Five of Marilyn Ryan’s miniature goats are headed to the Big Apple and the Waymart resident couldn’t be happier.
“Small-town goats go to the Big City,” she said with a laugh.
It’s not that she doesn’t love them and will most certainly miss them, but she’s pleased the Central Park Zoo in New York City has purchased them for their petting zoo.
Ryan, owner of Goatsville Acres farm, has been breeding the docile creatures since 2006.
She bought her beginning stock from Mini Blessings’ Farm in Glencoe, OK, recommended by the Miniature Dairy Goat Association. Owners Stephen and Tina Weeks, who were entering the missionary field, were selling off their stock.
“I like goats and I was looking around for years for mini-Nubians and there weren’t any local,” she said.
Grooming Little Boy and Henry, Ryan said, “They’ve got personality. They’re very affectionate.”
Ryan was busy saying her goodbyes on Tuesday since Central Park Zoo was picking them up later that day. She’s proud that they were chosen by such a prestigious zoo.
“I’m really excited about these goats going to New York; it’s an amazing thing,” said Bill Tinsley, a major help to Ryan on the farm.
Tinsley said he’s proud, “because they’re ours. We’ve cared for the goats since they were babies.”
Each one is named and well cared for.
House Goat bears witness to that. Born crippled, the vet said he’d never walk. Ryan refused to give up on him.
So they fashioned a sling to support him beneath his belly, helping the little one to stand, encouraging him to build muscle strength. Today he’s able to walk.
That’s just who Ryan is, Tinsley says. “Marilyn is a wonderful person. I just love her to death,” he said.
Ryan, who’s run a personal care home at her farmstead for the past 11 years and five years prior to that in Lake Como, has a number of interesting ideas for her property.
Hoping to apply for a raw milk license, Ryan would like to sell raw milk and cheese to the public.
It’s an expensive undertaking, she said, $5,000-$10,000 to start, requiring stainless steel equipment, etc.
Ryan milks her goats twice a day. “I get a gallon a milking,” she said.
The milk can be made into any number of cheeses, she said, including cheddar, mozzarella, provolone and more.
Ryan said she’d like to have the business up and running sometime in 2011.
“If you have the goats and you have the space ...I think you have to have diversity on a farm,” Ryan said.
She’s also looking into putting in a pond next summer and raising fresh-water shrimp.
To find out more, go to www.goatsville.com.