Twillingate Farm>

 Twillingate Farm is an example of “Old time” Yankee independence. Our original goal was merely to raise healthy food for our family while enjoying a high quality of life together. We began in 1983 with a small herd of registered Nubian goats. Over the years, and many farm animals later, our goals evolved into an ecologically self sustaining resource providing hands-on farming experience and education to our grandchildren and the local community in addition to "organically grown" produce, meats and dairy products for our neighbors and family members. Community involvement includes free cheese making and soap making classes along with farm tours and animal husbandry mentoring. As active members of New Hampshire’s Small and Beginner Farmers, we frequently host workshops conducted by our County Conservation District, UNH or SBFNH members, demonstrating various farming skills.

 Since, in the past we were value enhancing our goat milk, we raised and bred goats of various breeds to capitalize upon the inherent advantages of each breed. For example, Toggenburgs provide milk with perfect characteristics for flavorful cheese though they are considered a medium sized breed, whereas Saanens are the largest and greatest producers, boasting a minimum of 3.2% fat and 2.7% protein. However, we began our adventure with Nubians and have since returned to our “roots” as strictly a dairy, building a brand new herd of Purebred Nubian goats.

 Many people ask why we’d choose to be tied down to our farm responsibilities since the immediate and continued care for both mother and offspring can include intervention during the birthing process as well as the obvious need to rescue pasture born kids. We separate the youngsters at birth and commit to upwards of 12 weeks of bottle feedings (3 to 4 times per day) to allow closer monitoring of individual health and progress. There's shots, worming, dis-budding, milking, pasteurizing and, of course, sanitation to deal with during this period, so life gets exciting. The answer is…