About Lil Troyer Farm

Lil' Troyer Farm is owned and operated by Stan and Amanda. After a few years of marriage, they finally purchased their first home in 2020. With big dreams for the small 10 acre lot, they began to dream about bringing their small Angus cattle herd home. In the spring of 2021, they did just that. Stan set up a crude fence and built a calf shelter from wood harvested on the property. The stars in their eyes quickly faded when they realized the cow pen was built in a low spot. Water refused to run off, and the pen sat mucky well into the summer. Realizing that the property was not set up for cattle, they made the heart-wrenching decision to sell their beloved cows. 

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Fast forward to March of 2022, Amanda caught the 'goat bug'. In an effort to feed their family with dairy products that were easily digestible by members with cow dairy intolerances, the goat journey began. Two Nigerian Dwarves with five, two week old goat kids made an eight hour drive to their small farm in northern British Columbia.

 

Wooden pallets were fastened together with baler twine, and the calf shelter was split in half to house the goats as well as the two bottle calves they had purchased in February.  It was a season of 'make do' until the ground thawed and permanent fencing could be set up.

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Summer of 2022 was spent setting up goat pens and a chicken coop. Desperate to source the best food possible, Amanda decided to give laying hens a try. Despite strongly disliking chickens in general, she was hopeful that the benefits of farm fresh eggs would outweigh the distaste for the stinky chicken barn. Well, needless to say that that endeavor only lasted a year. 

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2023 was the spring of wildfires. For Stan's birthday in May, they spent it evacuated from their home due to the threat of wildfires. The goats were taken to a sheep farm, and simultaneously given a type of wormer that proved to be detrimental to Amanda's goat herd. With limited information about the withdrawal times for milk, she finally discovered that it was a ONE YEAR milk withdrawal period. Which meant that the little goat herd she had built to be used for milk for her own family...was useless. She made the difficult choice to sell a bunch of goats and purchase a doe in milk. This was a pivotal moment in the trajectory of her goat herd. As time went on, she realized just how important QUALITY and GENETICS were for a goat herd, even if being used for family dairy goats. This caused a big switch over to raising registered Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats. Also prioritizing herd health testing and purchasing only from reputable breeders.

 

Fall of 2023 and the new year of 2024 brought in a wave of horses. They went from one pony and one mare, to 7 horses all in the matter of a few months. 2024 brought more fence demands, and Stan successfully finished fencing the rest of the 10 acre property for the horses. While there is a lot of brush clearing that yet has to be completed, and pasture seeding to follow, they are thankful that they are making steps in the right direction for the farm. Automatic waterers were installed in both the horse pen and the doe pen, which will help immensely during the cold winter months.   

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Currently Lil' Troyer Farm is home to horses, goats, dogs and cats. Amanda still dreams about cows, maybe bottle calves or a milk cow, meat birds, and even pigs. With every dream, there is a healthy dose of reality when finances and space are considered. While this may not be their forever home, they focus on doing what they can with what they have. Striving to be content with the blessings they have right now, while still being open to changes in the future.