The heartbeat of the homestead

GARFIELD — When Renae and Jeremy Smith and their children take walks or mend fences along the trail that winds through their 20-acre farmstead southwest of Garfield, their 15 purebred Alpine and American Alpine dairy goats tag along. For the children, Caleb, Paisley and Sierra, buckets of goat milk and chore boots are part of everyday life while growing up on Fire Hill Farm.

“The goats follow us wherever we go,” Renae said.

Renae said she does wonder some days whether she has a goat herd built for the show circuit or the circus. Barn cameras show evidence of Shelby, the acrobat, managing to climb her way to the top of the hayloft using a step ladder on more than one occasion.

Goats are highly curious, intelligent and athletic by nature, Renae said. And living with them, Renae said she knows this well, and nothing surprises her anymore.

Off the farm, Renae works at the Lakes Area Humane Society in Alexandria. She said she enjoys sharing her skills and knowledge by helping animals find permanent families and providing routine care at the shelter. Jeremy works full time as a controls engineer at Aagard in Alexandria. On the farm, he tackles anything involving tractor work.

Each year during kidding season at Fire Hill Farm, Renae keeps the majority of the does and sells the bucks for breeding stock. She makes use of the abundance of goat milk by turning it into farmer’s cheese, shampoo bars, soaps and lotions. The Smith family also consumes milk from the goats.

“We love to gift various products to our friends and family,” Renae said. “We use the products on a daily basis, and I always have a supply of frozen milk on hand in case we ever have a doe who couldn’t feed her kid.”

Kidding season wrapped up a little later than usual this year for the Smiths. Renae said she and the children are currently milking less with the kids nursing. This year, the family did not use a buck for breeding but rather relied on XCell Genetics, a local company owned by Danni Louie, to help them A.I. their does. They successfully settled four out of seven does even after estrus, or the hormonal phase preceding ovulation in mammals, was over, Renae said.

“We were very happy with the services XCell Genetics provided,” Renae said. “Dannie shared a lot of knowledge with us, and although he said he likes a higher percentage success rate, this was an acceptable alternative given our circumstances of it being late in the season and not having any bucks on the farm.”

Each of the Smith children has daily chores on the farm. When school is in session, they rise early to complete chores before heading out to start their school days.

Summertime is nice, Renae said, because they are allowed a bit more freedom and slower mornings should they choose.

“Every morning, we are out making sure that everyone has hay,” Renae said. “Our does in milk get grain every day; … making sure that they’re getting enough calories during the milking season is really important for their overall health.”

If the goats do not consume enough calories during late pregnancy or when they are early in milk, their bodies can go into ketosis, also known as pregnancy toxemia, a severe energy deficit disorder prevalent in dairy goats, Renae said. They need to fill their rumen with plenty of vegetation, alfalfa or hay to get the calories they need. When they are pregnant, often with twins, there may not be enough space in their rumen to get all the calories they need.

Keeping the kids nursing as long as possible, Renae said, allows for a less-strict milking schedule and helps ensure the kids grow up as big and as healthy as they can.

While growing up, Renae said she always wanted horses. She decided to start small with goats once she and her husband decided to start a farm. As parents, Renae and Jeremy felt it was important to give their children the experiences and life lessons that come with raising animals, Renae said.

Renae bought the family’s goats from Sara Curtis with Saber Farms Dairy Goats. Curtis lives in southern Minnesota and raises high-quality show dairy goats. When Renae met Curtis online and began communicating with her, she quickly realized Curtis’ main mission is helping families get started in the 4-H show world. It was not long before Renae and Jeremy had arranged to go down and pick up a small herd.

“When we went down to pick up the goats, it was just a wonderful experience,” Renae said. “We toured Sara’s farm, and she showed us everything we would need to know to be successful right from the start. We were very fortunate to find a mentor like that. … It made the beginning phase of starting a dairy goat operation a huge success.”

Renae and Jeremy both went to college at North Dakota State University. They spent a few years working in southern Minnesota and Kentucky before moving back to their hometown in 2012.

“Fire Hill Farm was established and named by a then 2-year-old Caleb,” Renae said. “He named just about every part of the farm — … the forest, the pond that wraps the south side, and indeed the fire pit is at the top of the hill, so it just made sense that’s what we’d name the farm.”

Caleb, now grown up, is raising his own flock of silkie chickens. He tends to the chickens’ daily feeding and cleans the coop weekly. Renae said Caleb takes pride in the fact that they are his chickens.

Caleb, Paisley and Sierra are actively involved in managing the farm, Renae said. With the entire family’s help, the Smiths were able to fence more acres on the property and re-fence other areas. This will allow the herd more room to graze and give the Smiths the option to expand. The fence project felt big when they started, Renae said, but by chipping away at it, they were able to complete it last year.

With plenty of land, deer hunting and riding dirt bikes on their property are a few of the Smiths’ favorite family hobbies and pastimes. They also enjoy family getaways to Appleton to ride dirt bikes. Caleb and Austin, a neighbor down the road, take turns filling in for each other with farm chores if either of the families is going to be gone. Renae said that was a concern for the family when they initially decided to raise dairy goats, but she said things have worked out well.

“The kids and I also enjoy riding horseback at Blue Saddle Farms as much as we can,” Renae said. “My ultimate goal is to sneak a couple horses onto the property when Jeremy isn’t looking.”

Church involvement is important to the Smiths, as is their participation in 4-H. Showing in the fair is a highlight of the summer, Renae said. They took a pause last year from 4-H as they were dealing with a family member’s deteriorating health, she said, but the plan is to get back to showing at the fair this year.

In past years, the children have won multiple ribbons. It is a family effort to get the goats ready, Renae said.

“The fair is such a wonderful time,” Renae said. “I get to meet so many wonderful families and just people in general while working with animals … it’s an amazing network.”