OVERCOMING OBSTACLES Blankenships turn challenges into successes
By Donna Blankenship
Like many producers, we began our meat goat endeavor in 1993 with a herd of 20 wethers to clear the brush from our property. Upon completion of their task, we sold them, and Rob was ecstatic to have earned $25 per head with no additional input.
I suggested to Rob that we acquire does that would produce kids, which we could then sell at the meat market. Thus, our adventure began. We initially purchased a mix of breeds, including dairy and meat goats. Over time, we sold our existing herd and acquired com- mercial Boer goats, which were highly rec- ommended for meat, as well as Angora/Boer does from Rob’s uncle, Sonny Green. We had previously purchased a com- mercial Boer buck from Matt Gurn and were advised by his uncle to divide the herd and utilize his Savanna buck, Mr. Green Bean (later found out he was NJW Green 33). Al- though I was initially hesitant to use him, I eventually relented, and we used him for half the herd.
Five months later, we commenced kid- ding and I was astonished to find that the Sa- vanna-cross kids were remarkably robust, boasting higher birth weights and demon- strating a keen instinct to seek milk shortly after birth. Conversely, the Boer kids were slower to develop, requiring assistance to ini- tiate suckling and necessitating more hands- on care. This experience led me to re-evaluate my perception of Savannas. Our quest for fullblood Savanna goats ensued, leading us to Carl and Shirley Langle, from whom we acquired our initial fullblood Savannas. In December 2004, my father purchased four fullblood does and one buck for me, marking the commencement of our expanded endeavor that went back a few more times to acquire more Savanna does and bucks. We found out that Mike Guffey and Jean Gullion were selling their MJI herd of Savannas — six does and one buck — in 2010. Six months later Jean called and said she had four more fullblood Savanna doeling out of the initial herd and wanted to know if we wanted them. Rob and Dad went and bought them for my birthday present. I was so excited to add these to our herd because they were some different bloodlines
Donna and Robby Blankenship have been raising Savannas for more than two decades.
from what we had. As I started studying ped- igrees, I was overjoyed because we had sev- eral from the old foundation bloodlines that came into the U.S. To chase our dream in breeding fullblood Savannas, we sold our commercial herd in 2010.
As a woman in a male-dominated in-
dustry, I faced difficulties being taken se- riously. My father offered valuable advice: Always tell the truth, study the breed, raise
the best animals possible, stand your ground and don’t compromise your values. We have adhered to this advice for 22 years. We have overcome significant chal- lenges, including losing 53 fullbloods due to the 553 crisis and having to rebuild our Sa- vanna doe herd in 2017.*
One thing I did learn from that ordeal was make sure all fullblood Savannas that we bought had been parent-verified through
November 2025 | Goat Rancher
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