About All Flesh is Grass
All Flesh Is Grass farm was a diversified family farm, consisting of 21 acres near Interstate 75 of Calhoun, GA.
Located between Atlanta, GA and Chattanooga, TN, our house sits on a hill with views of the foothills of the Appalachian mountains.
Started in March 2011 by Mom, All Flesh is Grass found its path with the intention to surprise (then) our little 9 years girl for her birthday by buying her first goats. Pa came up with the idea of goats for milk and for "pet" since we didn't want to get involved with horses yet.
After getting a set of "big goats" it wasn't long before we had our first Nigerian Dwarves from Wanda Clark in Commerce, GA. With both Velvet and Trix pregnant as first fresheners for our debut, and their kids on their way while Mom was having her 7th child due at the same time as the goats (or about), it wasn't long before we were hooked on goats.
We tried different breeds and ended up keeping Nigerians as their size is considerably smaller (max height for does is 22 12″ and bucks 23 1/2″).
They are easy for anyone to handle, young and old alike. They also require less space and can be housed even in large dog kennels. They are not only friendly but also can be trained as pets. Nigerian Dwarves come in an infinite range of patterns and coat colors which makes them aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and speaking of eyes, some of them also have blue eyes!
They produce a reasonable amount of rich healthy milk and it's delicious to drink. Although the amount of milk is less than the larger goats such as Alpines, Lamanchas, Sanaans or else, we have noticed that when we make cheese that the yield of it is more impressive for the amount of milk.
We are satisfied with them as they are easy all around to care for.
We have since 2011 improved our herd and we have started Linear Appraisal in 2015, with the hope to follow with DHI (Dairy Herd Improvement) the following year.
Since the goats we've had chicken broilers, had guineas, had ducks, added two jersey cows, added dogs, had heritage hogs, horses, geese and lambs.
We garden/farm using sustainable practices without artificial chemicals on the land. We also always seek the most organic ways to feed our animals, as whatever they eat is what end up in our bodies as well.
We seek ways to feed our animals with what we call "greens", may it be vegetables, plants, weeds, herbs and sprouts while providing salt from the sea (unrefined, unaltered, same salt that we eat as well). We use organic Kelp for ourselves and our animals and plants/soil as we found it helpful to restore the anemic ground. We work hard at finding ways to soak our grains or find NON-GMO feeds as well.
We are NOT diversified any longer as we had a house fire in 2014 which created a lot of losses, not only in our house but also around and managing our farm was very much impossible to keep up with. So we sold all animals but kept a dog we saved, one hen that escaped being sold, Abigail's horse while three of them left, one cat stayed and of course our goats.
We have never recouped fully from the loss of the fire and the trauma that followed with it.
The renovation has been slow and a painful process. Dealing with our insurance, their vendors and the load of protocols, papers and phone conversations has made our life much more difficult to say the least.
Abigail is now taking slowly but surely over and managing the pedigree lines as she strives to improve continuously. The Linear Appraisal was fine and DHIR is next to happen.
We are looking forward to see what will be.
Abigail is aiming for conformation and hardiness in the goats while breeding for fabulous milk production.
The whole family, (11 of us) partake into helping out a way or another through website, pedigree processor, farm infrastructure, accounting, feeding, caring for, data entry, and so forth.
Here's a picture of us 5 days after baby Shalom-Eliyah was born at home, our 8th child, a whooping 10 pounds and 12 ounces!
This was 2014, and another baby, 11 pounds, "Lilie-Rayne" was welcomed in 2016. The family needs another picture which will come perhaps in a year or two... (if you have a large family, you relate.).