2024 Sales Policy

General Information

Curbstone Valley Farm is breeding, and raising, quality Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats for dairy production, and show.

No goats will be sold to homes that do not currently own goats, unless more than one goat is purchased. We highly recommend purchasing a minimum of 2 goats, as it smooths their transition to their new homes. Goats are herd animals, and highly social creatures, and require the companionship of other goats for both their physical, and psychological, well-being. Note that wethers (castrated males) can make excellent companions for other goats.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our goats, are curious about starting a small herd of your own, or wondering if goats are right for you. Goats aren’t right for everyone, but we’re happy to discuss your needs, concerns, or desires when it comes to selecting a goat that’s right for you.

Our commitment to our animals does not end when one of our goats leave the farm. We are always here to help answer any questions you may have about goat care, husbandry, behavior, and welfare, and always enjoy receiving updates on how our animals are doing in their new homes.

Reservations and Purchasing

Reservations are no longer accepted. Contact us to be placed on an interest list. After kids are born, if you are notified that your kid of interest is available, you have 24 hours to place a 50% hold deposit. Adults, aged one year and older also require a 50% deposit to hold. If a deposit is not received within 24 hours, we will move on to the next person on the interest list for that animal. An animal is NOT considered to be reserved until a deposit has been received. 

Curbstone Valley Farm may terminate a reservation or sale for any reason, with full refund of deposit or purchase price.

Curbstone Valley farm always reserves the right to retain ANY kid, or KIDS, doe or buck, from any breeding that is listed on a kidding schedule.

Wait list priority will ALWAYS be given to homes that show, and/or actively participate in DHIR performance programs. Future intent to participate in show/DHIR does NOT qualify, as too many quality animals have already disappeared into “well-intentioned” homes that simply don’t follow through.

A goat will not be held, or considered to be reserved, until a deposit has been received. If you want to reserve a goat of interest, you MUST submit a deposit. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Placing a deposit on that kid is a commitment to purchasing that kid. If you change your mind, and elect not to proceed with your purchase, for any reason, your deposit will be forfeited to cover the time and cost of locating a new buyer.

Travel arrangements for all purchased kids MUST be made within 2 weeks of official notification that your reserved kid(s) is available, unless other arrangements are made, or you risk forfeiting the opportunity to make future purchases from the Farm. WE WILL NOT HOLD KIDS INDEFINITELY WHILE YOU DECIDE HOW TO GET THEM HOME, OR WHERE TO PUT THEM!!! Failure to arrange transport of your kid(s) within 14 days from notification, may result in cancellation of the sale, forfeit of your deposit, and the kid(s) in question WILL be listed for resale. If a kid cannot be transported within 14 days, boarding may be arranged, at our discretion, at $5 per day.

We reserve the right to retain a kid(s) for any reason, at any time. If we elect to retain a kid from a breeding with a deposit already placed, your deposit will be immediately refunded, in full, or transferred to another available kid, buyer’s choice.

All animals MUST be paid for IN FULL, BEFORE leaving the farm. If paying by PayPal, or Check, your payment must clear BEFORE picking up your goat(s) from the farm! If we make arrangements to deliver your kid to a show we are attending, and the kid is not paid for before we depart for a show, the kid WILL NOT be transported. 

Please notify us 24 hours in advance if you cannot pick up your animal from the farm as arranged. Failure to arrive on the agreed upon day of pick up, without notice, will result in the immediate forfeiting of your deposit, and the animal WILL be re-listed for sale.

Discounts

Curbstone Valley Farm does NOT offer discounts for 4H, FFA, or multi-animal purchase discounts. However, credits may be earned. We strongly believe in the quality of our stock, and invest a tremendous amount of resources in our herd. Although we do encourage youth to participate in the rearing of dairy animals, as without youth, there is no future for livestock, and we are happy to mentor youth, the reality is that raising quality, productive, and healthy dairy goats is not without expense. The cost of living, and associated costs of raising livestock far exceeds the purchase price of any animal listed for sale on our site.

Insisting we deduct $25 or $50 from the price of an animal will only make us question how well that animal will be cared for once it leaves the farm, and the welfare of any animal sold from this farm is our utmost priority. 

