Summer Young Dairy Goats was established in June 2013 in beautiful central Nova Scotia. We breed and show Toggenburg and Oberhasli dairy goats and focus on the quality of our breeding, rather than quantity. We have been raising goats since spring 2011, and now own a small herd of six, with always room to expand!

The herd is primarily grass and hay fed, with the exception of milking does. They receive 2% of their total body weight in grain everyday while lactating to keep up their vitamins and minerals. All goats have free access to Equine 100 mineral blocks and loose mineral.

We deworm all goats when needed, and every six months the whole herd receives copper boluses. Before kidding and breeding, a pregnant doe is given a selenium and vitamin E injection. Every goat kid born is raised naturally by their mother, and is absolutely not bottle fed, unless they are an orphan or for some reason cannot nurse. We believe that all goats deserve the opportunity to live like a goat and not be “humanized”. Some people believe that bottle fed goats tend to be tamer and more people-friendly, but our goat kids that are not bottle fed prove otherwise.

Our milking does are milked twice a day, close to twelve hours apart. Show does are allowed to dry off in the fall, and regular milkers that don’t leave the farm are allowed to dry off as they wean their kids. This allows the doe time to regain herself and prepare to carry her kid(s) all winter long.

Sam Smith is the owner and operator of Summer Young. She has over nine years experience with horses and about five years experience with goats, sheep, miniature donkeys, waterfowl and poultry. She has been showing dairy goats since summer 2012 and has been involved with her local 4-H club, experiencing projects such as goat, veterinary science, dairy, light horse English and western, tractor driving, photography and crafts. She was accepted to the Dalhousie University Agricultural Campus for Pre-Veterinary Medicine for fall 2016, and plans to continue her studies at the Atlantic Veterinary College to become a veterinarian and earn her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine afterward. Her future will include breeding, raising and showing Toggenburg and Oberhasli dairy goats under the name Summer Young, as well as riding and showing horses.

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