Iron Rod Farm in Winter

We would like to thank you for your interest in our herd. We are currently working on the creation of this website, and plan to use it as a substitute for our annual brochure. After having moved from the Pacific Northwest, we have successfully shown our animals primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region for the past nineteen years. Although we have been breeding quality French Alpines for over twenty years now, we have purposefully kept the herd small with an average of ten milkers.

Our herd name is derived from the lyrics of a favorite hymn:

"Hold to the rod, the Iron Rod; 'tis strong and bright and true;
The Iron Rod is the Word of God; 'twill safely guide us through."

We are grateful for the stewardship we have been given over our small herd of God's graceful and productive creatures.

We own a small farm in the beautiful Piedmont Valley just north of Charlottesville, Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We have been able to make our farm a place where caring for our animals can be characterized as a more comfortable routine (except for breeding, kidding, and showing seasons, of course).

Our commercial cheese product, Iron Rod Chevre, has been a successful enterprise for ten years. Our market is several country inns, upscale restaurants, and a health food store in the Charlottesville area. For a number of years now our dairy goat business has been completely sustained through cheese sales, show wins and animal sales.

We participate in linear appraisal every other year. However, we did not participate in 2005, as we traveled to Europe to pick up our son, Nathaniel, after the completion of a two-year religious mission. Showing was also curtailed last year for this reason. In honor of his return from Croatia, we have given our 2006 kid crop Croatian names.

Leslie says,
     "I have been breeding and showing dairy goats for over twenty years now, and have noted over these years the benefits and disadvantages of this passion. Enthusiastic pursuit of any goal has its sacrifices. As most of you reading this know, raising dairy animals is the most time consuming of all livestock enterprises. There is no time that they do not require our concern and effort. We are each given one lifetime, with finite time, strength, resources and relationships.
     "Our success in preserving these elements is a reflection of our choices. As a rule, (1) I do not breed does their first year, (2) I choose some heavy milkers to take through a second lactation, and (3) some finished champions are given a season's rest and renewal in hope of extending their lives.
     "I am a patient herdsman, respecting the lives for which I am responsible. My barn is not burgeoning with does, my kids play in a half acre of forest, and each buck has a quarter acre in which to exercise.
     "I want to breed these wonderful animals for many more years and so I am conservative, attending only those shows that do not deplete my savings or over strain my marriage."

GCH Iron Rod Rev Sutra *M
1993 ADGA National Champion Alpine

Our most unique and memorable experience still must be the 1993 National Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when GCH Iron Rod Rev Sutra *M became Grand Champion Alpine and Best Udder. At the time we owned two milking does, Sutra and Tiliza. In the ensuing years, we have had many does win 1st through 14th place at the National Show. Having a small herd often prevents us from having entries in the group classes. However, in the 2001 National Show we were ecstatic when CH Supersonic's daughters took first place Junior Get of Sire. We also won Best Three Junior Does that year.

We have attended seven National Shows in the last 12 years. Placings of does owned by or bred by Iron Rod are as follows:

Please use the links at left and below to navigate around our site and learn more about our Iron Rod Alpine Dairy Goats. Please contact us if you have any questions about our herd. We would love to hear from you.

Thank you,
Leslie & Larry Sidwell

Leslie & Larry Sidwell
Iron Rod Farm
2955 Earlysville Road
Earlysville, Virginia 22936

phone: 434-973-8407
e-mail: lesliesidwell@ironrodalpines.com

Visitors since May 23, 2006:

© 2006-2008, Leslie & Larry Sidwell. All rights reserved. Last modified: February 14, 2008

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