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Donkers Goat Farm
On Monday (Family Day) the family and I headed out to Southwold (between London and St. Thomas) to visit Donkers' Goat Farm.
Ed Donkers is the cousin of Rick Cornellisen from Eco-Logic Nursery (see my previous post here). He recently started selling his cousin's goat cheese and I was told that he offered farm tours so I had to go and check out his farm. Here's a picture of my daughter and her friend checking out some of the goats in the barn when we had first arrived. Many of the goats seen here were pregnant or had just delivered their babies (kids).  The farm was pretty incredible. With 1200 goats on site it was definitely a site to see. Goats, goats and more goats. The first thing I noticed, however, (after all of the goats) was how clean everything seemed to be. There was no foul stench and no manure to be seen anywhere. The goats themselves were extremely well taken care of too. I was really impressed. Actually, speaking about manure... In addition to milking, Ed farms his 265 acres of land and uses the manure to fertilize it. That's being self-sufficient!The second thing I noticed -- these weren't typical petting zoo goats. These goats were super friendly and loved getting some attention. When any of us were in the pen they just surrounded us and wanted to be petted, cuddled and played with. It was like being surrounded by a bunch of playful dogs. In fact, one goat named 'Princess' was jumping and running around just like a dog would. My daughter and her friend thought it was so fun to be in there with them; it gave them lots of giggles for the afternoon.
The milking process was interesting. The goats just knew what they are supposed to do. They went down the line, turned around and positioned themselves for the milking. A couple of minutes later it was done and they moved off for the next round of goats. Ed had 750 milking goats right now and is able to milk about 375 of them in an hour. Come Spring the pen space will be doubled and he hopes to be milking about 1100 to 1200 goats by this time next year  And where does the milk go? As a member of the Ontario Dairy Goat Cooperative his milk is supplied to Woolwich Cheese (see: www.woolwichdairy.com) to be used in their soft goat cheeses. They've also recently bought out Mornington Cheese so there will be more products containing their milk soon! Hard cheeses like marble and aged cheddar are also available and can be purchased through Rick and his Eco-Logic Nursery. I've had both and they're delicious. Also in the works is some ice cream and a drinkable yogurt called 'Kix'. Similar to 'Yop' the drinkable yogurt will contain actual goats milk and real fruit; as opposed to milk ingredients, artificial flavors and other sweeteners. Nice!Being able to visit the farm and to see the milking process made me appreciate where my food comes from even more than before. How much money do you think was spent for these machines? For the bales of hay? For the employees? For the upkeep of the farm? There's a lot of effort, time, and money being put out by the farmers who's job it is to feed the rest of us. Even more reason why we should ensure that our dollars are going straight to the farmer and not to the billion-dollar corporation. Does the CEO of a company wake up at 4:30 in the morning to milk his goats? No, the farmer does! And what does a farmer like Ed do in his spare time? He's a single father of 1 daughter and 2 sons. They love 4-wheeling and snowmobiling and believe it or not, Ed's also a ballroom dance instructor in St. Thomas!! Where does he find the time? If you're interested in visiting the farm send Ed an email at eddfl@live.com. 
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February and March are 'kidding' season at the farm. He wasn't 'kidding' either (pardon the pun). In the days previous they had delivered 90 baby goats (kids). Here's my husband holding one of the newest kids.
And then there's a picture of me with the babies too. These ones were a bit older. Note one of them chewing on my coat's hood. Yup, they loved taking nibbles on our pants and coats. 
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