Sales Terms, Info and Contact
Prices
Adult animals are priced according to their production records, linear appraisal scores and pedigree. Kids are priced are priced based on the generational performance they have to offer.
Reservations
If you would like to place a reservation, please email us. We do not require a deposit to make a reservation. Once a reservation has been made, you will be contacted when the kids are born. You will have 5 days to decide if you want to purchase the kid. At that time, a $100 deposit must be received within 7 days and will be required to hold the kid. The kid will then be able to be picked up no later than 10 to 12 weeks of age. If the kid is not picked up by 13 weeks without prior notice, the deposit will be kept by us and the kid will be for sale again.
Deposits
For sales of adult goats, we require half the sales price as a deposit to hold the goat. The adult goat must be picked up within 30 days. After 30 days a boarding fee of $2.00 per day will apply. If after 45 days the goat is still not picked up by the buyer the goat will be placed back up for sale and buyer will lose deposit.
With kids or adults, once a deposit is received, it is non-refundable. Bannerfield Farm reserves the right to keep the kid or the adult. In that case, the deposit will be refunded.
Payment
The remaining balance must be paid in full before the goat leaves the premises. This includes the cost of the animal, any potential transportation fees and boarding fees if any, and any health certificate fees, if required. While we do accept checks for deposits as they have time to clear, we will not accept checks at time of pick up.
We guarantee our goats to be physically sound and healthy and free from disqualifying faults at time of sale.
There are many environmental factors that remain out of our control after the animal leaves our farm that can affect the animal's health and soundness. Therefore, we cannot offer any guarantees after the animal leaves our farm. All sales are final. Please ask if you have any questions pertaining to our sales policy.
Thoughts on purchasing from Bannerfield Farm
We are committed to breeding PERFORMING dairy animals. We don't breed pets, although some of our animals may end up being pet quality and are sold as such. There is nothing wrong with being a pet breeder, but that is not who we are and our time and effort to breed and prove dairy animals is generally evident in the animals we produce and also, in the cost of purchasing an animal from us.
We don't breed for color or blue eyes--as color doesn't milk. We love colorful goats, just like anyone else, but that is only icing on the cake. Colorful, blue-eyed goats can milk--but again, we don't breed for that. We also regularly butcher our culls. One dairy goat friend said our slogan should be, "We don't sell our culls, we eat them." --and quite honestly, that is true. When purchasing a goat from us, you can know that our animals are milked year round--twice a day almost exclusively. We remain on performance programs. SHOWING is not a performance measure--thus why you will not see showing under performance programs in ADGA. While we do show and are always happy and proud to get a leg on an animal--it does not prove their performance and so showing is not a focus for us. We have been doing performance programs for years---we are not a herd that just started breeding and proving our animals. Too many folks out there buy a few goats and call themselves breeders. We define a breeder as one that breeds to improve the breed. Simply putting two reproductively active animals together is not breeding, its nature. Sadly, one of the biggest challenges facing the Nigerian Dwarf as a dairy animal is that it IS cute, small, and typically colorful---which leads to more pet breeders than those committed to true dairy animals.
We are always happy to teach customers how to use the ADGA genetics website--to read linear appraisal scores and understand a DHIR record. Our animals are dairy goats--and we do our very best to put quality dairy animals into the hands of our customers. No herd puts out perfect animals 100% of the time--so educate yourself on the performance measures and learn how to raise and care for dairy animals properly. Performance is just as dependent on management as it is pedigree. We don't hype our animals, we don't brag on the accomplishments of their great-grandparents, and we don't call our bucks proven unless they have daughters with milk stars. What you get with Bannerfield Farm is honesty and openness. We hope to place dairy animals in the hands of folks who want real milk in the fridge and animals that can perform for the long-haul. We are still learning and growing--thank you for considering us!
