Welcome to North Idaho!
We chased a lot of dairy goats in those days. They taught us a lot about ourselves. We used bailing wire to make fence out of the few barb wire fences we inherited, and learned along with our 2 little girls how to milk and care for our dairy goats. We thank Barbara of Luck-E-G Nubians for teaching us how to disbud our goats, and Mrs. Bernice Fallis for all her encouragement and guidance early on getting us hooked on goats (We pray you are resting in peace Mrs. Fallis). We have owned many dairy goats since then, our family has grown, and with it our dairy goat herd has also grown. In 2007 we bought our first Saanens from Carie Hull of "Timber Basin" and began our journey with the pure white dairy goat that milks forever. In the fall of 2009, we were fortunate to be able to purchase some very nice Nubian stock from a couple of dairy goat breeder herd reduction sales. These will form the foundation of our future Nubian stock. They all come out of very good bloodlines such as Bedouin, Goldthwaite, Saada, Thunder-Ridge, Luck-E-G, Iron Owl and Six-M-Galaxy. (For a complete list of the bloodlines we currently have, click here.)
In the winter of 09/10 we decided we needed to find a couple of really nice bucks to go with our Nubian does. We searched mainly the west coast for months finally settling on the "My Enchanted Acres" herd, Tony & Kim Puzio for our Nubians. Looong....... story short we ended up buying 2 bucklings and 2 doelings from them, and really look forward to what they can do in our herd, Thanks Tony & Kim for breeding these beautiful animals. We also took a trip to visit Patricia Walker at Huricane PM and came back with 3 Saanens. Yes, we bought 2 does to go with our new buck. Thank you Trisha for breeding these beautiful animals, and allowing us this opportunity. We would like to give a special thanks to Jill Weible of the Bedouin herd. She was instrumental in the We have also added a few Alpines to our herd. They come from Robin & Jessica Levy, Vanessa Mills / Brandi Giachino (bred by Tracy Stampke of Soldier-Mtn. Alpines), and Jennifer Haworth. In 2010 we felt God lead us to scale up our goat population in preparation for the possibility of becoming one of Idaho's first Raw Milk Dairies. As of August 25, 2010 we have completed our requirements and have been issued our permit from the Idaho State Dept. of Agriculture. We will add more to the site about the Dairy as we accomplish it. In 2011 we started selling our raw milk through the Kootenai County Farmers Market. We brought in a couple new bucks in addition to keeping 2 of our own. Our herd is definitely improving. We were very pleased with our Linear Appraisal this year. All of our mature animals (over 3 years) scored 90 or 91. Our average score for all milkers and bucks was 86.1. We had a large number of younger animals this year, so we were happy with that. In November, all of our does age 2 and up (except one) received their Superior Genetics awards if they hadn't already. Crystal, Glitter and Claire also were named Elite does for 2011. We are very proud of our girls.
