Name: Diamond E Ranch
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From Mud to Mad Science: Hosting the Masters of “Jank” Engineering at Diamond E Ranch

It is always a quiet, beautiful thing to wake up at Diamond E Ranch, look out past the barns, and see the morning sun hitting the pastures. But every now and then, ranch life takes a turn for the completely unexpected. Last week, our quiet corner of Nipomo became the official pitstop for a caravan of the most brilliant, chaotic minds on the internet.

If you follow the world of STEM or DIY engineering on YouTube, you probably know William Osman, Michael Reeves, Allen Pan, and Kevin McCulloh (better known as The Backyard Scientist). They were road-tripping up the Central Coast on their way to the Open Sauce convention, driving a low-budget, custom solar-assisted Taylor Dunn utility cart. When they rolled up to our RV pad looking for a place to park, charge their batteries, and camp out for the night, we knew we were in for an unforgettable visit.

A Different Kind of Ranch Tour

I always say that I built the barns here at Diamond E Ranch, but my wife is the one who filled them. Showing this particular crew around our rows of animal enclosures was a masterclass in comedy.

We started with our white call ducks and quickly moved to my daughter’s Chinese geese. For reasons we still don’t entirely understand, these geese absolutely hate men—a fact that Michael Reeves discovered first-hand as they immediately hissed and lined up to declare war on him.

Next, we visited Jupiter, one of our prize-winning Nigerian Dwarf breeding bucks, before heading over to see our rare New Zealand Kunekune pigs, Willow and Winston. Winston is a massive, tusked boar who looks terrifying but is a total sweetheart—though the guys immediately started debating whether the five of them could take him in a bare-handed fight (verdict: Winston would win).

We wrapped up the tour by introducing them to the undisputed patriarch of the ranch: Hercules, our family’s incredible 86-year-old desert tortoise who has been passed down through generations.

The Morning Goat-Milking Ritual

The real fun started the next morning. My wife brought the guys fresh goat milk shooters to wake them up, and then we decided it was time to put these city slickers to work.

We marched them out to the stanchion to milk one of our Nigerian Dwarf does. While William struggled to get a single drop, it turned out Michael Reeves possesses a completely natural, terrifyingly efficient “goat-milking gene.” He blasted a perfect, laminar stream of milk directly into a bowl of chocolate Froot Loops.

Kevin and Allen took their turns too, resulting in a bucket of fresh, warm milk that had a few floating stray hairs from the chaotic process. Tasting raw, warm milk right out of the pasture is a true homesteading rite of passage, even if the guys were a little spooked by the temperature!

Leaving the Gate Better Than They Found It

As any property owner knows, a ranch is a continuous cycle of fixing what’s broken. I happened to have two gates that needed some serious attention, and when you have a crew of elite fabricators on your property, you don’t let that labor go to waste.

We split them into two teams. Kevin and William took on our primary pasture gate. Kevin brought out a piece of his own high-tech gear—an 8,000-watt infrared cleaning laser—to blast the old paint off down to bare metal before they structurally reinforced the steel tube frame.

Meanwhile, Allen Pan and Michael Reeves tackled our bent gate. What should have been a simple repair turned into a heated, passionately nerdy debate over whether a “vertical up” or “vertical down” welding bead was structurally superior. By the time they finished welding, grinding, and painting, both gates looked absolutely fantastic—and I had the rare joy of just standing back and watching the show.

Sharing the Homestead Spirit

Before they loaded back up into their tiny electric cart to continue their 105-mile journey north, we talked about what we do here. At its core, Diamond E Ranch is about connection—connecting people to their food, to the land, and to traditional skills like our hands-on artisan soap-making classes. To have a group so rooted in modern digital technology appreciate the slow, scratch-built nature of homesteading was a beautiful collision of two worlds.

We snapped a great photo together right in front of our main property sign to commemorate the madness before they hit the road.

William Osman, Michael Reeves, Allen pan, Kevin the Backyard Scientist and Josh Erdman at Diamond E Ranch

You can watch the full, hilarious behind-the-scenes documentation of their stay over on William Osman’s second channel. Check out the arrival and ranch tour in the video Michael fixed it, and see the goat-milking and gate-welding chaos in Wrong turn disaster.

Safe travels, guys! The gates are holding up perfectly, and you’re welcome back to the RV pad anytime.

From Foundations to Farm Stays: Celebrating 10 Years at Diamond E Ranch

It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since we first started dreaming of what this land could become. What began as a quiet homesteading project in Nipomo has blossomed into a lifestyle that brings us—and now our guests—so much joy.

Looking back at a decade of growth, I’m often struck by the way we work together to make this ranch run. I always say that I built the barns, but my wife is the one who filled them. While I was out hammering nails and building raised garden beds, she was researching bloodlines for our Nigerian Dwarf Goats and Kune Kune Pigs, mastering the art of the perfect milk yield, and turning that milk into the handcrafted soaps our guests love today.

A Global Gathering Spot

When we launched our Airbnb farm stay in May 2025, we knew we wanted to share our “blessing” with others, but we didn’t realize just how far that reach would go. We’ve been honored to host visitors from all over the world, bringing a bit of international flair to our Central Coast ranch.

Nigerian Dwarf Goat kids relaxing on Diamond E Ranch farm stay.

One of our favorite memories from this past year has been introducing our international guests to a true American tradition: the s’more. There’s something special about sitting around the firepit under the Nipomo stars, teaching someone from across the globe how to perfectly toast a marshmallow. It’s in those moments—sharing stories over a crackling fire—that our ranch feels the most like home.

Sharing the Craft in 2026

Building on the success of the farm stay and a decade of homesteading, 2026 has brought a new way for us to connect with our community. My wife has officially opened the doors to her Artisan Goat Milk Soap Making Class.

