This is the first of a two-part series recognizing Goat Month in Kentucky. This story features value-added products from Kentucky goat producers.

By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

Jerri Ramsey grew up on a farm with horses and cattle, but she always wanted a pet goat. Her father, however, resisted. “He said, ‘No. Goats are too much trouble,’” she remembered.

When Ramsey became an adult, she bought her first goat.

“I got a little Pygmy goat,” she said, noting she named it Honey Bun. “Goats are herd animals and don’t do well on their own, so I went back and got another one. Then I found out the first one was pregnant, so a month later, I’ve got four goats instead of two!

“She (Honey Bun) started this whole mess. I love the little critters.”

Ramsey soon discovered long-haired fiber goats during a visit to the annual Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival in Lexington. “I saw Angoras and thought, ‘That’s it! That’s what I want,’” she said.

Ten years later, Ramsey has a herd of 22 Angora goats and 15 other mixed breeds, including a few dairy goats that she calls her “brush crew” on Merry-Go-Round Farm near Berea.

Despite its name, angora sweaters are made of rabbit fur. Angora goats produce mohair, a high-quality fiber with a unique sheen and a silky feel.

“Angoras typically grow an inch of mohair a month,” she said, noting her goats are sheared twice a year in the spring and fall, producing 5-10 pounds of fiber per animal each time.

Ramsey sells most of her fiber through her Facebook page and word of mouth.

“I’m working on a website that’s about half finished,” she said. “It’s a niche market. I market to crafters and hand spinners. Before COVID (pandemic), I did a lot of craft fairs.”

Ramsey sells most of her fiber from $20 to $100 per pound.

“Many crafters use fiber for doll making,” she said. “One of them created handmade Santas and bought white curly locks from me for Santa’s beard and hair.”

Some mohair can bring up to $25 per ounce.

“The highest quality is your kidd clip at six months,” she said of a young goat’s first shearing. “It’s extremely soft and fine. It brings your highest price per ounce. As an animal ages, its fleece loses its quality, its curl.”

Ramsey created a small cottage industry when she started making her own goat milk soap for her husband.

“I gather jewelweed on our farm and make a soap for my husband to care for poison ivy and insect bites,” she said. “Some of our friends tried it, and now they’ve gotta have their jewelweed soap too.”

Goat milk soap is the specialty of a small brick-and-mortar business, Kentucky Soaps & Such, in downtown Stanford. The gift shop just celebrated its 15th anniversary.

“Goat milk is fantastic for the skin,” store manager Carla Hankla said. “The more you use goat milk soap, the less moisturizer you need. If I travel and forget my goat milk soap, I’m a mess!”

Soaps & Such sources its goat milk from a nearby farmer.

“He brings us 15-20 gallons two or three times a year,” Hankla said. “I tell everybody, ‘This soap is made with Stanford goat milk!’

“We start with lye and rainwater, then we mix in goat milk, oils, and fragrance.”

The business offers daily tours of its on-site soap making facility, which produces batches of 350 bars at a time.

Its best-selling bar is honey and oatmeal, which sounds like a tasty breakfast.

“We’re even using local honey from Garrard County,” Hankla said proudly. “Honey is a natural humectant, a natural moisturizer. Oatmeal has been used for centuries to treat dry skin.

“I use it when bathing my children. They’re ages 2 and 5, and they like to play in the bathtub, so I drop a bar in the water while they’re playing.”

One of the most unique varieties is its Chef’s Blend bar.

“It uses Baxter’s Coffee from Somerset and orange oil as odor eliminators,” Hankla said. “People love it in the kitchen to take the odor off their hands after handling onions, garlic, that sort of thing.

“We’ve got a bar for just about everything.”

The “Such” in Soaps & Such includes creams, soaks, and body balms. “Everything contains goat milk except our lip balms and sugar scrubs,” she said.

“Goat milk is close to the natural pH of your skin, so it won’t dry your skin, leave a film, or tighten your skin like harsh industrial soap,” Hankla added. “I’m always telling people, ‘The soap you use matters.’”

Browse Soaps & Such’s complete product line at www.kentuckysoapsandsuch.com.