On a warm summer afternoon, with the sounds of goats bleating, their bell’s ringing, and our kid’s pollywoggin’ (wollypogin’, as they call it) in the background, my friend Lauren shared her entrepreneurial story with me.

Lauren grew up on the Lone Star Ranch, in Humboldt County, in “God’s Country” of California. On their ranch, like many others, lay lots of berry bushes widely considered an invasive species. Coupling her desire to make an income of her own on their family ranch with her opportunistic eye, Lauren looked at those bushes as much more than an invasive species. Lauren decided to leverage goats’ browsing capabilities, meaning they’ll chow down on woody plants and shrubs, to control the berry bushes, sell goats for meat and possibly start contract grazing in the future.

Knowing there was a demand for these goats she decided to just go for it and learn as she went. She reached out to other local goat herders for advice and participated in a workshop through the UC Cooperative Extension.

She set out to find a herd of goats that were already climatized to the area and bought 100 head. Unfortunately that herd ended up having Johne's Disease, a fatal gastrointestinal disease, that resulted in Lauren having to make the really painful decision to get rid of the entire herd. Lauren had to start back at square one, looking for a hearty herd that didn’t need to be pampered or babied much. This time she got a new herd, from out of the area, that had been used for contract grazing.

The first winter they thrived but then the drought that hit much of California, also affected Humboldt County where it typically rains from early October, sometimes even September through Mid-May. That year the rain stopped at the beginning of April and didn’t return until November. There was no fall feed. The combination of poor feed and weaning the kids late because Lauren was what she called “extremely pregnant” herself resulted in the does going into winter too lean and the kids too small. That winter she lost 50% of her herd because of failure to thrive. Due to the irregular climate, her feed source would also fluctuate from warm to moist creating a breeding ground for listeria which ended up tragically infecting her does.

During those two years Lauren remembers times when she would say to herself “I don’t know if I want to do this; I have two tiny children. What am I doing?” It was then that she would remind herself of why she started. She can have success with this huge underutilized resource, “it’s just a matter of figuring it out and learning.”

Lauren had the big picture in mind and the nudge of a stubborn attitude, often telling herself “If I decided i’m going to make it work, I’m going to make it work, dammit.” She kept moving fences and feeding guard dogs with her baby boy in her backpack and her daughter trailing behind.

She ended up cutting her herd to 20 of the strongest does and brought them through the Spring, bred them all, and made it through the following Winter. Resulting in what she believes is now a hardier herd.

Her business may not be as far along as she'd anticipated, due to the setbacks her herds have experienced, but one day soon it will. In the meantime, if Lauren fumbles or flails she does it while moving forward. That's because she holds the solution to a problem and dreams of having 600 goats, moving fence full time or even contract grazing.

Lauren believes she's had two main successes in her entrepreneurial journey so far:
1. She hasn’t lost a single goat to predators, thanks to her guard dogs.
2. She hasn’t had any kidding issues; the does have done their job as mamas.

I believe there is a third, main success and that’s Lauren’s inner desire to persevere coupled with her genuine soul and positive mindset teaching us all that “You’ve just got to look on the bright side sometimes.”

Old School Modern Mama,

Melanie Satterlee's Old School Modern Mama Blog

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