We don't breed for color or blue eyes--as color doesn't milk. We love colorful goats, just like anyone else, but that is only icing on the cake. Colorful, blue-eyed goats can milk--but again, we don't breed for that. We also regularly butcher our culls. One dairy goat friend said our slogan should be, "We don't sell our culls, we eat them." --and quite honestly, that is true. When purchasing a goat from us, you can know that our animals are milked year round--twice a day almost exclusively. We remain on performance programs. SHOWING is not a performance measure--thus why you will not see showing under performance programs in ADGA. While we do show and are always happy and proud to get a leg on an animal--it does not prove their performance and so showing is not a focus for us. We have been doing performance programs for years---we are not a herd that just started breeding and proving our animals. Too many folks out there buy a few goats and call themselves breeders. We define a breeder as one that breeds to improve the breed. Simply putting two reproductively active animals together is not breeding, its nature. Sadly, one of the biggest challenges facing the Nigerian Dwarf as a dairy animal is that it IS cute, small, and typically colorful---which leads to more pet breeders than those committed to true dairy animals.
We are always happy to teach customers how to use the ADGA genetics website--to read linear appraisal scores and understand a DHIR record. Our animals are dairy goats--and we do our very best to put quality dairy animals into the hands of our customers. No herd puts out perfect animals 100% of the time--so educate yourself on the performance measures and learn how to raise and care for dairy animals properly. Performance is just as dependent on management as it is pedigree. We don't hype our animals, we don't brag on the accomplishments of their great-grandparents, and we don't call our bucks proven unless they have daughters with milk stars. What you get with Bannerfield Farm is honesty and openness. We hope to place dairy animals in the hands of folks who want real milk in the fridge and animals that can perform for the long-haul. We are still learning and growing--thank you for considering us!
Who we are....
While our blog may give folks some insight as to "who" Bannerfield Farm is--I figured that a little more information might be nice. The goat world truly has no bounds now that the internet exists and so knowing your farmer is a hard thing to do. Bannerfield Farm is a family farm. Everyone in our 7 person family is active in the farm--down to our youngest, who is currently 3--who often bottle feeds and offers cookies to the milkers after they have done their jobs on the stand. The "I" in all the text on this site is me, Angel Cole, LVT---the wife and mother of the family. I am engineer by training and trade, but turned that hat in to return to school to be a licensed veterinary technician. I was the only large animal technician in my class, working as an equine anesthetist at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, VA all during school. I have extensive background in large animal medicine, but my last practice was a feline-only practice--I love cats. I am the wife of the man that makes this farm possible--Mark Cole. He is an engineer by training and trade as well and is our primary milker. He also has the very best eye for true dairy form and keeps me straight when my heart speaks more loudly than my head in terms of culling and selling. He makes all plans happen--from funding new goat purchases, to filling the semen tank to putting up fence and making barn repairs---his hands are dirty every day with the running of the farm while working full time for a technology corporation. He also loves riding his Harley Davidson Heritage Softail. He and I ride as we get time and love seeing the countryside on the open road.
We have five children--four sons and one daughter. Our oldest had his own herd for a few years, Cole's Estate---and he bought and bred some of the finest animals we have had here. But, college has called him away. Our 12 year old is also very active in chores and hopes to have his own herd in time. The rest of our family is young, ages 8, 7 and 4 at this writing--and they are generally by our sides when work needs to be done. They are also the "socializers" of all goat kids..because who can resist loving on a goat kid?
This farm exists first and foremost to put healthy, whole goat's milk in our fridge for drinking, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. Our herd is here for us to enjoy. But the by-product of breeding an improved animal for one's own use is extra kids and adult animals that need to move on. We need to keep our herd small. And thus, we offer our animals for the public's consideration.
Again--thanks for getting to know us. We're happy to share our love of the Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat with you!
We have five children--four sons and one daughter. Our oldest had his own herd for a few years, Cole's Estate---and he bought and bred some of the finest animals we have had here. But, college has called him away. Our 12 year old is also very active in chores and hopes to have his own herd in time. The rest of our family is young, ages 8, 7 and 4 at this writing--and they are generally by our sides when work needs to be done. They are also the "socializers" of all goat kids..because who can resist loving on a goat kid?
This farm exists first and foremost to put healthy, whole goat's milk in our fridge for drinking, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. Our herd is here for us to enjoy. But the by-product of breeding an improved animal for one's own use is extra kids and adult animals that need to move on. We need to keep our herd small. And thus, we offer our animals for the public's consideration.
Again--thanks for getting to know us. We're happy to share our love of the Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat with you!
