My name is Tyler Moff and I am 18 years old. My hometown is Berlin Center, Ohio. I have shown in the Canfield Fair Junior Fair Kinder Goat Show for 7 years and the 2016 Northeast Ohio Kinder Goat Show. I have owned Kinder Goats my whole life, and my parents have owned and bred Kinder Goats for over 25 years at Rustic Acres Farm.
I got my start in Kinder Goats at the age of 12. I really did not have interest in the goats until there was a little black Kinder Goat kid born. Mom said she not been named yet, and on the condition that I would show her, I could name her. When I picked her up, I knew she was my goat and named her Honeydew. She was the start of my interest in the Kinder Goats. Currently, I have 5 kinder goats at Rustic Acres farm that I can call my own. Their names are Dorothy, Dezi, Amethyst, Athena, and Honeydew. Amethyst and Athena are both first generation Kinders. After I started with Honeydew, a local breeder brought 2 Registered Nubians to a clinic and I begged my mom to see if they were for sale. I was the owner of Ayres and Alexis by the end of the day. By the time Alexis was ready to breed, I decided to start my own first generation Kinders.
My favorite memories of working with my goats are the times I would work with them, so we could do well in showmanship. Soon we moved on to packing, which I enjoyed the most. I also have many great memories of just hanging out with my goats on our farm.
I have had many Kinder mentors. One of my special mentors is my mom. She taught me things about goats that I may have never learned otherwise. Both my dad and mom have been dedicated to continually improving the Kinder Goat as a breed, and the goats have truly become a part of our family. My favorite thing about Kinder Goats is their versatility. They have many purposes and are generally flexible when it comes to their benefits. I would like to improve my herd by continuing with the body structure and bone of my first generations and continue improving their qualities through 5th generation. If I can keep the grey agouti tri-color all the way through, that would be a bonus. At Rustic Acres, my parents’ farm, we usually use kinder goats for milk, have also made cheese, ice cream, yogurt but if necessary we can use our kinder goats for meat.
I hope to own kinder goats as an adult, but it depends on where I end up living after college, and what I end up doing. If I had to give advice to youth thinking about raising kinder goats, I would advise them to find a goat from a breeder they can trust. Look for a goat that fits the breed characteristics, but that they also get along with. Spend plenty of time with their goat. If your goat learns to trust you, then it will perform well in a show ring, and will be friendly when you visit it in the barnyard. Then you can train it to perform in classes such as packing to add in more fun.