Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Maine ranch gets attention with Kiko car license plate
KIKOS!
Marble Creek Acres is a small 6-acre ranch operated by Josh and Kathy and supported by their children, Amelia (20) and Kevin (18) and Josh’s parents, Paul and Karen Crise. Established in 2013 with the purchase of chickens and the planting of apple trees, raised beds and the building of a small greenhouse, we continue to grow our Kiko herd and find unique ways to advertise including our vanity Veteran Maine license plate.
Josh researched Kikos tirelessly, reflecting on a number of possible breeds, none of which were quite the right match for the climate in northern Maine. In June 2016, we purchased our herd sire, "Zulu", from a farm in Vermont. Soon after, 1 doe and 2 doelings, came from New Hampshire and the rest is history. Our 2nd kidding season yielded 7 sweet kids, two sets of twins and a set of triplets!
Marble Creek Acres is focused on forage and grass-fed, not grain-finished, goat production. Undesirable traits are culled and parasite resistance, minimal hoof trimming and increased weight gain with minimal intervention are promoted.
We are growing our operation slow as we begin to establish a market in Northern Maine for Kiko breeding stock and USDA approved products. Josh’s long term goal is to open the genetic bottleneck in New England by bringing new lineages from unrelated stock from other regions of the United States to breed with our current foundation stock.
(For additional information or interest in breeding does and bucks, 4H program goats, commercial stock or USDA approved products please contact Marble Creek Acres in Lee, Maine. They can be reached at +1.207.619.3768,
[email protected] or www.marblecreekacres.com.)