We participated in DHIA and Linear Appraisal again in 2012, and feel the girls are coming along very well. Most of our senior does have all earned their SG Superior Genetics titles along with a couple of yearlings. Our appraisal went well, the appraiser was very informative and we learned a lot. Belle was the only doe who received her permanent score this year (90 VEEV), but all of our other mature does did very well also. Delight won a Grand Champion and Best of Breed at the Spokane Dairy Goat Show (NEWDGA). She also went TOP TEN in butterfat with over 3100# of milk, NOT BAD FOR A NUBIAN who can show as well. Crystal stepped up to 99% Elite at 9 years old!!! with Claire also going Elite milking 2 gallons as a 2 yr old. We also spent another year at the Kootenai County Farmers Market selling our delicious Raw milk, Pudding and Cheese amongst
all the veggies, and homemade bread. After a very busy year we
decided to take the winter off and not sell any products after
the market closed at the end of October choosing to focus our
winter on FAMILY TIME and preparing again to do a good job next
year. Thank you to all of our 2012 customers. 2013 brought very little construction work so we spent most of the year working on Farmers Market. By far our best weather year for gardening we have had, Peter even grew Pumkins : ) We had another great year at market selling our dairy products and produce. We put up a new double sized booth in front of the grandstand. Come take a look at all the great REAL FOOD that the market has. Thanks to all our market customers for another great year. 2013 also brought a new IDEA to the farm. A new house for our BIG 2 legged crew, to be 15 of us in 2014. Thanks to Grammy Probert, Grandma Axling and Grandpa Long, we are building a new house for ourselves as well as Grammy Probert (moving to the farm soon). We are hoping to be mostly done by summer 2014. After living in a 1100sf cabin for almost 20 years we are looking to have almost 2200sf plus.... extra loft storage. WOW!!! Designed and built by the family with a country/mountain feel that fits our VERY busy farm life. This will likely take a toll on our goat numbers so we will be "trying" to cut our numbers. If your looking for a great deal on nice goats......NOW'S THE TIME : ) 2013 was an exceptionally big buck sales year. I believe people are looking for a little more self sufficiency. We kept a lot of our doelings this year and are very excited about a lot of the breedings we are doing for Spring 2014. The dairy did very well ACEING most of our state milk quality tests this year. Congratulations to Crystal for ANOTHER 98% Elite title year as a 10 year old; she had triplets again this spring. She also as our Matriarch was tested G6S NORMAL :) . Delight hit this year's TOP TEN list for the 2012 milking season with 3160# of milk and 5% butterfat. She was also tested G6S NORMAL :) . David's doe PRESICE had another really great year showing at the NEWDGA show in Spokane, WA. She took 2 GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP ribbons AND 2 BEST OF BREED awards. We are currently looking for a NEW Nubian buck for the 2014/15 breeding season. Anyone know any good ones : ) 2014 is looking to be another big year, stay tuned....... 2021 Life has sure changed a lot in the last seven years on the family front. In 2016 after a short illness we lost our beloved Sarah. Many would remember her smiling face and enthusiasm at the show spokane WA. She was at the highth of her glory helping others and showing off her prized goats. Then in the winter of 2017 we also lost a number of our nicer does to a dog attack. After which we stepped out of the goat world a bit and took a break from the dairy. Bekah then took over the breeding program. We also decided to scaled down the herd to one breed and focusing now solely on our Nubians. We hope you enjoy our site and our goats. Thank you for looking. Scott and Diana Probert and Family |
In 1995 we moved from the city of Spokane, Washington into the North Idaho country. We are within 1 days drive from Billings, Montana, Boise or Twin Falls, Idaho, Eugene or Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. Within the first 6 months of living on our small 10 acre farm we had purchased our first Nubian dairy goats. A purebred 7 Cedars buck named Calhoun and his 2 grade doe friends.
Royal Highlands was started at this time to showcase these animals. We chose the name for a number of reasons. First of all, it is our desire to live and walk in the "Royal Highlands" of God's kingdom in everything we think and do. Also, our family roots go back to Great Britain in the " Forest of Dean "
and other areas. The elevation and climate in parts of Great Britain are similar to where we live here in beautiful North Idaho. Great Britain includes the "Royal Highlands". 
breeding of a number of our best
Nubians. Thank you Forest Cochrane, Jennie Steiner, Mishael Miller, and Patina Coote for selling them to us, and allowing us to work with these great animals.
In early 2012 we built our NEW 40x60 DOE AND KID BARN. We will spend the next
few years fine tuning and finishing it. Very nice to be able to put up all of our hay
(40-50 ton) and straw into the new barn this year. No, we won't put Lilly, our new 2 legged critter, in the new barn :). She has brought much joy to this house as she smiles and coos everywhere she goes. She helps us to remember what the Bible says to " Consider the Lilies they toil not nor do they spin". We need to trust the Lord and not lean to our own strength or wisdom for all of our daily "to do's". 