Producer

The Honomu Goat Dairy is a boutique creamery, a very small "micro-dairy", featuring Hawaii's only herd of purebred, registered Nubian dairy goats as the sole providers of milk. Nubian goats make a milk that is richer and far less "goaty" than the other breeds commonly found on goat farms, but they make substantially less milk overall. Our girls are bred to carry a specific gene that guarantees their milk to be creamy and delicious, which makes better cheese. These genetics, coupled with the Hamakua terroir, and the careful way our milk is handled, produces chevre even French visitors claim to be the best they have ever tasted. This special kind of goat milk is also used in our award winning goat milk caramels, and in our goat milk fudge. Honomu Goat Dairy genetics, under the herd name St Isidore, are in demand state wide, with breeding bucks and selected does being disbursed throughout the island chain.

We adhere to the standards of A Greener World, and the Animal Welfare Approved organization which provides a standard of animal husbandry that is, by their own admission, the most demanding in the known Universe. From before birth, through death and interment, our goats are cared for more as family members than typical farm animals. While we do not shun antibiotics, they are administered only on an as-needed basis, under direct veterinary supervision in most cases. Parasite management is performed holistically, focusing on pasture management, selective breeding, and university-tested administration of anthelmintics (deworming medications) with strict attention to dosing and withholding periods. The girls are milked partially by machine, then finished by hand, to assure no over-milking occurs. Milk is transferred to a cooling tank by hand, no pumps involved, to reduce agitation of the milk. Within 72 hours the milk is low-temperature long-time pasteurized, the gentlest method of guaranteeing a clean fresh milk for cooking and cheesemaking.