Welcome to Slate Creek Farm

Lizard's Land of Milk and Honey (LOMAH).  Home of Irm's Girls herd of Mini Nubian Dairy Goats. Located on 8 wonderful acres of foothill oak-woodland in El Dorado, California; between Sacramento and Tahoe.  

 Ok, so, it was never really supposed to be a farm. It is an accidental farm; we really just wanted a few chickens and some goats; and of course a garden.  One thing lead to another and there ya have it...its a farm.

Milk

Our primary purpose for having  goats is for the milk.  But it is also important to have milk with as few "additives" as possible.  We also want our goats to be goats, not miniature cows (if I was meant to milk cows I would have 4 hands). So the girls get medicated and dewormed only when necessary; and they are encouraged to eat as much local browse as we can let them (as time & wether allows & so they do not over-browse an area). The girls are rotated thru several separate areas of native browse. Sections of the property are fenced off so they do not have access to the whole thing at once. Goats are like little kids...they will eat all the chocolate ice cream till it dies and/or before it has a chance to go to seed. Soon all ya have left is broccoli. 

The goats are housed in a rather central area of the property with a permanent pen area. From there, by opening & closing field fencing, they have access to four sections. To keep the forage as diverse and healthy as possible, we keep a close eye on how they are browsing their current area. When the time is right, we close them off from one and allow them access to a different area or keep them in the main pen until an area is "recovered" enough to browse again.    Our girls are bred, raised and selected to do well not just on purchased hay/grain/alfalfa; but to  produce milk on the California native vegetation. Yes, including Poison Oak...and it is an Old Wives Tale, but  so far have found it to be true....drink milk from goats that eat poison oak and ya no longer get that nasty itchy rash :)

And Honey  

We have two bees hives on the property.  The first few years with bees was not so good. The nucs we bought the first year made it through their first winter & then got "robbed" by the 50 or so hives my neighbor put in his cow pasture for a few months (likely from almond pollination). The nest two nucs did not make it through their first winter. We bought two more in April of 2010, and so far so good. We were even able to harvet a few frames of honey from one of them this year. 

and Chickens 

We are members of both The Miniature Goat Registry (TMGR)  & the Miniature Dairy Goat Association (MDGA)

Our Mini-Nubians can be registered with either one or both.