Hops N Lops Farm
Nubian, Saanen and LaMancha Dairy Goats in Harwinton, CT
Located in the hills of Litchfield County, Connecticut we raise a competitive herd of Nubian, Saanen and LaMancha dairy goats. With a focus in performance programs including milk test and linear appraisal we also show our herd regularly both locally and at ADGA National Shows. Our goal is to breed structurally correct, productive, hardy animals that can fit into a commercial dairy, show herd or be a valuable backyard milker.
Like many others, my dairy goat journey started in 4-H in 2009 after purchasing a Nubian doe. A few years later in 2011 we added our first Saanen doe who was registered native on appearance only due to some missing paperwork. While Nubians and Saanens are our primary breeds, when we moved to Harwinton in 2017 we decided to add a LaMancha doe which founded our small Lamancha project.
We pride ourselves on being very active in ADGA performance programs. We will this data is vital to our herd improvement and giving perspective buyers a glimpse of our animals if they are unable to see the herd in person. We have been participating in linear appraisal annually since 2014 and have been enrolled in standard milk test since 2017. Our herd has been successful with having animals consistently appraise with excellent scores over several generations, and do well on milk test including having been on the ADGA Top Ten list and have won production awards at ADGA National Shows. Our animals are also DNA typed, casein typed and all incoming Nubians are G-6-S tested to ensure our herd remains entirely G-6-S normal.
I believe breeding hardy animals is extremely important, so while our herd receive excellent care I prefer to breed for animals that can produce extremely well on quality second-cut hay and 17-20% protein feeds. Our herd is vaccinated annually for CD&T and we do bi-annual supplements of our breeding stock to make up for what our area is lacking in. They also have access to minerals, fresh water and pasture.
We freshen most of our herd in January through April of each year, in addition to a few younger animals freshening in May and June. We attend all kiddings and remove kids at birth to raise them on traditional prevention methods to ensure we remain a Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis free herd. Our kids are raised using coccidiosis prevention methods for the first few weeks as well as being on medication grain. All of our kids receive plenty of attention daily to make very friendly, easy to work with kids. Due to being on bottles, kids are able to leave for their new homes early which we feel helps with their transition into a new herd be less stressful.
We offer a select group of doe, buck and wether kids for sale each year. While we typically have a few that become available after birth, we strongly encourage anyone interested in place a reservation on animals they may be interested in kids from. This ensures you a spot in line for when a kid from that animal becomes available. For more information regarding reservations or purchasing a kid from us, please visit our for sale page.
American Dairy Goat Association
American LaMancha Breeders Association
Connecticut Dairy Goat Association
Harwinton Agricultural Society
International Nubian Breeders Association
Progressive Dairy Goat Club
While daily care of the herd involves the entire family, the herd is owned and managed by Grace Toy. The herd started as Grace's 4-H project in 2006 with one guinea pig, then after leasing and showing dairy cows she has the opportunity to own purchase a dairy goat which started the herd. Since then, she has had not only involvement with 4-H but was an active FFA member as well as member and officer of many local and national associations. In 2015 she obtained both an ADGA judging license and an ARBA registrar license, and she has been very active with both associations since. We have also had the opportunity to have animals in films, television and even on Broadway and the highlights of these projects can be found on our media page.
While the website is frequently being updated, we also post regular updates to our Facebook page. I also encourage anyone with questions or inquires to feel free to reach out. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
