My wife, Linda, and I spent a couple of years looking for a small place close to San Angelo.  We finally found what we were looking for in January, 1992 and named our place the Antelope Creek Ranch.  This 200 acre spread was just about all we could take care of, or afford for that matter.  It had running water in Antelope Creek that ran through the place, a tank that was full of water and held a few catfish and a connection to the rural water system.  What more could a person want?  We spent the first six months cleaning the place up and mending fences.  After several months of back breaking work, we finally bought a small tractor with a front-end loader that made our work much easier.

     Our first animals was a herd of 17 Beefmaster cows and calves.  By the time we culled the wild ones, we were down to three cows.  In May, 1992, for Linda's birthday, I bought a jenny donkey,  which will probably die on the place.  We had decided to try raising some goats by that time and thought that we needed a donkey to guard the goats.  A very good rancher friend of ours helped us get started in the goat business by giving us 4 doe kids and a buck kid.  We kept them in the compound around the house for a month and when we turned them out, we didn't see them again for over two months.

     I became fascinated reading about the Boer goat that began coming to the United States in 1993.  I didn't have the money to afford a $50,000 goat, so I decided to put a small herd of white goats with red heads together and grow my own half blood Boer herd.  The prices for half blood Boer bucks at the time were still around $1000 and a Boer bred Spanish doe was bringing over $2500.  I traded for a couple of red headed does and bought a dozen doe kids that were white with red heads from the auction in Junction, Texas.  I paid $42 a head for the doe kids which was a pretty high price considering you could buy a Spanish doe kid for about $10 at the time.

     I joined the American Meat Goat Association and put the AMGA sign on my front gate.  I never thought that anyone would drive by my place and see my goats (The ranch is on Highway 208 about 2 miles south of Robert Lee, Texas) but that's what happened.  Buster Kennedy, one of the major players in the Boer goat business in the beginning, called me on the phone and asked me if I would be interested in a partnership where he would furnish the Boer buck and I would furnish the Spanish does and the work, and we would split the kids.  Since half blood kids were selling for about $1500 at the time, this seemed like the opportunity for both of us to make a considerable amount of money.  I pulled my trailer to Buster's to pick up a pure blood Boer buck and much to my surprise, Buster sent 3 bucks home with me.  At the time, these 3 bucks were worth over $110,000. 

     For the first year that I had Boer goats, I attended every field day within 200 miles of San Angelo, as well as going to an artificial insemination school in Kerrville and reading everything that I could get my hands on about goats and goat raising.  I also visited with anyone that would talk to me about goats and I learned a wealth of information from several "old timers" in the business.

     As my herd grew I began to chronicle my experiences with my goats and the doctoring that I did on them to keep them well.  Each time that someone would buy a goat from me I would give them a 3-page sheet on "goat medicine".  One day I was visiting with a lady that worked for Ranch Magazine and we got around to discussing goats.  It turned out that she also raised Boer goats and I offered to send her a copy of my "goat medicine sheet".  A couple of days later she called me and offered to print the information contained on these sheets in Ranch Magazine. As a result of this article, my phone starting ringing off the wall and it became apparent that there was a need for a type of "Dear Abby" column on goats where people could write or call in their questions about goat raising.  I visited with Scott Campbell, the publisher of Ranch and Rural Living Magazine, and we worked out an arrangement for me to write a more or less regular article on raising goats.  We called the column "Goat Tips from a Rabbit Twister".  This column has gotten a great response from people across the country and I have really met a lot of nice people as a result of these efforts.

     The goat business and particularly the Boer goat business, has been one of the most satisfying endeavors that I have ever gotten involved with.  I hate to go to bed at night and I can't wait to get up in the morning.  After all, what is life about anyway?  I can't imagine having a more rewarding life or having more fun than I am having right now and my goats are making it possible.  If you haven't tried petting a goat lately... give it a try.  You might be surprised how much good it will do for you.