Although she graduated from Eastern New Mexico University with a degree in education (in 1994), Elizabeth Belcher would much rather be out tending to her goats and helping husband Matt tend to the irrigated farm and the cattle than teaching.

Elizabeth is the driving force behind the Belcher's goat flock. She jokes that her love for agriculture developed during her childhood years in the cattle pen helping her father.

"I was born and raised near Dora," she said. Dora is about 10 miles from the West Texas state line and is just south of Portales, New Mexico. "Livestock was the livelihood of my grandfather and father. I always liked following my father around while he tended to the cattle."

Elizabeth said her father would always refer to she and her brother as "the boys".

"He would say, 'come on boys, it's time to feed'," Elizabeth laughed. "And like him, it seems I've always had a genuine love for livestock. My father always said that if you take care of them, they'll take care of you."

In 1993 Elizabeth was attending a sale in Lampasas, Texas, when the first Boer goats were sold at public auction in the United States.

"When I saw the animals and the interest other ranchers had in those first Boers, the animals really started getting my attention," she said.

Elizabeth liked the "calm tranquillity" of those first Boers.

"When you look into their eyes, they seem to have very distinct personalities. I was also very impressed with their muscle mass and decided very quickly I needed some goats of my own to add to our ranch."

By telephone Elizabeth bought 100 frozen embryos from New Zealand. She had them implanted and with that start, her Boer operation has continued to grow.

Elizabeth and Matt were married on Valentines Day 1998.

Matt also comes from a long family history of ranchers who were some of the first settlers in Roosevelt County. He is the youngest of four siblings. He always had been raised in and around agriculture and also has a genuine liking for livestock. He showed lambs in county and state shows and earned his way to college on a full scholarship for a seat on the livestock judging team. While in college Matt earned extra income working as a show fitter for several Angus and Charolais cattle breeders.

"Together we operate our farming and cattle operations," Elizabeth said. "We run calves on winter wheat, pairs on our corn stalks, manage our irrigated farms, and maintain the Boer goat program. Just after returning from our wedding we had a snow storm and Matt got caught out 40 miles from home while checking wheat calves. He called to tell me that he couldn't drive in until morning because the roads had closed and he grumbled, 'there's got to be a better way to make a living'."

Although Elizabeth said she agrees that agriculture can make for a hard living at times, there are far more positives than negatives, so the couple overlooks the struggles they sometimes have to endure.

Their livestock and farming operations go hand in hand very nicely.

"We bale a lot of our own winter wheat and always have wheat hay or hay grazer available," she said. "We are in a farming area so we have an advantage with corn, hay and other grains being readily available to us at prices cheaper than other breeders I know have to pay."

This year the Belchers have received more than average rainfall and feed bills have been almost zero through the summer. The Belcher's goats are running on native pasture with free choice wheat hay.

"We kidded about 50 fullbloods this past April and expect about 180 fullbloods in September," said Elizabeth. "It seems the price and demand for good stock is still strong. One area that is dropping is the buck market. Producers need to ask themselves how many bulls they see running through the ring at a cattle sale. The industry producers need to think more seriously about sending lower end bucks to the rail. The rail is where the Boer was bred to end up in the first place."

At the time of this writing, Elizabeth and Matt were scheduling breeding programs for the year. They plan to do a smaller embryo program than in past years. Only 10 of their best does will be used in the embryo program and the remaining does will be naturally bred.

"Matt occasionally reminds me not to change breeding plans because of show results and that it is important to always keep a mental picture of the type and style of animal we are striving to breed and to make that image my goal," she said.

Elizabeth said besides loving the animals and continually striving to improve her herd, she believes the second best part of the industry are the people.

"We have met some wonderful folks who share our own interest with the Boer goat industry and we look forward to continuing in this industry for many years," she said.x