immense.
Despite all of the issues that we faced, the deeper we got into this lifestyle, the more we fell in love. We knew that we wanted to continue farming and expand our scale significantly. Finally, in 2023, we got the chance to do so. In a joint effort with family, we purchased a 225-acre farm in upstate New York. This was the real start for us. With the space and infrastructure we needed to make our dream a reality, we dove in head first. The name of this life chapter is Expansion! Not only in the amount of space that we have but in what we can produce and how we want to grow our farm. Our dreams keep getting bigger, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
We now have apple trees, abundant berry bushes, and space for huge garden plots. Producing 100% of our own food is now within reach. In addition to meeting our needs, we can help other families do the same and expand our farm business further. Our first year has been about learning about our land. What works, what doesn't. Expanding pens for our current livestock and making solid plans for adding new livestock. We hope to expand first into meat goats. Because we already have a herd of dairy goats, much of our setup is geared towards goats, which makes adding more goats an easy first step in expansion. From there, we hope to add pigs, which will be an entirely new area for us. Because of that, we are taking these next few years to learn as much as possible about raising pigs before bringing the cuties home. We have also been able to expand our poultry flocks. We have chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys, and we hope to add Guinea Fowl again soon.
We hope that you join us on this journey. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook and check back here for regular updates and posts about what's happening on the farm. We will also be posting videos and helpful articles on goat care, gardening, and fun farm happenings. Subscribe for regular updates!
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