Nell and Ron Dent never really planned to raise goats, it just sort of happened. It all started when a friend who had leased the Dent’s six acres to raise his goats asked if Nell would be interested in bottle-feeding a set of orphaned twin does.
“That is how we got started,” giggled Nell. “I just fell in love with them. After that I said we need more goats and we need a guardian dog.” That was 2006, now they have a herd of around 20 Boer goats.
Nell and Ron are the owners of Plentywood Boer Goat farm in Bentonville, Ark. They raise registered Boer goats. The farm consists of six acres some of it pasture some of it wooded. Ron works full time for Carroll Electric and Nell does the looking after and caring of the goats during the day along with Jack, their Great Pyrenees.
Ron was born in Rogers and raised in Seligman, Mo. He has more or less been in the Rogers-Bentonville area his whole life. Nell was born in Wyandotte, Okla., and she admits raising goats might be in her D.N.A.; her mother raised milk goats when she was growing up.
The Dent’s enjoy raising goats. They both like working outside and staying busy. Raising and selling the goats has also allowed them to meet many people. “It can get interesting around here in the spring after the does have their kids,” said Ron “Sometimes we’ll have cars parked on the side of the road with people watching the kids play.”
Nell and Ron face the same challenges with the weather that most all farmers do. In 2008, one doe had her last kid just a few weeks before the terrible ice storm we all remember. This is one of the reasons the Dent’s prefer to breed in October. Since Goats have a five month gestation period, this ensures the kids will be born in March when the weather is better. “It’s a good time, said Nell. “It’s not long till the pasture comes on and the weather is getting better.”
Nell said the biggest challenge she has is finding good quality hay in small bales that the goats will eat. Their farm is not set up to feed the round bales and a lot of the hay they get has too much Bermuda grass in it.
The Dent’s also feed the goats a diet of 16 percent protein pellet most of the year. They quit feeding the does the pellets once the kids are weaned to decrease the milk production. Nell also likes to add a little baking soda every now and then to the goats diet to help with their digestion.
The Dent’s sell their goats for a variety of uses and at different locations. They sell some in Diamond, Mo., and Centerton, Ark., but they get the majority of sales from their website and word of mouth. They have also sold to people just passing by their farm. They sell the goats for meat, starter and replacement does and to FFA and 4H kids for show. Nell and Ron spend a good amount of time with the goats and are proud of how gentle and easy to handle they are. This makes them exceptionally good for kids using them to show. “They’re not quite leash broke,” laughed Ron.
