Courtney Kaeb loves to “talk goats.”
Kaeb, her husband Ethan and their four offspring have 26 of them on their Aumsville farm and are expecting a new crop of kids to add to the herd.
“Our first estimated due date for our goats is Christmas Eve!” Kaeb said. “So, we could be getting some baby goats for Christmas!”
The Kaebs grew up with animals – Ethan with Boer goats and a couple cows, and Courtney with horses, pigs, and a variety of other farm animals. They married in 2016, and started their menagerie with a pair of dogs, horses, potbelly pigs and of course, goats.
“We now have three dogs, two horses, and handful of barn cats, two potbelly pigs, three turkeys, ten ducks and 26 dairy goats,” Courtney Kaeb said. “We’ve always had a passion for animals and being outside.”
Courtney Kaeb traded being a Certified Nurse Assistant for becoming a stay-at-home mom after their first baby arrived. Her hubby worked for a farmer in Harrisburg before working for his father who owns Kaeb Custom Builders.
The couple also loves being able to produce their own food.
“We have a massive garden every summer, and I spend most summer days canning and freezing produce from our garden,” Kaeb said. “We have raised and butchered chickens and turkeys, and, of course, utilize our goats milk for drinking, soap making and making cheese.
“It started as wanting to have some farm animals to raise and has turned into wanting to be a little more self sufficient and give our family as much homegrown food as possible,” she added. “It would be a dream to be able to make a living from all of this so my husband could stay home with us, and we could farm and raise our babies together full time.”
About a year after their marriage, they started breeding goats with two unregistered Nigerian Dwarf goats.
“One wether [castrated male] and one doe,” Kaeb said. “We then added a buck to breed our doe. We enjoyed that and so did our children. We loved having something to do together as a family. After doing some research, we decided to grow our herd and switch over to raising American Dairy Goat Association registered Nigerian Dwarf Goats.”
The whole family is involved in the running of the farm.
“Last kidding season, it was me and all the kiddos in the barn watching/assisting goats in labor while my husband was at work,” Kaeb said. “I had my three daughters – Addielynn, 6, Caroline, 5, and Ella, 3 – running around the barn and my son, Bowie, 1, in a backpack carrier on my back. The kids are down in the barn every single day with my husband and me. They’re helping to gather eggs, feed the dogs, feed the ducks, catch goats, hold goats, locking goats onto the milk stand for milking, feeding the goats on the milk stand their grain, feeding the barn cats, you name it!”
Kaeb added her husband plays “a huge role in making all of this craziness happen! He is the fixer, builder, and heavy lifter! He builds all of our hay feeders making them as waste free as possible. He is down there bright and early with me bottle feeding baby goats, helping me milk, cutting my soap bars for me – just being the absolute best partner in all of this!”
Products for sale at the farm include farm-fresh eggs and baby chicks as well as registered Nigerian Dwarf goats to people “looking to add great quality to their own goat herd,” Kaeb said.
“I also make handcrafted goat milk soap with our goats milk,” Kaeb said. “I also freeze dry the goats milk and make and sell a “Fizzy Goat Milk Bath.” It is fizzy like a bath bomb and makes your skin feel amazingly soft!
“I also freeze dry candy!” she added. “I love taking custom orders for people. I have a list of items I have done, and people can choose from the list. I can usually have orders done in just a couple days. I am always open to suggestions, too, with my soap and my candy.”
Kaeb also makes a fragrance-free, colorant-free, all-natural soap, a popular choice for many of her customers.
Currently, she is making handmade soaps using holiday scents, including Gingerbread, Christmas Candy Apple, Balsam Fir and Peppermint.
“I infused the olive oil with lemon balm and rosemary,” she said. “Then topped with chamomile flowers. All herbs and flowers are grown in my garden. I’m really excited about this bar!”
Future plans include getting honeybees and breeding her Nubian goat, she said.
The Kaebs enjoy living a slow lifestyle together as a family, homeschooling the kids, and tending to the farm. A website is in the works, but their Facebook page tells what’s going on and how to buy products.
“So far, I have been completely overjoyed by the feedback we have received,” said Kaeb, who can be reached by email at [email protected].
