We began raising Cashmere goats in 1999 after searching for a type of livestock that would be relatively easy to manage as well as produce a marketable product. We started small purchasing two does and a champion buck “Beethoven” who’s sire and dam were of the first Australian goats to be imported into the USA. We have grown to 8-10 breeding does and have added additional quality bloodlines to the herd. Our family is active in the Eastern Cashmere Association (ECA), serving on the Board of Directors, and participate each fall in the Virginia State Fair Cashmere Goat Show and Fleece Competition, serving as superintendent as well as showing animals. We believe it is important to have our animals’ cashmere evaluated for quality as well as having the animal evaluated for conformation characteristics by an accredited Cashmere Goat judge.

We recently added Olde English Southdown “Babydoll” Sheep to our fiber group after falling in love with their adorable faces at a local festival. Again we started small by purchasing a bred ewe and ram that are somewhat unique to Babydolls in that they routinely produce spotted lambs. We are concentrating our breeding program to intensify the spots and have since purchased other stock that have some form of spotting indicating that they carry the spotted gene. We are currently breeding ten ewes and two unrelated rams.

We raise goats and sheep and rent out land for cattle as a source of farm income, but alas, it doesn’t pay all the bills. For added fun, Chuck has a background in business and owns a remodeling and a plumbing business. Lisa has a background in animal science and reproductive physiology and works part time as a scientist at a Biotechnology company. Both children help with the farm chores after they attend school and various other activities ---which never seems to give them enough time for those chores! We have a menagerie of other animals at Silver Branch including horses, pot-bellied pigs, chickens, peacocks, and 4 dogs. We welcome visitors and have become an annual field trip stop for the local kindergarten class.