A little more about HOANBU Dairy Goats

Holly Buroker and her dad, Bill, proudly display the award banners for Premier Nubian Sire, Premier Nubian Breeder and overall Premier Breeder of Show earned at the 2011 American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) National Show in West Springfield, Mass.

If you read my livestock feature on Holly Buroker and HOANBU Dairy Goats in the December issue of Ohio’s Country Journal, you are well aware of how Buroker has built the herd from very humble beginnings into a nationally recognized herd. The name HOANBU is derived from the first two letters of each of her names — HOlly ANn BUroker — and Buroker created the name as a 4-H’er growing up on her family’s farm in Logan County.

See the story in the December issue for more details about Buroker’s efforts in the dairy goat business. In the meantime, here are some details that didn’t make the original story:

Goats eating anything is a myth

Goats are extremely picky about what they eat, well, at least her goats are, Buroker said. They may eventually eat anything, but only if you don’t offer them what they really want.

“They enjoy their alfalfa,” she said. “I’m told they’re spoiled, but it’s what they need nutrition-wise.”

Buroker’s dad, Bill Buroker, raises all the hay for her herd on his farm several miles away.

“When they start coming fresh, they get the best alfalfa we’ve got,” she said.

Aside from the hay, her milking goats are fed a custom ration made by King Feed and Supply in West Liberty that includes cracked corn, crimped oats, dairy pellets, black oil sunflower seeds, selenium, vitamins A, D and E, and yeasts.

“I’ve had that mix for several years now, and they’ve done real well on it,” Buroker said.

The kids are fed a free-choice Purina goat pellet until they are 4 months old, along with free-choice alfalfa hay. They also are hand-fed heat-treated colostrum and pasteurized milk as a precaution against spreading diseases among the herd. The primary concern is the Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE) virus, which can cause joint, breathing and udder issues in dairy goats.

“With dairy goats, it causes the udder to be really congested, hard and it won’t produce any milk,” Buroker said. “It’s kind of hard to have a dairy goat without milk.”

The virus is spread through milk from does to kids. For that reason, HOANBU kids are raised on the strict pasteurization program, despite the fact the herd has tested negative for the virus.

“After consecutive annual whole-herd negative CAE tests, we allowed kids to nurse, but soon realized that dam raised kids are far too hard to handle for a show herd,” Buroker said. “We hand-raised kids on milk from tested-negative does for a couple years.”

But the return to hand feeding led to more docile kids, and soothed Buroker’s fears of the potential to contaminate a whole group of kids by feeding milk from one doe that could have unknowingly acquired the CAE virus. That is a concern, because the test for CAE is not 100% accurate, she said.

Additionally, the HOANBU herd is now and always has been abscess-free, including CL. Being from Ohio, a TB and Brucellosis-free state, the herd also is free of those diseases. The quality herd health status is good for the goats and good for marketing when it comes time to sell some of them.

A focus on animals, not milk

This is the HOANBU first place Nubian Dairy Herd at the 2011 ADGA National Show. All four of these does are sired by the Buroker’s late, great herdsire, SGCH +*B Lakeshore-Farms Star Status EX91 EEE, who was the ADGA National Show Premier Nubian Sire in 2010 and 2011. This reflects Buroker’s philosophy of breeding champion goats, not buying champion goats.

As a show herd, Buroker’s income from the goats primarily comes from selling breeding stock and semen, and she has sold animals and semen all across the country and beyond. Some buyers come get the animals from her Logan County farm, and the rest are shipped out through the Columbus airport. It can cost up to $500 to ship a goat to California.

While show success and quality animals certainly assist in the marketing, having a 24/7 presence online at www.hoanbu.com where people can learn about her goats, their genetics and her selling terms and conditions makes a huge impact.

Her younger sister, Lisa, created the website years ago, and Buroker keeps it constantly updated.

“I have a waiting list. I have so many orders now, I don’t think I can take anymore orders for next year,” she said.

Serious buyers are asked to provide a down payment on a goat they intend to purchase. When they’ve put money down, it makes it less likely a person will back out of the sell once a goat is ready to be shipped. And maintaining a list of buyers makes things simple and orderly.

“When I have something ready, I can just sort through the list and make a call,” Buroker said. “Now I have an iphone, and I take videos of the kids and send them to buyers instead of having to set up a nice picture.”

With her free time spend focusing on showing and selling breeding stock, the marketing of the milk suffers.

“I’m a single mom with a full-time job and a heavy show schedule too,” Buroker said. “I don’t have time to do the marketing of milk. There are possibilities out there I could explore more if I had the time.”

Her nephews raise dairy beef feeders, and they start the feeders all on Buroker’s goat milk. She and her son, Drew, also enjoy drinking the milk themselves and making other dairy products from it.

“I make some mean goat-milk ice cream, so we use some of the milk in the house,” she said.

But in the past, much of it has simply had to be dumped. Thankfully, that may not be the case this year. She has made arrangements with a local pork producer who will use the milk to raise hogs and market milk-fed pork. In exchange for the milk, she will get some pork for her freezer.

When her goats start freshening in mid February, Buroker milks them twice a day. Each milking typically takes an hour to 1.5 hours. Using two platforms and a bucket milker, she is able to milk two at a time. Her goal is to eventually have a better parlor with a milk line enabling her to milk her goats from behind, instead of from the side, which would allow her to milk six at a time.

Showing has its risks

Holly’s son, Drew, is pictured here with GCH Hoanbu ADV Pixie Pinata 3*M EX90 at the 2011 National Show where he earned first place in the Intermediate 1 Showmanship class. He also won his age division in the Junior Showmanship class in 2010 at the National Show in Louisville, Ky.

Showing her goats does assist with the marketing, but Buroker also enjoys showing off her hard work and socializing with others in the dairy goat business. That’s why she travels to 10 to 12 shows each year in Ohio and beyond. The thrill of being in the show ring is what drew her to dairy goats as a youngster.

“I don’t have to have the best goat in the show ring, I just have to show what I have the best,” she said. “I love showing.”

While that passion has led to many successes, especially in the past two years, there is always more to learn.

“It’s always a state of learning and adapting and changing,” Buroker said. “So you’re never done. Nothings ever perfect. There’s always that hot new thing that people are shooting for.”

There also is a constant risk of picking up diseases that comes with traveling to shows.

“I got pinkeye at a show, and that was terrible to try to get rid of,” she said.

To minimize the risk, she tries to choose pens off the main aisle, sprays pens with disinfectant before moving in her goats and tries to have open pens between her goats and other exhibitors’ animals, when possible.

“I’ve got so much wrapped into them, you have to be careful,” she said.

She hopes the proper mix of quality and caution will one day net her a national champion milker — the one big prize she has yet to achieve.

“That would be awesome. I’ve come close these past couple years; just enough to taste it,” Buroker said. “I’ve had a junior champion, but I’d like the real deal.”

For more information about HOANBU Dairy Goats, contact 937-441-0607, hoanbu@hotmail.com or visit www.hoanbu.com.