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Going to Golden Guernsey Goats By Terry Ropp
Darla Grumbein specializes in the heritage breed and it’s rich milk Rick and Darla Grumbein met during their middle years when a friend introduced them to each other because we were both in the livestock industry. At the time, Rick was rodeoing and raising bucking bulls that he sold all over the country while Darla was working at what was the 10,000-acre Kelly Ranch, a large stocker operation with significant herds of goats and sheep. Darla grew up in Southern California in Orange County where she was exposed to a exemplary FFA program. Part of that program was a facility that held 100 steers and 80 sheep. After graduating from high school, Darla then went to an agricultural college further north and made her living on the back of a horse, mostly working with cattle. When a friend asked Darla to come for a visit to Oklahoma 23 years ago, Darla was immediately drawn to the land and people and moved there. Darla bought three milk goats she kept at Rick’s. Like many cattlemen, he thought the purchase odd. Darla had back issues, so working with cattle was much less feasible than working with small ruminants like her dairy goats. Then Rick as injured in an accident at a cattle sale that resulted in a traumatic brain injury, their life changed dramatically. “Rick (who has no memory before the accident and had to learn how to walk and talk again) had rehab eight hours a day in Tulsa,” Darla explained. “We got into a routine where I first hand milked two goats as he watched before driving him to Tulsa for rehab five days a week. When we arrived, I would drop him off and wait to take him back home. I spent the time exploring Tulsa, reading and even working out in a gym.”
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Darla Grumbein uses AI to maintain genetic diversity in her Golden Guernsey goats.
He got better and no longer thought of the goats as odd. He soon began to enjoy petting them. Before long every baby was his and not something to sell. Because small ruminants are both safer
Submitted Photo
Gore, Okla.
and easier to raise than cattle, what had been home to bucking bulls became home to dairy goats and sheep. Goats often have
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twins or triplets so Darla soon had a herd of 40 purebred La Manchas and a few Golden Guernseys, a heritage dairy goat breed from Guernsey Island known for high butterfat content just as Guernsey cattle are. In fact, Golden Guernsey milk has up to 9 percent butterfat. Like the Lipizzaner horses, a small group was saved from German extinction during World War II by being hidden away though it was listed as endangered in 2007 and as a minority breed in 2020. Because the gene pool for the Guernsey breed is so small, Darla AIs her goats to maintain as much genetic diversity as possible. She also tries to do semen exchanges for the same reason. A slight adjustment may soon be made because a veterinary clinic in Blue Jacket recently added a veterinarian who specializes in AI. Darla found an outlet for her goat milk when she discovered some customers who purchased goats from her also had a Grade A goat dairy. Darla then changed her operation to Grade A. When that dairy went under, she found another creamery in Arkansas built in the 1940s that used old equipment. When equipment wore out, the creamery had to find other old, used equipment rather than the new computerized equipment so everything was compatible. That creamery had 25 goat producers, with Darla being the only one non-Amish producer. After four years, the Arkansas plant went out of business. Because of the closure, Darla sold most of her LaManchas, but expanded her Guernsey herd. Now Darla has 35 breeding females, 20 of which she is currently milking by hand. “I love milking by hand,” Darla said. It is more personal, peaceful and a pleasure more than a job.” The daily milk output of 20 goats is JULY 6, 2020