However, to encourage our buyers to invest in, and strive to breed for, quality dairy stock, if you purchase a registered dairy goat from Curbstone Valley Farm, and participate in an official registry-sanctioned production program, through ADGA, AGS, or NDGA, you may earn a one-time credit of your purchase price for each animal (wethers excepted) that has either:

1) Proof of earning a milk star ($50) through ADGA/AGS/NDGA, either through the completion of a standard 305-day DHIR milk test program, or an official one-day milk test (does only). Proof can be provided either through ADGA’s online reporting service, a copy of the revised registration papers, or a copy of the doe’s star certificate.

and/or

2) Proof of participation in ADGA’s linear appraisal program ($50) (this includes bucks, and kids). A copy of ADGA’s linear appraisal score sheet for the animal purchased from us must be provided to qualify for the refund.

3) Champion wins ($25-$100). Any animal, doe or buck, that earns a restricted, or unrestricted, Grand Champion leg at a registry sanctioned show, may earn a $25 credit per each leg earned, up to a maximum of 3 legs earned. Any animal that finishes their Permanent Championship, with ADGA or AGS, will earn a total of $100 ($25 for each leg, plus a $25 PC credit).

Dams are vaccinated during the last month of pregnancy for CD&T. Kids sold over one month of age will also be vaccinated. All kids over 3 weeks of age are raised on a coccidiosis prevention protocol.

Registration

Our own breeding does and bucks are registered with the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA), and the American Goat Society (AGS), unless noted otherwise. All doelings, and intact bucklings sold from the farm, will be registered with ADGA before leaving the farm, and the buyer is responsible for paying registration and transfer fees at the time of sale.  Registration with other registries, including AGS, is optional, at the discretion of the buyer, and applications for registration for AGS will be provided to buyers upon request.

Breeding

For biosecurity reasons, we do NOT offer outside buck service, driveway breeding, or buck leases. NO EXCEPTIONS.

If you would like to bring our herd genetics into your own herd, please see this season’s kidding schedule, or sales pages for available bucks and does.

No bucks will be sold from first fresheners. To maintain the reputations of both our own herd, and the herds we have sourced breeding animals from, all bucks born to first freshening does in the Curbstone Valley herd will be wethered, unless retained to the herd. Any buck that does not meet our standards for breeding will also be wethered, regardless of the parity of the doe, OR PEDIGREE! If we wouldn’t breed him, neither should you!

We run a very busy farm, and effective May 1, 2020 we can no longer offer breeding of purchased adult does prior to pickup. Breeding prior to transport stress, and the stress of adjusting to a new home, environment, and routine, will frequently thwart an early pregnancy. It is recommended that for breeding purchased does, that buyers invest in a quality buck for the future of their breeding program.

Our breeding emphasis is on dairy type with a priority for sound conformation, and then production. As such, we do not breed specifically for cosmetic characteristics, including being polled, having blue eyes, wattles, or moon spots, as none of these traits serve to enhance the true dairy quality of our goats. Accordingly, we do NOT accept any requests for kids on the condition they are polled, blue-eyed, have wattles, moon spots, or rainbow-colored unicorn horns.

We will always strive for correctness in conformation, milk production, ease of milking, and overall disposition. As dairy does are handled at least twice a day, every day, temperament is also very important to us.

We feel strongly enough about the correlation between early wethering, and the incidence of urethral obstruction, that NO MALES we designate to be sold as wethers will be castrated earlier than 4 months of age. We don’t do this to be difficult, but we feel it is necessary for the welfare of our animals over their lifetime.

This means that wethers will not be released from the farm until after they are weaned at 16 weeks.

Delayed castration is NOT a guarantee against future obstruction, but may significantly decrease the risk of obstruction over the lifetime of your wether, when paired with good managment, and we are happy to advise all wether purchasers in regards to diet, and general management.

We do, however, also understand that it is important that young animals are afforded an opportunity to bond with their new owners. On a case by case basis, we may release a young buckling as a bottle buckling to a client on the condition that animal is returned at the appropriate age, to us, for castration. If this is of interest to you, please contact us for details.

, Transportation

Air Shipping

All kids are bottle raised. Doelings and bucklings may travel from 4-6 weeks of age.

We no longer routinely ship animals by air, and prefer farm-pickup, or ground transportation, especially during the heat of summer. However, for pre-approved buyers that need to air ship, we can potentially ship animals by air from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), or Regan National, Washington, DC (DCA). We recommend that buyers contact the airlines directly for quotes to determine pricing, and flight feasibility, from Dulles before deciding on air transportation. Please check with us BEFORE finalizing any travel arrangements to ensure we can get your kid to the airport for your chosen flight!

