Hops N Lops Farm
Nubian, Saanen and LaMancha Dairy Goats in Harwinton, CT
Sales Policy & Purchasing an Animal
Terms & Conditions of Sale
Thank you for your interest in our herd!
Our goal when selling animals is to place animals into herds where they can be a positive addition to an established herd, or a strong foundation for an up and coming herd. To achieve this goal, please let us know what you are looking to add to your herd in early communication. We will ask some questions about your goat experience, herd goals and similar questions to help successfully achieve this goal.
Kid Reservation & Sales Policy
We offer buyers the opportunity to hold their place in line for availability of kids from a specific doe by placing a reservation. Reservations are accepted year-round, but breeding plans are typically not released until summer. To place a reservation, we require a $100 deposit. A reservation is not honored until the deposit has been received. We will not accept more money than the $100 deposit per kid until the reservation is fulfilled. If a reservation cannot be fulfilled it can be rolled over to the following year, moved to another available reservation or kid, or refunded. If the buyer chooses to cancel the reservation or sale, the deposit is forfeited. Reservations are made for a buck or doe kid from a specific doe, reservations on animals are taken in order that deposits were received. You are able to place a second or third choice at no extra cost in case your first choice does not have an available kid, but your first choice must be due before or close to your second choice. The same will apply for a second and third choice. Once you have been notified about the outcome of your reservation choices, you have 72 hours to respond or the reservation will be considered cancelled and deposit forfeited. Payment is due within ten days of notification or the deposit and any monies paid will be forfeited. You will be notified by email or Facebook messenger. The kid's registration and transfer is included in the purchase price.
When purchasing a kid that is already born, half payment is due to hold the kid and the balance is due prior to pick up. We will not accept payment on animals until a pick up date or transport is confirmed.
The purchase price for pre-reserved or already born kids includes us to hold the animal until three weeks of age. After that, there is a $100 per week boarding fee towards their feed, barn space and our time managing them. We strongly encourage you to pick up your kid as soon as possible to help them transition smoothly into their new home. Due to my work schedule, we cannot hold kids for extenuating lengths of time so please keep this in mind when placing a reservation or purchasing a kid.
We accept cash, money orders, cashier's check, a cleared check, PayPal or Venmo transfer. Please make checks payable to Grace Toy. There is a $50 fee for checks returned for non-payment. PayPal and Venmo fees are the responsibility of the buyer.
We reserve the right to retain any kid as a herd replacement. When offering kids from first fresheners, we retain the right to not offer kids if the dam does not meet our standards. Due to unpredictable New England weather, we cannot make promises it will be warm enough to take udder photos so if this is a concern we recommend looking at purchasing a kid out of our mature does. We want to ensure any animals registered under the Hops N Lops herd name meets our standards. All bucks (mature or kids) we sell are done so with the option that we may purchase 20 straws of semen back at the cost of collection.
Hops N Lops Farm abides by ADGA Recommended Trade Practices for Members (ADGA Guidebook, Article XIX).
By purchasing an animal or placing a reservation, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of sale.
Transportation and Picking Up Kids
Buyers are responsible for all transportation fees associated with the kid which includes but is not limited to transport or airfare fees, crate, health paper and veterinary tests or fees.
We are able to airship kids primarily using Delta or American Airlines out of Bradley International Airport in Hartford/Springfield. For 2025, an air-shipping deposit once the reservation as been fulfilled of $750 for a single kid or $825 for two is due prior to shipment. This includes a deposit towards the airfare, crate and health paper but due to the inconsistency of prices right now we don't get the exact total until we drop the kid off. Please note, some states have added health requirements for importing animals which can also add to the cost. Driving to the airport and drop off is a several hour process so we do charge a $50 fee. We try to use in "like new" condition crates at a discounted rate and use the best airline rate to help keep costs down. We do our best to find direct or one connection flights, but cannot guarantee being able to accommodate shipping kids to smaller airports. Please contact us for the most up to date information on air-shipping kids.
While we reserve the right to refuse transporters if we have concerns, we are willing to work with ground transporters that are able to meet us close or at the farm. All animals will need a CVI health paper, and extra tests may be necessary depending on the final destination's requirements. We will send enough food with the kid to get them a few days past the transport route in case of potential delays. Kids will also receive a probiotic prior to leaving to help with stress on the road.
All buck and doe kids must be registered before leaving the farm, so we will request the name for the animal and the ADGA ID they will be transferred to prior to the pick up day. Registrations will be processed and transferred online. Already registered animals will have their registration signed and mail to the office by us upon full payment. We do not sell animals with registration applications.
Once an animal leaves the farm, we are not responsible for any health issues. Animals leaving the farm on transports leave with a legitimate health paper and evaluation by our vet and are healthy.
Kid Photos & Updates
We try our best to keep you up to date on animals you have a reservation on as far as breeding plans, breeding confirmations and due dates. Once a kid is born, we will keep you updated leading up to transport day or pick up.
In our and many other respected breeder's experiences, a photo of a newborn kid is not an accurate representation so we do not guarantee to share kid photos. We are more than willing to give an honest opinion and evaluation of a kid to make sure a kid is a right choice for your herd as we want your Hops N Lops kid to be a good addition to add to or start your herd. We highly encourage you to use the performance data we have spent years building to give buyers as much information to make informed decisions when buying animals or semen from our herd.
