Why Xenia?

Like our goats our roots are far away from quaint Rochelle we came to Virginia in 1982 from Belgium.

Nous sommes des Wallons pure laine, montois cayaux et pays de Charleroi, maar wij spreken ook Nederlands!

Our goats are all fed individually, milked by hand and penned up at night. We never use any medicated feed. Their main staple is a 16% protein mixed grain and pellets blend and some beet pulp with molasses. Their favorite treat, which they get after milking or when we trim their feet, is ginger snap cookies.

Why goats?

When our first son was born, back in 1970, he soon started a nasty circle of cold/bronchitis/asthma that seemed unbreakable until a country doctor advised us to leave the city(at the time we lived in Brussels) and to raise him on goat's milk. We listened. moved back to the countryside and bought a goat an adventure for the city girl, first to find a goat, then to learn how to feed and milk her. We soon discovered that goats did not make milk to please us but to feed their own babies, that the best care would not yield milk if the potential wasn't there, and that a good sire was half the success of any breeding program. After much research we decided to look for good Alpines or rather what we call the "red chamoisee" in Belgium and France and imported several (see a few pictures in archives.) Pretty soon we had several bucks and more does, moved to a bigger place and ended up with over 50 of them.

From a lot of reading, visiting with breeders, attending shows, participating in workshops organized by the ITOVIC in France, taking correspondance courses in small husbandry from Penn State University we felt more and more confident that goats would be part of our family (Vincent got rid of his problems and we helped several other kids with eczema and other allergic issues).

We learned about milk and fresh cheese, started enjoying goat's meat and we were hooked! Seeking the sweetest milk we decided to import the very first Anglo-Nubians in Belgium in the late seventies another great adventure from selecting English breeders, visiting with them, drowning into paperwork with veterinary services in England and Belgium, until we finally brought 4 does and a buck back from England (milking a goat aboard a ferry is kind of a challenge too!)

We had one herd of Alpines registered in Belgium (Elevage des Avelines) and one herd of Nubians registred in England (Culpeper herd.) To make a long, and most of the time funny story short, we had a total of 57 does and bucks when, in 1985, Richard accepted to be transferred to the US. It was very difficult to part with our girls but all were lucky to go to good homes, some went back to France, most Nubians were bought by a Dutch breeder and a few stayed in Belgium. We still think fondly of them, they taught us much and gave us plenty.

After raising our three sons, and retiring from teaching, I decided to get a few goats first Boer goats and then of course Nubians whose sweet dispositions we cannot resist.

Our small herd has been both certified and accredited for the past three years.

Who are we?

Richard has always been interested in math and sciences in general. When he turned 18 he got fascinated by computers. While in Belgium he worked for IBM, BASF and Philips. In 1979, he joined SWIFT (Society for Worldwide International Financial Telecommunications), after 3 years in the headquarters in Brussels he accepted a temporary contract (3 years) in Culpeper, Va, where the company had just opened their third operating center, they asked him to stay a little longer, and a little longer... and here we are after 26 year, and still with SWIFT.

Suzanne (la "montoise cayaux") first worked at the Foreign Trade Ministry, both in Greece and in Brussels, then at the Delcredere (the Belgian national credit insurance agency), later taught Economics, English and Dutch. After moving to the US she got a Ph.D specializing in 16th century French literature and Francophone literature of Africa and the Caribbean, she taught in several community colleges in Virginia, at U.V.I (Virgin Islands), U.S.C (South Carolina) and U.Va.

Renaud, the middle child (the green kangaroo!) showed very early on a special interest in animals: at the age of 8 he warned us that our "Bubble" was unwell right after kidding... indeed she was developing milk fever. He also saved our Macey when she got food poisoning a couple of years ago. After earning his B.S in Psychology he chose to become a licensed veterinary technician; certified in Colorado, Virginia and Nevada, he is currently employed by a specialty clinic in California.

We have two other boys, Vincent, the oldest who is involved in restaurant management in Charleston, SC. Denis, the youngest, is technical director of the theater at Woodberry Forest School where he is teaching.

Our goats are closely watched by our great dane, Lady Blue, and our cat Mimine.