Shipping goats to Massachusetts!

Last fall I had a buyer in Massachusetts named Leanne who contacted me wanting to buy 6 goats, 3 from the fall season and 3 from the 2020 Spring season. I told her I was more than happy to sell her the goats but that she would have to arrange the transportation since I knew nothing about how to go about that. At first I was somewhat apprehensive about the whole deal, having heard some real horror stories on goat groups - goats getting “ lost” (stolen), not being properly taken care of and even dying. I’ve wanted to buy goats from out of state myself but was just too nervous about the idea to look into it. But this brave woman was up to the challenge so I decided to go for it! She told me she had hired Brian from Blarney Heights Farm Transportation. Finally I checked out their website and FB page and realized that these guys seemed to be very professional and above board, DOT licensed, and to come highly recommended by a lot of people. Later Leanne told me that she had already had some goats shipped by Brian from other breeders and that everything had gone really well. I started to relax a little!

Two of the goats Leanne purchased were Nigerian Dwarf kids so they had wait until they were weaned in early January before they could go. The other was a pregnant Nigerian Dwarf doe. There were tattoos and official USDA 840 microchips for Scrapie ID to be done by me since goats can’t be shipped out of state without them. Boy was I ever glad I had gone to the trouble to register with this mandatory USDA program and get my Flock and Premise ID’s when I started breeding goats! Health certificates were also required and a blood test for brucellosis for the doe. All of that was handled excellently by Dr Schmitt at King’s Veterinary Services in Lemoore and his excellent receptionist, Faye, who made all the calls to the Massachusetts state veterinarian to make sure the goats were in compliance with their laws when they arrived.

Finally the day came and my son and number one goat wrangler, Noah, and I took the three goats to the meeting place at Harris Ranch. Brian was very nice, extremely professional and his rig is amazing! I’ve had horses transported many times but never goats, so I was very impressed with how he had things set up to accommodate smaller animals. They had very secure stalls so that each person’s animals were in their own pen with food, water and fresh bedding. I knew my babies were in good hands! Brian and Leanne kept me informed of how the goats were doing along the way and they arrived safe and sound in Massachusetts about a week or so later. It may have been a bit of culture shock for them, going from California to Massachusetts in January, but they did great! Leanne had goat coats and a nice, warm barn waiting for them, and luckily the weather was unseasonably mild that week.

I couldn’t imagine a better experience. I know the next set of three goats (two Mini Nubians and a Nigerian Dwarf) that will be going to Leanne in a few months will do great. And what’s more, I’m now shopping for breeding stock across the country that Brian can bring to me! That will be a dream come true because there are a lot of nice goats out there that REALLY need to be in my barn, but up until now I didn’t know of anyone I would trust to transport them to me. Now all I have to worry about is finding them!