Welcome to the Boer Goat Corrals at S & A Farms on the "Black Rock" barrens in Western Indiana
Well, Hello there. In case you're wondering, we're the Dahnkes. We've been messing around with livestock for over 40 years, and raising Boer goats for 14 years on our farm here in Indiana. Yep, you're right. That makes some of us pretty darned old.
We're members of the American Goat Federation, ABGA (American Boer Goat Association), lifetime members of the USBGA (U.S. Boer Goat Association), and membes of the Indiana Boer Goat Classic and IMGA (Illinois Meat Goat Association).
Before the Boer goats, we raised and exhibited registered Hampshire sheep and were known for the corrrect body conformation and consistency in our stock. You've most likely seen Steve and Nate out and about in the showring at many of the midwest shows. Steve's the tall "graybeard" guy in bibs.
We sell breeding stock, show stock and meat goat wethers. Our main goal is to raise goats that are productive, consistent, competitive, and pretty with good Boer breed character. Because we have a business in town, our does must be able to kid on their own and raise their kids without a lot of assistance. We've found our Boers to be wonderful animals who have individual personalities and who can be very bossy with other goats, and us.
When we started our goat operation, we focused on the percentage does, in part because they were a stream-lined, beautiful animal while the fullbloods tended to be stockier and bigger fronted. Having a lot of experience with livestock, we knew what those big fronts could do to a kidding season.
When we were looking for our first bucks we decided to go with what we believed were "tried and true" bloodlines. Well, as "tried and true" as we could find in an industry in its infant stages in the U.S. So we purchased bucks that had already been used at least 1 season by someone else whose program we respected. We started with RDR Bias who was sired by Ryals N342, and two Downen bucks, K-204 who was Pipeline's twin brother, and P-132 who was a Pipeline/Dello son, and a Bodacious buck.
We took these bucks and put them on does we had purchased from Gail Christian, Mike Kelly, Valton Suddreth, and the Sisters II. We got lucky - all these crosses worked and we ended up with a core group of 200 percentage does that we blended with the does we purchased for our breeding program. Through the years, we've continued to buy the best does we could find to add to this group, going back to these initial breeders as well as adding both percentage and fullblood does from Erby Chandler, Farmers Stock Exchange, Charles Turner, Marvin Shurley and Paul Payne.
In the past five years we have only purchased a few does, and almost no fullblood does. We have found we can make our own purbreds that can compete anywhere, and we've had several grand champions in full blood shows. We currently are running around 400 breeding does in our program. Of these, around 40 are full blood Boer does and 340 are percentage does.
While there are ennoblements in the pedigrees of almost all of our breeding stock somewhere, we've only recently begun chasing ennoblement points - and we limit that to our bucks. Several of our customers have ennobled does out of our bloodlines.
All of our meat goat wethers are available for sale beginning with our All Star Sale in the early Spring. Visitors are welcome to come to the farm to evaluate our offering beginning the 1st of March each year. Buyers can leave mail bids or arrange to place phone bids if they cannot attend the sale. We also consign a select group of wethers to the Wethermania Sale on March 24th in Greenfield, Indiana.
The All Star Sale has produced many winners, including the 2009 Illinois State Fair Grand Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 Indiana State Fair Grand Champions in addition to many other state fair, county fair and jackpot show champions and class winners over the years. To see updated show results through the year click on the Sale of All Stars banner on the left.
The 2012 All Star Sale was be held on Sunday, April 1. The high selling wether came from S&A Farms and sold for $3,400.00 to an Indiana exhibitor. Thornridge Boer Goats had next high selling wether that went to Texas for $2,200.00.
2008 All Star Wether - Grand Champion Indiana State Fair.
2007 All Star Wether - Grand Champion Indiana State Fair.
The first wethers we sell in 2012 will be consigned to WetherMania which is being held Saturday, March 24 at the fairgrounds in Greenfield, Indiana. We will also offer a young show doe at this sale.
The bulk of our wethers will be sold at our All Star Sale on April 1. All of our wethers that we offer will be competitive. Anyone wanting to preview the wethers is welcome to call and set up a time to come visit.
We will be offering does and a group of wethers for sale at the Tri State Boer Genetics Spring Sale in Greensburg, Indiana on April 14 this year. Pictures will be posted the end of March.
We consign bred does, and an occasional buck to the Tri-States Boer Genetics Fall Sale, which is held in September. Information about our consignments are posted on the Goats for Sale page a couple of weeks prior to the sale.
We consign to the Headliner Sale held in September at Greenfield, Indiana. Information about those consignments is also posted on the Goats for Sale page.
We have breeding stock available for sale at our farm - pictures of current offerings are on the Goats for Sale Page. We open our farm to visitors who are welcome throughout the year, except when we are kidding. We are usually available evenings and weekends - if you want to talk to us, please feel free to give us a jingle.
For information on our consignments to sales and stock we have for sale off the farm, go to: GOATS FOR SALE
S & A Farms Champion Bloodlines Percentage and Full Blood Boer Goats Steve & Anita Dahnke 3387 N 1100 E Otterbein IN 47970 Phone: (765) 497-3342 [9-6 Monday thru Saturday] (765) 583-1228 [evenings and Sundays) Email: boergoats@snafarms.com