Due to the unpredictable New England weather, we make no guarantees we will be able to take photos of first fresheners. We want you to feel comfortable purchasing from us, so if this is a concern, we recommend considering purchasing a kid from our mature animals that already has photos and performance data.
Bringing Home Your Hops N Lops Kid
Our goal for each kid is a seamless transition into their new herd. While we recommend doing what works best for your herd, here are a few recommendations based on our own management practices.
Feeding
We raise our kids on a mix of pasteurized goat milk start at four times a day. We feed kids on 16-20 oz soda bottles with Pritchard nipples for about a week, before moving kids over to a lambar with Caprine Supply nipples. We fill our lambars so the kids have access to milk most of the day in a gradual process to avoid issues such as bloat, Entrotoxemia or Floppy Kid Syndrome for about the first week or two. We keep our kids on milk four times a day for about the first month, but sometimes longer depending on our schedules. After that, we gradually reduce one feeding down to three times a day for about another month. Then do the same to get them down to twice a day feedings. I prefer to have kids on milk a minimum of twelve weeks, but prefer to keep them on it closer to sixteen to help with hydration as they adjust to spring or summer months.
We start our kids on hay immediately. This gives them the opportunity to slowly pick at the hay as they want, which is important to their GI health and development. Goats are prone to Coccidiosis which we have always found, the fastest way a kid will pick it up is from eating off the ground or having dirty pens. Kid feed and hay should always be fed off the ground to help prevent this. Goats are also extreme trouble-seekers so keeping their pen safe of hazards is extremely important, and hay racks are one of the biggest risks. We just Sydell hay feeders on the outside of our mesh panel kid pens. This ensure the kids cannot get their heads suck. I also made sure the hay rack is very stable incase they get a foot stuck, they won't have to fight the hay rack moving to pull their leg out. I have seen herds use things such as laundry baskets, but I do not recommend this as they can break and become a hazard to goat kids.
We feed our kids Blue Seal Meat Goat DQ grain starting at about two weeks old. Kids will slowly start to pick at grain, so I recommend giving them a small, fresh dish of grain two to three times a day. As they eat it, slowly increase the quantity. I have always found kids will all of a sudden realize they like food and begin to consume a lot, which is why I do not leave a lot out for the first week or so of feeding grain. You do not want one kid of the entire group to over eat grain. Also as stated above, to help prevent a Coccidiosis outbreak we always recommend feeding kids off the ground and we use this feeder from Tractor Supply Co. When attaching them to the fence, make sure to put the clip opening towards the ground.
Vaccines and Medical Prevention
In the first few hours of life, our goat kids have their umbilical cords dipped in 7% iodine, given Bo-Se and Nutri-drench. Kids are also given colostrum to a pasteurized milk and colostrum mix for the first 48 hours.
We only vaccinate our herd with VISION CD&T at this time. I give this vaccine at the time of disbudding, and again every four weeks for at least the first three months of life. While the minimum dose of CD&T is one dose, a booster then one dose annually I have found kids benefit from extra doses as their GI develop and they go through signification diet changes in the first first months of life. I recommend all buyers continue to vaccine their kids to get my preferred minimum of four doses as a kid, then annually after that. While I understand some herd owners do not believe in vaccinating, our herd has done best with this practice.
Coccidiosis is the biggest struggle with kids, especially new herd owners. The best prevention for CD&T is keeping food off the ground and regularly cleaning kid pens. With that said, kids will still investigate and get into things that can cause a Coccidiosis overload which can lead to diarrhea in kids. Later born kids are typically more prone as they are younger when they start to go outside and don't have the time to build up a resistance like kids born in winter. While Coccidiosis is normal when raising kids, staying on top of prevention and starting treatment early when they do show signs is key to keeping kids on a healthy growth rate and from severe diarrhea, dehydration and potentially death. We have tried a number of different prevention for Coccidiosis, and while not all agree I recommend Corid to new goat owners. It's easily accessible and easy to dose.
To keep kids safe, we recommend bedding your goat kids on shavings with a heavy layer of straw on top. Kids have been known to ingest shavings and cause a fatal GI block so we find keeping that layer of straw on top helps prevent that fixation, and still keeps the kids warm and dry.
We highly recommend you have a regular veterinarian incase of an emergency. Small animal ruminent vets are becoming increasing hard to find, especially those with emergency hours. Please build a good working relationship with your veterinarian so you don't run into a mess on the chance you have an emergency with your goats. These are some vets in the area we have used with success, or can recommend based off of other's recommendations:
Salmon Brook Veterinary Hospital
Granby, CT
(860) 653-7238
Kid Photos & Updates
We try our best to keep you up to date on animals you have a reservation on as far as breeding plans, breeding confirmations and due dates. Once a kid is born, we will keep you updated leading up to transport day or pick up.
In our and many other respected breeder's experiences, a photo of a newborn kid is not an accurate representation so we do not guarantee to share kid photos. We are more than willing to give an honest opinion and evaluation of a kid to make sure a kid is a right choice for your herd as we want your Hops N Lops kid to be a good addition to add to or start your herd. We highly encourage you to use the performance data we have spent years building to give buyers as much information to make informed decisions when buying animals or semen from our herd.
Due to the unpredictable New England weather, we make no guarantees we will be able to take photos of first fresheners. We want you to feel comfortable purchasing from us, so if this is a concern, we recommend considering purchasing a kid from our mature animals that already has photos and performance data.