Fergus And Friends

Season’s End 2017

December 11, 2017 by fergusandfriends16

As we set up our winter quarters for our Fergus and Friends crew to ride out the cold winter months in, we wanted to remember to thank all of the wonderful customers that we got to meet and work with this year! Many of you were extremely accommodating as we worked out the kinks to our first official summer season and fought with the “nasties” of such a wet summer.

We know a lot of you had fun seeing these goats work on your property, just as we had a lot of fun working with you, and hope that you would consider us in the future for any more clearing that you might need done. We wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! And may we be blessed with such wonderful clients this next year as we were for 2017!

Thank you all,

Jesse Stokoe

Mother’s Day Shenanigans

May 16, 2017 by fergusandfriends16

Mother’s Day is a special time of year for us here at Fergus and Friends. It’s a chance for us to not only give thanks to those human mothers around us who make life possible, it’s also a chance for us to make a fuss over the four legged ones who make Fergus and Friends possible.

One of the ways that Fergus and Friends is able to continue is because of our mother goats’ abilities to give birth to young and raise them every year. Without the four legged kids in our lives, our business would not only be a tough one to continue, but life would just be simply much more boring.

This year we had two mothers to pamper, Anna and Pipi. Not only are Anna and Pipi veterans with Fergus and Friends’ browsing crew, this year they are raising five kids between the two of them.

Anna’s kids, Ariedne and Aprillis, were nursing and playing before we even knew they had arrived!

Pipi nursing two of her three kids

Nap time; Pascal and Persephone are snuggling with momma

Pipi gave birth to triplets, two boys and one girl that she has dutifully cared for (with a little help from us) through what has proven to be a very difficult lactation period for her. Anna’s twin baby girls were up, nursing and playing with one another before we were even aware of their arrival!

This past mother’s day we decided to bring Anna and Pipi out to Sweeney Homestead in Batavia to enjoy some peace and quite with the kids and give them a chance to be away from the gregarious Fergus and Friends workers.

After a long winter in the barn the mothers seemed to really settle well into their new spring getaway pasture. Though even on vacation they both seemed to want to knuckle down and begin the process of teaching the kids to browse so that one day they can be in the brush crew as well!

Pipi showing Pascal and Persephone how it’s done

Ariadne and Aprillis running aftr mom

The rain didn’t even seem to bother them

It’s clear to us that our mothering does are the backbone of Fergus and Friends and though they are unable to do a whole lot of intensive browsing work during the spring season, they’re so keen on teaching their children the tricks of the trade and making things work for us. We are grateful that every year our does give birth to these adorable miniatures of themselves who will grow up to be wonderful members to our crew.

Just as we are thankful for our mother does, we also wanted to extend our appreciation to those two legged mothers out there who do so much for their communities and their families and give so much of themselves up for their children. The world is a better place because you are in it and willing without a moments hesitation to answer the calls of your children.

God bless you all and Happy Mother’s Day.

-The Fergus and Friends crew

Our Story…..

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017 by fergusandfriends16

Fergus and Friends is run by Steven and Jess Stokoe. Jess began brush browsing in 2013 when she bought goats and sheep to browse her parent’s property and rid it of poison ivy. The beginning however, wasn’t at all positive, as they found it nearly impossible to keep the goats in their allotted fields grazing on what they wanted gone.

The first goat Jess bought was a little orphan Boer goat names Fergus who had been raised by a surrogate mother because his own mother had passed away. As a baby, Fergus was a trouble maker. More often than not he could be found eating rose bushes and the leaves off of baby maple trees in the backyard instead of being with the rest of his crew in the pasture.

Fergus23 — Fergus basking in a field with his buddy “Orion”

In 2015 Jess was forced to find a new home for Fergus due to many failed attempts at finding a way to keep the veracious goat out of the rose garden. In 2016, however, after a lot of research, Jess found a fence that worked quite well for containing her “escape artist” goats and began building up her flock to contain several different breeds. That summer she finally decided to set up a program for others where her goats could be contracted out to browse offending weeds and overgrowth in a green, environmentally friendly way.

In the fall of 2016 the lady who had taken Fergus contacted Jess to tell her that he was becoming too bossy toward her potbelly pig and, though she adored the big goofball, she had to send him back with his friend Ella. Jess gladly brought Fergus back to the farm and the name of our business was officially born: Fergus and Friends.

Jess now owns four separate breeds of goats as part of her brush browsing crew including three Boer goats who love their jobs; Gracie, Joelle and of course… Fergus.