Cheryle's introduction to goats came when her high school biology teacher, Mr. Page, received a letter from someone asking asking him to recommend a responsible student to cover the evening milking of her Toggenburgs. Of course Mr. Page new exactly which student to show the note too. The person making the request was a school teacher who worked several towns away but lived only a couple miles from Cheryle's home. So Cheryle took the job on from 1975 to 1978

Wyl and Cheryle were friends throughout high school so Wyl was involved with Cheryle's goat adventure right from the beginning and as the years went by there have been several times that Wyl gave Cheryle the necessary encouragement needed to continue her goat adventure. He loved having the goats just as much as Cheryle and has always made taking care of the farm and the goats as much his passion as it has been hers.

In 1979, Cheryle brought her first goat home; a pygmy wether that quickly became a family member by immediately bonding with the one person in the family that was not sold on the idea of living with goats...Cheryle's father.

In 1985 after Wyl and Cheryle married, they decided to start building a herd of show quality Pygmy Goats and raising sheep for fleece and meat and Wyl mastered the age old art of hand blade shearing. He continued to do hand blade shearing for eighteen years and developed quite a clientele of hand-Spinners who appreciated that a talented hand blade shearer would always produce a fleece with fewer second cuts than can be produced by a shearer using machine blades.

September of 1989 found Cheryle and Wyl moving their menagerie to the Old Mountain Farm property. Four months after Cheryle and Wyl’s move to the farm, Cheryle’s mother passed away. After the loss of Cheryle’s mother, Norman (Cheryle's father) put his home up for sale and two years later followed Cheryle and Wyl to the Old Mountain Farm. After the move to Old Mountain Farm the focus settled on goat breeding so Cheryle and Wyl found other homes for their sheep, ducks, rabbits and chickens although, since then, the occasional chicken or duck has been known to call Old Mountain Farm "home". 

As Cheryle and Wyl's goat breeding adventure evolved they became more involved with showing their goats but found the closer their goat herd came to the NPGA (National Pygmy Goat Association) breed standard, the more difficulties their goats had with kid bearing. They both found this very discouraging. Since Cheryle always milked her Pygmies, it was also discouraging that they were not judged on their miking ability. Both Cheryle and Wyl knew that they were not ready to give up and that they only wanted miniature goats (not standard sized dairy goats) so both became very interested when they started hearing about Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats.

It was Wyl who initially wanted to branch out into Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats and it took Cheryle a couple more years to be ready to make that leap. Cheryle felt they needed to have better fencing before taking on a second breed because she did not want any escapees breeding and making “mutts”. Cheryle gave Wyl an ultimatum, if he wanted Nigerians then he would have to build better fences.

Wyl quickly set to work on building new fencing so that he could get his Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. The new fencing was done in 1994 and it wasn’t long until the first Nigerians arrived. Both Wyl and Cheryle loved the Nigerians so much that there was no looking back. They both immediately felt like they had found "their" breed of goat and decided to disperse their pygmy herd, all except for the one special doe who was named after the mountain that their farm sits on. That doe’s name was Old Mountain Farm Agamenticus.

Since Wyl is a woodworker and carpenter by trade he has found a way to combine his woodworking talents with goat farming by designing and building milking & task stands, Low Waste Hay Feeders and Portable Kidding pens for miniature goats. As soon as other goat breeders saw these products here on the farm, they started placing orders for their own. Now, all of these products can be seen in use at many farms throughout New England. You can find examples of these by going to the Sales Index page of this website.

Wyl has also become known for helping other goat breeders to design pens inside their farm buildings and design fencing that has the right “Flow” in order to make the experience of working with goats more efficient, therefore more enjoyable.

Norman's great parenting skills made him a natural for goat kid care. Throughout the eleven years he lived at Old Mountain Farm he had the very important job of "holding down the fort". He monitored does for signs of parturition while Wyl and Cheryle were away from the farm. Norm was also the daytime bottle feeder and so much more. His helpfulness with chores around the farm such as landscaping, firewood chopping and errand running were a big contribution to the farm which allowed Wyl and Cheryle, more time to spend with the goats.

Over the years as Cheryle & Wyl’s goat raising knowledge has grown, they have accomplished a lot with the herd, doing DHI, LA and showing for several years (even holding eight sanctioned shows at their Old Mountain Farm). The herd has also produced National Champions and Reserve National Champions as well as National Best Udder Does, National Premier Sires and Reserve National Premier Sires. Cheryle and Wyl were also chosen National Reserve Premier Breeders.

Cheryle and Wyl feel a great sense of pride for all they and their little dairy goats have achieved but the best reward of all is having these beautiful, productive elegant, smart, funny little goats that are always eager to go for hikes through the woods, eagerly run to the milk stand in order to share their sweet, creamy milk or just cuddle up with them at the end of the day.

Cheryle and Wyl are very grateful for all of their extended goat family and friends who have helped the Old Mountain Farm herd achieve more recognition than they ever dreamed of.