That first year, Drake Family Farms had 25 goats. The second year, there were 45, and 65 the year after that. Last year there were 120 goats, and today there are about 150 milking goats (250 goats total).

Drake Family Farms is now a 10-acre, full-spectrum dairy. In addition to dairy products, it also makes skin products and sells goats nationwide.

The operation is principally owned by Daniel, who is a veterinarian in California and handles the breeding issues — which breeders to work with, which breeds to consider. Ron and Jeanette Drake are co-owners, with Ron handling the processing and bottling of the milk and the goat sales, while Jeanette makes the specialty cheeses, soaps and lotions and handles marketing and bookkeeping. Son Richard Drake, a wildlife biologist, is herd manager.

The goats are registered with the American Dairy Goat Association as Willow Lane Dairy Goats. The farm's fresh goat milk products are sold under the Drake Family Farms brand, while the soaps are marketed under the Willow Lane Soap Cottage label. Their products are sold at Wild Oats, Emigration Market, Liberty Heights Fresh and Good Earth markets, and to restaurants like Bambara and Avenues Bakery. They also sell directly to the customer via their on-site store, which is open six days a week and offers raw and pasteurized milk, yogurt, cheeses, soaps and lotions.

"We're part of a trend, I think," Jeanette Drake said. "With traditional farming, you're producing a commodity, where a bushel of wheat, is a bushel of wheat, is a bushel of wheat, and the price is set by the market and there's not a lot that farmers can do about it.

"We're creating a unique product, and we're going directly to the consumer instead of going through a wholesaler. Which is good because we're making our different products, but it's also a lot more work, because in addition to taking care of the animals, you have the milk processing end. And if you make cheese or yogurt, you're in the manufacturing business. Sales and marketing is another business entirely. Then there's the bookkeeping, and managing your resources is another business on top of that."

So why do it?

In part, because of the goats, according to Ron Drake.

"They all have names. They all have personalities, and those personalities run in families," he said. "If you know a herd, you can look at a goat and know that kid came from Guinevere. Some goats, when we're taking them in to milk, they want to be first in line. Some want to be last. Some want to lay around. Some won't walk in front of you. In a lot of ways they're just like people. They grow on you."

In part, Drake Family Farms continues to grow because the Drakes keep finding new things to do, whether it's making new soaps or cheeses or finding new ways to market them.

"I guess we're crazy," Jeanette Drake said. "We must be. But it's a challenge, and we like to do different things."

But mostly, Ron Drake said it's because they believe — they believe in what a farm can give, and they believe in their products.

"We have people who tell us about their babies, who were sick because they wouldn't take formula, who are better because they found goats' milk," he said. "We hear about elderly people who are on chemotherapy, and the amazing things it does for them.

"In the end, if this were just a moneymaking thing, I wouldn't do it. But our products help people, which is an amazing thing, and it makes it worth doing."

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E-mail: jnii@desnews.com