Sonview Ranch is a memeber of American Dairy Goat Association, American Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Association, American Goat Society and is a certified Dairy Goat Quality Producer after completing the course through Langston University
Sonview Ranch is a small family ranch located in Northern California (about 2 hours north of San Francisco) where 3 generations of our family moved to in 2005. Now run by Jim & Teri Crowhurst, the focus of our ranch life is our herd of registered Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats that started when our daughter, Jessica, bought a show doe kid as a gift for Teri in 2010.
Teri has always been crazy about animals and got to be in 4-H as a youth, where she had projects in horses, dairy goats, rabbits and Guide dog raising, as well as non-animal projects. Having known each other since 2nd grade, Jim knew that Teri came as a package deal with animals included when they were married in 1985. When their daughter, Jessica, was 8 years old, she joined 4-H and started raising and showing animals, starting with small animals and moving up to include the large animal species.
One of Jessica's many successful projects was dairy goats, which she started in 2009. Since Teri was going to all the shows with Jessica anyway, she was lured back into dairy goats. Jessica generously bought her mom, Teri, a registered show quality Nigerian Dwarf doe kid who was unrelated to her own herd, with her own money, as a thank you gift in 2010. Jessica continued on with her Nigerian Dwarf, then added Alpine dairy goats in 2011, and mother & daughter had a great time showing together.
After Jessica aged out of 4-H and FFA, her brother, Jacob decided to do a dairy goat project. He was fortunate to be able to buy back one of his sister's homebred Alpine does. Jacob then raised and showed Alpines another 2 years, until he, too, aged out in 2016. After 13 wonderful years spent with the kids raising and showing livestock, which included some of the best times of Teri’s life, she was just not ready for it to end. To hold on just a bit longer, she bought one special Alpine kid from Jacob; a doe kid he had bred, raised and shown successfully, whose dam was bred, raised and shown successfully by Jessica. Up until that time over the years, the priority, the main focus had been Jessica and Jacob's projects, animals and breeding programs, but now for the first time, the spotlight was on Teri's Nigerians. Her herd went from the back burner to front & center. So, in 2016, for the first time, she began to concentrate on her herd, and set short term as well as long term goals. She bred, raised and showed both the Alpines and her Nigerians for another 2 years. By then things were quite different though. Since she was going to the shows by herself, it became clear to Teri that one person trying to show 2 breeds in multiple rings on the same day, at the same time, was not practical, nor was it fun. It was time to let go of Jessica and Jacob’s Alpines. As hard as it was to let go and close that chapter of life, the Alpines all went to wonderful new homes. Now she focuses on her Nigerian herd, working constantly toward the goal of improving the quality and health of her herd.
Teri has been showing her dairy goats competitively since 2010, usually competing at 5 - 7 shows per year in the highly competitive Northern California show circuit, but in 2017, she set her sights on being able to show at the National level in 2019, when the ADGA National Show was scheduled to come to the West coast. The dream became a reality when Sonview Ranch was able to go to the ADGA National show for the first time in 2019 up in Oregon. The hope was that some of our does might make "the cut" in the huge and highly competitive classes there. (The classes are so large at the National Show that the judges "cut" out their top 20 animals from the 50, 60, 70 or even 80 does in the classes, excuse the rest of the entries from the ring, then place the top 20 who made the cut.) Our herd far exceeded our hopes and dreams, with 6 of our 9 homebred does making the cut at the National Show! Some ended up in the top 10, and our herd queen, GCH Sonview Ranch Fancy C.C. WON the aged doe class and was awarded Best Udder in class too. That meant that we were in the line up in contention for National Champion and in the line up for Best Udder at our first National Show ever! Truly mind blowing and such an honor!
We were fortunate enough to get to have Linear Appraisal done in 2018 for the first time. How I wish we had gotten to have that done years and years earlier. What a fantastic tool and learning experience!
In 2019, we became ADGA Plus members, officially putting the does on milk test, doing Linear Appraisal, and DNA testing our bucks. We have been an ADGA Plus member ever since.
Our entire herd is tested annually for CAE, CL and Johne’s (every adult goat on the property) and our herd is negative for all 3 of those awful diseases.