Note that due to our location, and primary kidding season schedule (March-May), that temperatures are, more often than not, too warm to ship kids by air. No leg of the trip may have ambient air temperatures above 85 degrees. Consider the restrictions on air travel before placing a reservation. During warmer months, ground transportation via a livestock transporter (we highly recommend Dave Thomas with Nigerian Dwarf Express Transportation), may be your best option if you cannot pick up your animal yourself.

This is a full-time working farm, and we simply do not have time to make travel arrangements on your behalf. If you want your kid(s) transported, YOU are responsible for arranging their travel before the kids are 10 weeks of age, but we are happy to help you, and make recommendations for transporters we trust! Choose your transporters wisely. If we know they are scammers, or have a reputation for poor service, we will not allow our animals to travel with them.

We recommend contacting us first if you are interested in flying kids, and then contacting American Airlines Cargo, or Delta Cargo, for shipping quotes, and weight/age/crate size restrictions PRIOR TO PLACING A RESERVATION! To minimize travel stress, we recommend scheduling direct flights to the nearest major airport whenever possible.

As is customary, ALL shipping costs are the responsibility of the buyer. This includes the cost of the flight, health certificates, or other required health testing, and crates.

We recommend shipping a crate to us, especially if you have access to a free shipping service such as Amazon Prime, or you may pay us to purchase a crate for you.

There is an additional charge of $75 to cover the cost of fuel to transport animals to the airport.

Note that all fees must be received by the date the animal is scheduled to travel. We will not transport animals to the airport on the scheduled travel date if that animal is not paid for in full! NO EXCEPTIONS.

Ground Transport/Third Party Pickup

If you choose to use a third party, including a friend, or request for us to meet with a livestock transporter, we are not responsible for what happens to that animal once it leaves our farm. Please ensure that you are using a REPUTABLE HAULER prior to scheduling a pickup, and consider all biosecurity risks associated with using livestock haulers.

We are happy to make recommendations for transporters that we have had positive experiences with. Curbstone Valley Farm reserves the right to cancel transport if we feel the transporter may jeopardize the health or welfare of the animal(s) involved.

Transport to Shows

To save on shipping costs, or travel time, we may be able to accommodate delivering a kid(s) to any regular show that we attend during the year. See the Sales page for possible show drop-off locations in 2023.

Please contact us to determine availability for show deliveries, as we have very limited space for animals that we are not taking to show, and it may require that we leave one of our own animals home. If you fail to arrive and collect your animal from a show, your animal will be re-listed for sale, and deposits will NOT be refunded.

Health Certificates

For goats being transported out of state, Veterinary Health Certificates will be provided at cost. Our farm Veterinarian currently charges $130 for a field call, and $65 per animal examined for transport, due to the distance traveled to reach the farm. As much as we would like to minimize these fees, Curbstone Valley Farm has no control over the cost of obtaining health certificates. If purchasing multiple animals at the same time, only a single field call fee will apply to all animals requiring certificates, but each animal will still incur its own cost for the physical exam, and the actual cost of the certificate. We will, however, work with you to keep costs to an absolute minimum, and try to combine multiple animals into a CVI visit to minimize expenses.

It is the buyer’s responsibility to check with their local department of agriculture, or county agricultural extension agent, to determine if their state has requirements for specific blood tests, or cultures, prior to travel, and to allow sufficient time for testing to be completed when arranging transport. Some health testing may take at least a week, sometimes more, and CVI’s cannot be issued until testing is complete, so please consider that when making transport arrangements.

Guarantees

Curbstone Valley Farm abides by the ADGA Recommended Trade Practices for Members (ADGA Guidebook, Bylaws, Article XIX).

Animals sold from Curbstone Valley Farm are a reflection on our herd, and herd name.  As such, all goats sold as show quality animals will be guaranteed to be free from physical defects, or genetic faults, that would disqualify them from the show ring.

We will always strive to keep our goats at or below the maximum height standards put forth by ADGA, and AGS. However, we do not guarantee that any given kid will not go over height as an adult, as numerous factors can influence the final height of adults. We make no guarantee that does, or bucks, will mature at or below the minimum height standard for NDGA.