Goats…Goats…Goats

Finally, I have a minute to sit down and talk about the goat ministry that is coming alive in the community of La Cumbre.  I will be honest, I have tried to stay calm about this ministry and not talk and get too wild about it, but honestly, I just can’t keep quiet any longer!!  I am so excited at how God is moving with this ministry and I can not wait to see it continue and come alive!! 

Here is where I first talked about the vision for a goat ministry.  If you are interested in going back and reading, click here.

There has been lots of research this year on how to get quality goats in the Dominican.  Many dead ends, lots of calls and no answers and a couple of calls with a Spanish speaking person answering the phone with me having no way to communicate with them.  But finally, I made contact with someone in the DR that could answer my questions and help me!  Paul & Linda are missionaries that moved from the states and began a goat farm near Santo Domingo in 1986.   Not only do they have a very successful goat farm, but also have started a school there in their community.  

   

We took eight members from the community of La Cumbre along with five members from our mission group and Daniel who is over World Servants, whom we partner with and his daughter to a day of “goat schooling”.  Linda laid out the importance of beginning a goat project for the right reasons, the hard work of making it successful and the importance of a co-op mentality.  

After some class room time, we hit the farm to learn about the forage and amounts needed to sustain the goats during lactation and also get up-close and personal with these very friendly and curious creatures!  I was so encouraged by the photos above and the interaction that was happening, all the way down to some note taking…very promising! 

So why was this day so important??  Because there were certain criteria that we felt would need to be met before we could move on.  The concern was when the goats were not lactating that they would be eaten. These alpines are massive, much bigger than many goats that they are used to seeing.  So we were so encouraged to have two men that wanted this project to succeed, so the goats would have the protection they needed from others in the community that might not understand the nutritional  importance of the milk these goats will provide.

    

For now I am going to leave this post at this.  There is so much for me to tell you, so stayed tuned for more!!

Also, I am asking for prayer for our family and some decisions that we are seeking.  I want to share more, but for now, I need to wait.  Thanks so much my wonderful blogging friends!