Sales and Reservations

Philosophy: Our breeding goal at Lofty Hearth is to produce animals that combine dairy capacity, show and conformation potential, optimal health and parasite resistance. We don't feel any of these things have to come at the expense of the others. Secondarily, we prioritize breeding for loving personalities, maternal instincts and strong hooves.

Pricing and Registration: Prices for kids out of our registered animals include all fees related to their ADGA registration and transfer. Intact bucklings purchased from us will have DNA tested by UC Davis and put on file with ADGA at our expense. However, note that just because a buckling may be born to your chosen dam, it doesn’t mean we will definitely sell him as a herd sire. If your reserved buckling is born and we feel he will not serve as adequate breeding stock for any reason, we will offer you a replacement animal or a refund. (Our very sporadically available wethers or does who are designated as "pet quality" do not include registration fees.) We offer discounts for 4H participants and if you are purchasing animals in pairs. Discounts or cash reimbursements of up to $100 per animal are available if you enroll our animals on DHIA milk test and/or earn distinctions for them in ADGA-sanctioned shows.

Deposits: We require a $100 deposit per animal to hold kids who are due in the upcoming breeding season. This deposit is nonrefundable unless Lofty Hearth is unable to deliver the animal you selected (although you can choose to roll your deposit over to the subsequent breeding season OR apply it to another currently available animal). In the case of AI breedings, if the AI breeding doesn't settle, we will contact you to let you know your selected doe is being live covered by one of our bucks and you can decide whether you are happy with the new pairing, or would prefer a different animal or a refund. The outstanding balance on your animals is due immediately when the animal is picked up or delivered. Deposits and balances can be paid via cash, Venmo, Paypal Friends and Family, or personal check.

Health and Performance Guarantees: We test our entire herd yearly (plus whenever an animal is added) for CAE, CL, and Johne’s disease. Because of the unreliability of blood tests for CL, we will additionally certify that we have never had a CL abscess (nor a positive test) on our farm and we maintain very strict biosecurity and quarantine protocols here to ensure it stays that way. The herd was last tested for all communicable disease in March 2024 and we have no history of any communicable disease in any of our animals. Our tests are conducted via WADDL or Cornell via our vets and available for view at any time. We maintain extremely strict biosecurity protocols and we take our animals’ health very seriously, but we still recommend that you quarantine your new animals when they arrive at your home. We guarantee our animals are free of communicable disease or observable defects when they leave our farm, however we are not responsible if the animal later tests positive for any communicable disease after spending time on other farms. We cannot guarantee final height, conformation, show, milk test or appraisal performance of animals born here, but we can assure you that we won’t sell you an animal if we deem them to be subpar for any reason. In addition, we are fully responsible if an animal you purchase later shows up with an obvious genetic defect that we somehow missed (such as a supernumerary teat). In the unlikely event that this occurs, please notify us ASAP and you will be eligible for a replacement animal. Lastly, note that we have never had a case of carpal hyperextension in any of our Nigerian Dwarfs, but given the current lack of research and ability to genetically screen kids for this defect, we would consider this a replaceable condition if it later arose in an animal you purchased from us and was confirmed with X-rays from a knowledgeable veterinarian.

Support and Mentorship Guarantee: We love to support new goat owners and are available to you for any management and husbandry questions you may have, not just at the time of your purchase but at any time in the future. We will never turn down emails, texts, questions, or requests for assistance and advice from anyone who has ever purchased an animal from us, even if that is 10 years in the future.

Husbandry and Care Policy: We will not sell single goats to a home without other goats. Goats cannot live as single animals and they need at least one goat companion (and ideally two)! If you are just starting your herd, we will give you a discount on bringing in multiple animals. You'll also need a vet. If you don't already have one, we recommend forming a relationship with a large animal veterinarian before bringing any goats to your farm. If you are in New England, we may be able to make recommendations for trusted vets in your area - just ask.
Pre-Pickup and Pickup: All non-polled kids are disbudded professionally by our vet (using pain management) unless you specifically request otherwise when reserving a kid. Reserving a horned kid requires full payment in advance and availability is not guaranteed, as horns will exclude the animal from ADGA performance programs. We prefer to keep kids until they are almost ready to be weaned, and we split their raising between dam and bottle. If you prefer a bottle kid, or a kid raised on a strict CAE prevention program with pasteurized milk, your kid will need to be picked up earlier. If they are still on a bottle, they will be eating goat’s milk (and/or cow’s milk if you notify us that you don’t have access to goat’s milk at home). They will have started nibbling hay and browse with the herd. They will have received their initial CDT vaccine if they are picked up when they are older than 6 weeks. We use a combination of dam and human raising here to ensure kids have a strong start and good socialization with people, goats, and the livestock guardian llama. Arrangements for your desired age of pickup need to be made in advance as kidding season is a super busy time for all of us!

Transportation: You must visit our farm to pick up your goat or use an animal transportation service. We’re happy to work with transport services, but we don’t ship by air. We’re located near the town of Chester, Vermont. We typically don’t deliver, but we might be able to meet you partway if you have an exceptionally lengthy drive.

Buy-Back Policy: If you disperse your herd or decide to sell an animal purchased from us for any reason, please let us know so that we have the opportunity to discuss buying that animal back from you. While of course we can't force buyers to do this, we ask it of you as a courtesy and it's a way to be a good neighbor in the goat community.