Welcome to Lost Goat Ranch!
Lost Goat Ranch is a small colored angora goat fiber farm located in north central Texas, in an area some folks refer to as the “Westoplex.” We just call it “home.”
We’re still a relatively small operation, as we’re just getting started, and we plan on keeping our herd on the smallish side (although not as small as it is right now, for sure). Our homestead was established in the summer of 2018, and we got our first goats in the summer of 2019.
Our goal is to offer mohair and mohair products for sale, along with show-quality goats, and other supplies for yarn and fiber artists. So be sure to check out our Etsy shop and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and lots of pics of adorable goats!
Why Angora Goats?
When we bought our property in 2018, we did a lot of research about different types of livestock. Phillip grew up raising cattle, and is the quintessential Texas cowboy (right down to his Wranglers, y’all). Aubrey grew up in a rural area, but her experiences with livestock were randomly fleeting; chickens every now and then, about a week with bottle-fed calves, falling off a horse (that was fun), and that one time when she was a child and a goat tried to literally eat the shirt off her back. But livestock had been a dream of ours for years, and while our previous circumstances were not conducive to seeing that dream come true, in 2018 we finally moved out of the city and into the country.
That move meant we could finally get livestock, but what kind? Phillip’s heart is with cattle, but that can be a really difficult endeavor. Not to mention a money suck. We knew we wanted something that we could at least break even on (meaning they would pay for themselves in feed cost), that could help us with vegetation (the 10+ acres we bought is pretty overgrown), and that was hopefully fun.
And thus, our research led us to Angora goats.
Meet the Owners
Hi, we’re Aubrey and Phillip, the owners of Lost Goat Ranch.
Phillip’s been around livestock pretty much since he was born, considering the fact his grandfather raised cattle, he raised cattle as a kid, he showed cattle in high school, and even had a stint riding bulls in his early 20s. That was long before Aubrey and Phillip met, for which Aubrey is thankful, because the thought of Phillip on the back of a bull kind of scares the crap out of her.
Aubrey has not been around livestock her entire life. Sure, there have been brief encounters here and there with bottle-fed calves, chickens, and a goat that literally tried to eat the shirt off her back when she was a child, but that was pretty much the extent of it. Not that she’s a city girl–she grew up in a rural area–just that until Phillip most of her experiences raising animals had involved dogs.
So after being together for over ten years, Phillip and Aubrey finally have a farm and livestock. This could be fodder for a really great comedy, in Aubrey’s mind (she’s also a romance writer, which you’ll sometimes see in LGR’s social media posts).
The Rest of the Family (aka the Dogs of Lost Goat Ranch)
Finky
Finky’s job as our Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) is to protect our goats from predators. A Komondor (aka a “mop dog”), he’s a super sweet boy who loves to give us hugs and kisses, but who also loves being with his goats. Finky’s still fairly young and full of energy, but he’s an excellent guardian. While we know we have predators in the area (we frequently hear coyotes, and there have been a few mountain lion sightings since the spring of 2020), thus far Finky–with some help from Kimber–has done an amazing job guarding his goats and keeping any would-be predators at bay.
Kimber
Kimber is our house Pyr. At first she was curious about the goats but didn’t want too much to do with them . She decided as a puppy that her job was to guard the house and us, and that’s okay. Not all LGDs are cut out to actually guard livestock. As time’s gone on, though, she’s proven to be pretty good with them, if a bit aloof. She protects them because they matter to us, and she and Finky have proven to be a pretty darned good team. She’s a sweet, goofy, highly suspicious girl, and we wouldn’t want her to be any other way.
Tiny
Even though Tiny is no longer with us and is now in doggie Heaven, he’s still very much a part of our family. He was our intro to LGDs. He was our first dog after we moved in together. In many ways he was Aubrey’s soul mate dog. To not give him a place of honor on the website feels wrong, especially since he probably would have loved the goats.