It's Time To Vote! - Kinder Goat Breeders Association

By now, most KGBA members should have received their ballots in the mail, and we encourage you to vote!

Two current Board members have decided not to run for another year due to their many other responsibilities and commitments. Lisa Lamm, Lisa Naumann and Carla Durham have been incredibly positive, dedicated members of the board and have contributed immensely to the ongoing success of our association. Thank you, Ladies – we will miss you!

Luckily, we have some outstanding new candidates running for open positions on the board. Below are brief bios on each candidate. I encourage you to read them and get to know a bit about all of us.

Sue Beck (President):

Like many of you, I decided I wanted Kinder Goats long before I saw one. In fact – I owned my first Kinder long before I saw one!

After buying two doelings and waiting (forever) for them to reach breeding age, it was love at first sight when I finally met them. There is no doubt in my mind that Kinders are the best goats in the world, and I’ve made it my goal to make sure that everyone else knows it, too!

I believe the KGBA board has a great responsibility to our members and their goats, and take my position as president very seriously. During my term on the board, we have increased member communication via social media, newsletters, our blog and an updated website. We have increased exposure of our goats through online sources, promotional packets, new informational packets and new brochures that are also available to our members for distribution. We have decreased paperwork turnover and email response time, but recognize it as an ongoing challenge and continue to look for areas of improvement.

I thank our members for giving me the chance to serve for the last three years, and will work hard to ensure the continued growth and success of our wonderful association if elected in 2015.

Ashley Kennedy (Vice President):

I started with my first goats in 2002, I fell in love with a friend’s Kinders and I had to get some of my own. I became a member of the KGBA shortly after. I’ve previously served on the board as Vice President in 2010. I adore everything about this versatile breed, and I love helping people in their own journey with Kinders.

Jean Jajan (Secretary):

I am Jean Jajan of Gray J Ranch Kinders

I have been on the KBGA board for the past 5 ½ years. I live in Grants Pass, OR and have been raising goat for over fourteen years. I started with Pygmys, Nubians and Boers and decided to literally downsize my herd about 9 years ago and sold my Boers and began breeding Kinders.

I have been active in many other goat activities as an officer in the Southern Oregon Pygmy Goat club and the board of the Oregon Meat Goat Producers

The Kinder breed needs to be promoted more actively. We need to raise awareness of the breed as a medium size dual purpose homestead goat. This means not only promoting it as great little milker but as a meat provider also.

I have been working hard to do this and to encourage the breeding of a meaty Kinder with a good udder and good milk production that follows the breed standards and characteristics established when the association was formed. I would like to help the association continue in its goals even though I am no longer actively breeding Kinders.

Lisa LaRose (Treasurer):

Hello. My name is Lisa LaRose and I live in Southern Illinois on a small hobby farm we named Kinder Korner. I have been married to Mark for 23 years and have one daughter. I just finished my Master’s degree in nursing administration and my area of work is emergency medicine.

My daughter Kelsee and I share our Kinder herd. We have had Kinders for 7 years and a few mixed pet goats before that. We fell in love with goats when Kelsee was a teen. We researched what would be the best option for us and we settled on Kinders, and have never looked back. It took us over a year to get our first one but we were hooked on her sweet disposition and awesome personality. We grew in quality and quantity since then.

I love making goat’s milk soap and love the opportunity to produce our own food. Our farm is available for visits, and I love nothing better than to discuss Kinders and show them off. I look forward to promoting this amazing breed. Our goats have moved to many states, even as far as Pennsylvania. I am also proud to say we even have some of our Kinder goats at the St. Louis Zoo. The children’s zoo curator is so happy with them she just contacted me to ask permission to refer our breed to other zoos.

I look forward to starting more herds in this area and would like to assist with promoting Kinder shows. Kelsee and I are discussing a plan to host a Kinder show in our area and encourage other breeders to do the same.

I would be proud to serve on the KGBA board to promote Kinders.

Brenda Lee Shelt (Member at Large):

My happiness revolves around my husband and our little homestead. Working together to make our farm, just that, our farm. Kinders added to our already growing critter crew in a way that both amazed us, and made us laugh with their antics.

This wonderful, dual purpose power house of a goat, is the reason we became so vocal in our campaign to promote them. Watching the KGBA from the outside, we saw ways we could be of help and get involved. Always looking to improve our herd, we thought we could help the KGBA as well. Finding ways to upgrade and improve the forms for everyone was a first step. I advocate working together, open communication with members, and the constant reminder that there is one thing we all have in common – WE LOVE OUR KINDERS!

As a KGBA Member-at-Large, I want to take a look at where we are, dream and have a part in where we’re going, and find more ways to bring Kinders into the spot light.

While nominations are now closed, all members are still welcome to run if they so choose by simply announcing their intent to run and asking their supporters to add them as a write in candidate on the appropriate line. Please take this opportunity to support your association and voice your opinions – we welcome anonymous notes with your ballots and will read and consider them at a future board meeting.
Thank you all for you participation!

Disclaimer: The opinions, views, and thoughts expressed by newsletter and blog contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Kinder® Goat Breeders Association. Goat husbandry advice found in the newsletter and blog is not meant to substitute a valid veterinary relationship. Please request permission to share or reprint newsletter and blog posts.