GRAVETTE -- The Corey Taylor family of Gravette recently brought home five national titles with their prize-winning goats.
The Taylor family raises full-blood African Boer goats. Corey, his wife Donna and their children Samuel DeWitt and Lauren Taylor attended the American Boer Goat Association National Show June 14-18 in Grand Island, Neb., and competed each day of the week. Their goats won awards for 2021 National Reserve Grand Champion Percentage Doe, 2021 National Overall Yearling Percentage Doe, 2021 National Reserve Grand Champion Best Fair Full Blood Both Sexes, 2021 JABGA National Reserve Grand Champion Best Pair Full Blood Kids Both Sexes and 2021 JABGA National Reserve Champion Senior Full Blood Doe.
The national wins were very heartwarming but the rewards did not come overnight. The Taylors have put in a lot of hard work, educating themselves about goat breeds and bloodlines and gradually building up their herd over the last few years. They have learned from some of the best in the business about goat breeding and showing and have spent countless hours in an effort to produce quality animals.
The Taylor family lives on a small farm in Gravette which they started in 2017. They bought their first goats and Samuel and Lauren both showed for the Benton County 4-H that year. At the time they only showed and bought market-style Boer goats. In 2018 they made their first trip to the Arkansas State Fair to show and broaden their knowledge of the breed. Corey and Donna soon learned that not only could you show but you could also produce breeding livestock.
Donna made inquiries to a nationally recognized breeder, Lori Peterson of Shoe Me Boers in Neosho, Mo. She assisted the Taylors in purchasing a couple of full-blood does and helped them decide which bucks to breed them with. Peterson introduced the family to a buck named Show Me Boers Empire, which won the 2018 National Grand Champion Full Blood Buck title. Donna was intrigued and wanted that bloodline on the Taylor farm. She bought a couple of does that fall and bred them with Lori's stock. In the spring of 2019, the family had six babies which became the start of their operation.
"Lori Peterson and her family are amazing people," Donna said. "Without Lori's help and direction, friendship and patience, our family simply wouldn't be this successful. I don't think Lori gives herself as much credit as she should. They have amazing animals, are great people and have by far some of the best animals we have ever used in the industry."
The Taylors soon invested in additional bloodlines and animals. Their family now competes at the county, state, district, regional and national levels. Donna says she believes the secrets to having a successful farm are really good bloodlines, good feed which is given consistently and old-fashioned hard work. Corey and Donna's routine includes seven days a week of getting up at 4:15 a.m. and heading to the barn to clean, feed and water animals, making sure every one is healthy. Again, Donna says she learned this from Lori Peterson.
The Taylor farm has won nine Arkansas State Fair titles in the last two years alone. These include Grand Champion Full Blood Buck 2020, Grand Champion Full Blood Doe 2020, Reserve Grand Champion Full Blood Percentage Doe 2020, Grand Champion Full Blood Buck 2021 (both shows), Grand Champion Full Blood Doe 2021 (both shows) and Grand Champion Full Blood Percentage Doe 2021 (both shows). Donna explained that both shows indicate the animals competed in shows two days in a row with different judges and won the title both days.
The family decided in the fall of 2020 that they would like to attend and compete for a banner at the American Boer Goat Association National Show in Grand Island. This was their first attempt at showing on the national level.
"Prepping for Nationals is a whole new ballgame," Donna said. "You are either in it to win or you just better stay home. You are competing with farms which have done this for 35 years or longer, who have won many national titles and know the business better than anyone."
Donna and Corey were fortunate enough to catch the attention and gain the trust of Dakota Ash, with Ash Specialized Services. Dakota came to meet with the Taylors in March of this year. He talked about what animals could potentially make the national cut and repeated what they had already heard, that it couldn't be done without hard work, an exceptional feeding program and consistency. Dakota chose their top three animals and gave them instructions on how to prep them.
"From then on it was just hard work and lots of early mornings and late nights to make it work. We did it though, by golly, did we ever do it," Donna says. Dakota showed and fitted all their stock at the national show. "Dakota is my disco ball," she says. "He is the brightest light and makes everything better. We love him and he supported and believed in our dream. The kid will never know his value in all this.
"It takes an army. Corey and I can't be this successful without Lori Peterson, Dakota Ash, our children Lauren and Sam, my dad Myrick Harvey who watches the animals while we work, our farmhand and family Jamie Alexander and Alexus Smith."
Donna also mentioned that her best friend and partner Shannon Brown has been by far her biggest fan and support through it all.
"I had some tough times, got down on myself and thought I wasn't cut out for this. The work was really, really hard. I run a full-time farm, work full-time, am a full-time mom and wife, and to fit all this in was hard. Shannon was always the positive in my head. She is pretty darn amazing, but most cowgirls are.
"We left for Nationals on Saturday, June 19, and, as I said, we competed every day of the week. When we came home with the five national titles, I saw my husband cry because he was so happy. I guess when you work so hard for something you want so badly and the hard work pays off, that is the best feeling. It truly is. We had a great family time in Nebraska. We met tons of new people, amazing breeders, and we hope to be as foundationally recognized as them someday. We are blessed, way beyond measure, to have what we have and to have accomplished this dream as a family."
In conclusion, she quoted the Scripture at 2 Chronicles 15:7, "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." That pretty well sums up the philosophy the Taylors have been living by and the satisfaction it brings them.
