By George Berkheimer For the Bedford Gazette
Visit any county fair in the region, and even some neighboring states, and there’s a good chance the Junior Market Goat champions have ties to Myers View Farms.
“We have 15 head of beef cows and 100 head of goats, and the focus is on genetics,” said co-owner Scott Myers. “Most of the stock that we sell are for 4H and Future Farmers of America members.” Myers served as the Bedford County Technical Center’s agriscience and biotechnology instructor for 17 years until his recent retirement. His wife, Leslie, works in medical device sales. Originally from Rhode Island, she graduated from Delaware Valley College with a degree in animal and dairy science and also plays and instrumental role in the Myers family business.
Family Focus
Scott and Leslie both grew up showing livestock, and that passion was handed down to their sons, Trey and Lane. The family has now found a niche that allows them to support the same passion in the next generation of farmers by selling baby goats to 4H and FFA members looking for potential show animals. They also sell breeding stock to other breeders and start-up operations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. “The story really revolves around Trey, who’s the reason we’re so competitive now and the reason why we are all-in on goat breeding,” Leslie Myers said. “He was the brains behind starting this operation.” Their son’s interest prompted a family decision to shift its focus from sheep to goats, she explained. In the intervening years, Trey worked with his father and other contacts to understand
genetics at a high level, make good breeding decisions, and continue improving the results each year. He’s currently an animal science major at Morehead State University in Kentucky, and hopes to follow up with veterinary school. “It was a good decision that worked out in our favor,” Leslie Myers said. Scott’s retirement helped the family continue the focus on breeding and sales after Trey left for college, he said. “I still volunteer with 4H and FFA, and I was recently elected to the board of directors at the Bedford County Fair, so I’m helping out in some different aspects than I’ve been accustomed to in the past,” Myers said. “I’m also involved as a high school soccer coach. It’s a juggling schedule.”
Sharing Success
Myers View’s goat herd is predominantly Boer goats, a popular South African breed known for the muscle and carcass characteristics that show market animals are judged on at county and state fairs. The breed was introduced to the United States in 1993. Kiko/Spanish goats make up the remainder of the herd, a hardy cross that combines many of the positive attributes of both breeds. “Our main production focuses on the Boers,” Scott Myers said. “We do a lot of embryo transfer with the system we’re using, to spread and preserve genetics.” The focus on showing helps with the marketing aspect, he explained, with show results driving word-of-mouth and social media advertising.
The Cumberland Valley farm was originally owned by Myers’s parents since the 1960s, before he took over operations in the mid-1990s and bought the current property in 2003. “I grew up a mile and a half from where we currently live, so it’s always been home for me, but it’s also been a great location from a business aspect,” Scott Myers said. “I believe the Bedford County Fair is one of the most competitive fairs in the state, or at least in the
southwestern corner.” Proximity to the Turnpike, I-70, I-68 and I-81 also has its benefits. “You always feel safe in Bedford, but you’re also not far from Baltimore or Pittsburgh or Washington DC,” Leslie Myers said. “It’s easy traveling to get here for our customers, and that also makes it easy to distribute our products through multiple states,” Scott Myers added. Not that there haven’t been a few hurdles and challenges along the way. “Every year it seems like there’s something else we have to figure out, whether it’s a disease or breeding issue, but it’s been a good process for us,” Leslie Myers said. “It’s led to a lot of really great relationships and new friendships. There’s been success for our animals and the families we’ve sold to. Seeing kids establish goals and trying to help them achieve them has really been rewarding.”