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The guy in the bibs is Steve - a lot of people recognize him. Steve grew up on a dairy farm, milking 100 head of Holstein cattle, and farming. After high school, he raised hogs, in addition to managing the cattle and crops. Anita grew up on a hog and crop production farm. She has degrees in biology and chemistry, and did research in nutrition, and some graduate work in clinical psychology before getting into computer technology marketing. Nate is Steve's youngest and has been showing livestock since he was 4 years old. In 2006, Nate married and added Lacey to the Dahnke group, and Nate and Lacey have just added Tanner (he's already into goats - see his picture below).
Anita designed and maintains this website. Steve has only touched a computer once and that time only with his elbow while he was reading the newspaper, managing to wipe out the entire desktop in the process. When you send an email to Steve, it gets printed and he reads the hard copy. Then, most likely, he'll pick up the phone and call you.
During the 80's and 90's Steve and Anita raised Hampshire sheep and sold range rams,
and show sheep and breeding stock throughout the US. In 1989 they entered their first ram in the Indiana Stud Ram Test. This ram had an average daily rate of gain of 1.63 lbs, setting a record that has not been beaten. They also were very active in the showring throughout the U.S.
In 1998 Steve purchased their first 5 head of Boer Goats from an Indiana breeder. In the early years, foundation does not raised at S&A Farms have come straight off specific ranches in Texas. Because focus has been on percentage does, it has been very easy to build a high quality breeding flock. Currently, productivity and repeatability are emphasized, with the majority of goats born and raised at the farm. The full blood does at S&A Farms are mostly a cross of South African and New Zealand bloodlines.
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