We recently connected with Emily Galloway and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

As a small scale (currently hobby) farm, we are faced with a lot of typical challenges. We aren’t the only farm around our area that offers eggs, hatching eggs, baby chicks, and goats. In fact there are a handful of small farms near as well as all over that offer similar things. Then there are the larger more well known hatcheries and of course all the feed stores (family owned and big box alike). During the spring I feel the market gets almost flooded with chicks everywhere and baby goats! Even with it being tough on profitability one thing I really like to do is support other local farmers or small businesses! So if a customer reaches out to me and is asking for a product I don’t currently have available, I will recommend them to others.

There is a lot of daily work that goes into keeping a farm of any scale running. Sometimes illnesses, injuries or, in worst case scenarios, death of an animal can cause a tremendous challenge to profitability. And sometimes just the weather or the change in seasons can cause a slow in production which will directly affect profitability.

But I think one of the biggest issues with profitability for the farming industry, regardless of the size of your farm, would have to be the rising costs of everything. Feed costs, supply cost, lumber, fencing materials, medicine, have all gone up. And now there are some medications that aren’t as readily available to farmers without having to have your Veterinarian examine your animal. That does make it difficult because in some situations it is better to have certain medications on hand or at least have the ability to pick up the needed medication the same day. And a lot times Veterinarians are booked up for weeks if not months.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

First and foremost, I am a full time stay at home mom of my two wild and beautiful homeschoolers and a wife to my amazing husband. We officially started our farm back in 2021 after researching the homesteading and farming lifestyles for about 2 years or so prior. We started planning and dreaming in 2020. Our plans have changed a bit and our dreams have grown over the past few years.

We are involved with our local 4-H both with the kids being enrolled in one program or another all throughout the year and I volunteer when I’m able and we donate eggs from our farm for the 4-H Embryology Projects in the locals schools. This is always a fun project for all involved! The students get to see how the embryo develops within the egg and then develops into a chick. They get to have the chicks in their classroom for a few days to a week before they are picked up and returned to the farm. At which point we look them over to be sure they are all in good health and doing well and then most are available for adoption.

Gardening has always been something i have enjoyed since i was a young girl. I would help my Daddy and Pa-Paw in their gardens and learned quite a bit from them truthfully! I even had my own fresh cut flower garden for a few years that I would make small fresh cut boquets from amd sell for a quarter anywhere I went with my Daddy. During the winter we start almost all of our vegetables from seed in my tiny greenhouse. We plant our garden and do our best to grow the majority of the veggies our family consumes. We dont use any pesticides or chemicals in our garden or veggie starts. And I always purposely grow tons of extra veggie starts so that I can offer those for sale in the spring. We usually sell out fairly quickly as I try to keep our plant starts at an affordable price to allow everyone the chance of being able to grow some of their own food. And if you don’t know how to grow your own food, well, we would be more than happy to teach you the basics and walk you through any issues you may have.

As far as how we got started with the animal part of our farm; I think even as a child I always wanted a farm, or at least the animals. I remember asking Santa a few years for a puppy, a horse, a cow, a bunny, a baby duck, and a baby chicken. While I didn’t get the real animals I sure did get the barbie doll toy animals. Ya know those that had the lil magnets in their mouths so they could pick up the toy hay, apple and bowl of feed? Yeah those lil cute toys, we still have them haha! My daughter enjoys playing with them from time to time. So when the opportunity presented itself, instead of getting the guinea fowl we had planned on starting with to help keep snakes out of the yard, we started with 8 chickens. And our farm has just been growing ever since!

Currently, we raise a variety of chickens, a few rabbits and a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf and Nubian goats. Our chickens provide us the opportunity to offer fresh eggs for eating, eggs for incubation, chicks, and sometimes growouts or mature chickens. Our breeding pens currently consist of Speckled Sussex, Silkies, project Satins, Orpingtons, and a variety of colored eggers in our Ermine Ameraucana, easter eggers and olive eggers pen. Our rabbits are currently cuddle buddies for our kids and offer great fertilizer for our garden and plant starts. We do breed our Nigerian Dwarfs and have babies available once (sometimes twice) a year. We have plans to breed mini Nubians in the future. And we hope to one day be able to offer meat and dairy products from our farm to the public.

We have huge plans for our future with our farm! Part of which is to be able to offer farm visit days, educational classes/workshops from gardening topics to animal husbandry. And maybe even offer sone cuddle therapy sessions with some our most friendly animals. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to accommodate this just yet. But it is a work in progress! Along side with this and the fresh meats and dairy products I also plan to offer homemade baked goods in our future farm store.

We are family owned and operated. We believe every animal benefits from being raised out in the sunshine and the breeze. Of course we provide them with proper shelter from bad weather and predators. Quality care, animal husbandry, and biosecurity are not things we take lightly. We don’t ever want our animals to suffer from anything that we can prevent.

I think I am most proud of how far we have come since we started this Wild and Beautiful Farm journey. Not just as individuals but also as a family. We have learned a lot over the past few years! We’ve faced our fair share of challenges along the way, had to regroup and work together to figure out solutions. But we always seem to come out on the good end of things, that could also be directly related to our mindset. We are prepared and expect challenges to occur. Without them we wouldn’t have any room for growth.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In late summer to early fall of 2023 we had 3 of our Nigerian Dwarf does due to kid. One has kidded prior with no complications and the other two were both first fresheners. One of the first fresheners has always been a favorite of mine. I noticed her labor wasn’t progressing as text book like as my other doe who has always had the perfect labor and delivery process. As the day went on I kept hoping it was just because she was a first freshener, she has never done this before, it’s gonna take her more time than my more experienced doe. I ended up reaching out to my goat mentor (who also happens to be my best friend). She gave me some advice said “keep me updated and if you need help call me, I’ll come over.” As the evening went on, I gloved up to check my doe. I couldn’t feel anything. I’ll call my friend back and she came over. And it was true, her labor had not progressed like it should have. My husband and i immediately start reaching out to the goat vets in our area with no luck. The closest one available was in North Carolina, hours away! At this point it had already been too long and we had to get the babies out to save my girl. The first baby had been stuck with its head bent backward. Once we got that one out the second one came out much easier. The second baby unfortunately had gotten too much fluid into its lungs and, despite all our efforts, did not make it.

It was a very difficult time for all of us. My friend gave me some encouraging words and then went on home. My husband went to bed shortly after as he had to work the next day. And I stayed up all night with my favorite girl, checking on her constantly. Temperature checks, making sure she was eating and drinking enough and making sure she was resting. I finally fell asleep just before the sun came up the next morning, only to be woken by my kids approximately 45 minutes later saying “Mom! Selene is in labor! She is pushing!” I was terrified it would be another bad situation. I was exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally. I had no desire to even get up in that moment, but that didn’t matter. I had to be there in case things did go wrong. So I got up and told the kids to keep an eye on her while I threw on my farm boots. By the time I got my boots on my daughter yelled “there’s a baby!” I was frantically searching for my kidding bag that I just had on the porch an hour earlier. The kids yelled with excitement “We have the bag and everything! Just come on Momma! She is cleaning the baby!” I get out to the goat pen and grab some gloves to be ready, no sleep no coffee, and hardly any hope for a good outcome as I was feeling completely defeated from the night before. Both of my kids standing there gloved up already with towels in their hands and ready to help if needed. Selene kidded wonderfully! After less than 30 minutes she had 3 healthy baby doelings all different colors. We named them after types of coffee drinks. The smallest one I tried to get my favorite girl from the night before to take her as her own. Leah was not interested in feeding her at all. She too was feeling defeated after a traumatic kidding and losing both her kids. Part of me wanted so badly to throw in the towel after that night. But I didn’t give up. Not on my farm dream and not of my goatie girls. They needed me. Mostly Leah and the tiniest doeling from Selene’s triplets. I then milked Leah twice a day every day for about 8 weeks. She did exceptionally well on the milk stanchion and even produced enough milk for me to bottle raise the tiniest doeling and build a stash in the freezer! If I had given up, Leah would not have made it through and nor would have the tiniest doeling, S’mores Latte. Leah is still here with us and doing great as a herd sitter of our younger does who aren’t breeding age yet. S’mores Latte, along with her two sisters, Caramel Frappuccino and Smokey Esspresso are together at another friend’s farm and doing well!

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As a small family run farm and small livestock breeder we take pride in offering the best we can in every situation. We take the time to learn what each of our clients are looking for and helping them find the perfect match. From goats to chickens and even gardening! If they are new to owning goats we actually have them come out on the day we are doing the goats hoof trims, CD&T shot, and topical parasite prevention so that they can watch, learn and even try it themselves. We follow the mentality behind the famous saying “You give a man a fish, he eats for a day. You teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”

Each time we have a new client, we are sure to give our contact info to them and ask them to follow our page for updates. We offer helpful information as well as mentor assistance for raising any animal that is purchased and any gardening item that is purchased. I also keep track of which client purchase what and when and if they wanted to be added to our “check in” list. I like to keep a list of clients who prefer to stay in contact so that I do not bother those who don’t want to stay in contact. The majority of the time we receive updates from every client on how their new additions are doing and we love getting updates especially the ones that come with pictures or video!

All of our goats come fully weaned, disbudded, up to date on CD&T, hoof trims, and topical parasite prevention. We prefer to send our goat to their new homes in pairs instead of singles. This makes the transition into a new herd easier for them and less stressful. All of our chicks are checked for deformities or development delays upon hatching and again prior to leaving our farm. Those with issues are not sold. We have a 3 chick minimum, but most of the time everyone gets at least 6. Our hatching eggs and eggs for consumption are always collected fresh every day (sometimes multiple times a day), stored properly, and candled to check for any issues prior to pick up. We always test the fertility of eggs from our breeder chickens before we offer the eggs for sale. With our plant starts, each plant is labeled and if needed we will include a “how to care for” image, usually sent via text or email. All of our clients, regardless of their type of purchase, leave our farm knowing that they can reach back out with any questions, comments, or concerns and we usually are able to respond within a few hours during normal business hours. If we do not have an answer we will reach out to one of our mentors (who have anywhere from 5 years of experience and up to 17 plus years of experience) to figure out the answer.

On occasions we are able to offer gardening consultations for our clients. Where we go to our clients home and provide them with in person assistance in finding solutions for their garden. Whether our client needs help with just one part of their garden or how and where to start their garden. These consultations are by appointment only and based on our seasonal availability.

Bottom line is, we truly care for the health and success of everything we offer on our farm and we care for each of our clients and want to provide them with the best possible experience and make sure they are comfortable and educated with their decisions. We aren’t in this farming lifestyle to make a quick buck, we want to build more relationships, offer education to all ages and help others foster a better self sustainable lifestyle.

Contact Info:

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The Wild and Beautiful Farm