For ten years, she’s been perfecting her recipes, using infused oils and fresh milk from our herd. Now, using one of her recipes, she leaves a bar of goat milk soap in the guest suite, and guests are booking her class to create their own. It’s a hands-on “farm-to-soap” experience that lets our guests take a piece of Diamond E Ranch home with them.

Diamond E Ranch soap-making class with participants crafting artisan goat milk soap.

Whether you’re visiting us from down the street or from across the ocean, we hope your time here is a refreshing escape. This farm has been a blessing to our family for ten years, and our greatest joy is continuing to make it a blessing to yours.

Join a soap making class

Goats for Homesteads

A homestead is not complete without some dairy goats. If your dream is to live as independently as possible a dairy goat has much to offer.

Goat Milk and Milk Products

A single dairy goat can consistently produce 2 quarts of milk per day. Some people have concern about goat milk having that ‘goaty taste’. The taste in the milk is mostly based on what the dairy goat is fed. When we first moved onto our farm the ground was covered in eucalyptus leaves and the goat milk did have a faint eucalyptus smell and taste.

To sweeten the milk you should feed your does a higher protein diet with alfalfa and a grain mixture optimized for sweet milk production. We have found that feeding black oil sunflower seeds and shredded beets work very well for this.

We have pleased several of our neighbors with goat cheese and recently started making goat milk soap.

Weed Abatement

The goats will continue to keep their roaming area weed free and the trivial amount of weeds that they would eat will have no effect on the flavor of their milk.

Goats perfect for HomeSteads

Goats for Weed Abatement

Nigerian Dwarf Goats are excellent not only for weed abatement but also tree trimming. Goats eat pretty much everything but being picky eaters they eat the yummy stuff first! With these tips you should have weed free areas just like you imagine and happy goats!

Containment Areas

Nigeria Dwarf Goats are browsers, meaning that they eat a little here and there and just like children they will eat the tastiest stuff first. So the secret to good weed abatement is containment. Create zones using a temporary electric fencing or a portable pen for each area that you want cleaned up. For very low cost you can use T-bars, temporary electric fence wire and an electric fence charger used for 5-miles or less (the type used for dogs works just as well).

Inside this enclosure the goats will be content spending all day munching away on grass, weeds, star thistles, and even poison ivy. Wherever you enclose them, always make sure that your goats have easy access to plenty of water and a bit of shade.

Nigerian Dwarf goats grazing within a temporary electric fence enclosure at Diamond E Ranch.

Goats are great Tree Trimmers!

Nigerian Dwarf Goats are the perfect size for trimming the bottoms of your trees. In our back area all our trees are perfectly trimmed at 4-feet!

Poisonous Plants

Be careful not to give your goats easy access to poisonous plants. They have robust digestive systems and are very tolerant of the occasional unhealthy plant – like a tomato plant. But bad things can happen if they were allowed access to a hill full of nightshade or azaleas. Make sure you do some quick research on the types of plants your property has to ensure they are not poisonous to your goats. Some examples of poisonous plants include azaleas, China berries, sumac, dog fennel, bracken fern, curly dock, eastern baccharis, honeysuckle, nightshade, pokeweed, red root pigweed, black cherry, Virginia creeper, and crotalaria.

Goats for Sale

What to feed Nigerian Dwarf Bucks/Wethers

Nigerian Dwarf Bucks and wethers are fed only grass type hays such as forage hay or Bermuda grass. Because of the urinary tract of male goats, wethers are at higher risk of developing urinary calculi or ‘stones’. The development of these stones can cause an obstruction in the urethral process (a small tube that acts as a urine sprayer). In our feeding practices we avoid feeding legume hay and grain to our wethers and not frequently to our bucks.

Preventing Calculi buildup

There are a couple of things you can do to detour calculi build up. You can supplement their fed with aluminum chloride to counter act the acidity of the urine. Wait to castrate bucklings until they are 3-5 months old to give more time for the urinary tract to mature and open up more. Feeds should be lower protein with plenty of water available.

Also read our article on feeding your Nigerian Dwarf Does and Kids

Goats as Pets

Nigerian Dwarf Goats make excellent outdoor pets. They are herd animals so it is important that you start with a pair of goats or else they will be miserable when by themselves. As herd animals they will see you as part of the herd and come by to be pet and they also love to be brushed.

Pet Goat Cost

The amazing thing about livestock pets is they are low maintenance and low cost. Goats are cheaper to feed than large dogs, as they graze they drop their feces that does not need to be picked up as it makes great fertilizer. You can keep your goats in your backyard so they will keep your lawn trimmed and simultaneously fertilized. Since we got goats and KuneKune pigs I have not mowed my backyard for 3 years!

Nigerian Dwarf Goat in pen, herd animal, Diamond E Ranch livestock pet

Health visits to a livestock Veterinarian are also much cheaper than your typical domestic pet veterinarian and you can expect a healthier animal as the goat is eating feed that they were naturally made for, this is still a question that has yet to be answered by dog and cat food for your domestic animals.

Pet Goats for Sale

Getting your KuneKune Pig Pen Ready

Please take the time to get your property ready for your new animals. When they come to you they are young and small – so if it is winter be sure you have extra bedding until they get more bodyfat. A heatlamp is also a good idea – on very cold winter nights we have used a 250W red heatlamp for the youngest babies. Pigs are particular as to where they urinate and defecate and once they choose a corner that is where they will always go for as long as they live in that pen. So MAKE SURE you make it difficult for them to leave their waste where you need to walk. We will typically take an old pallet (they hate walking on those) and leave it in front of the gates so they use a different corner.

Shelter

Pigs need dirt. KuneKune pigs may not root for food but they lie in dirt to sleep (or bedding when its cold) and need wet soil or even mud if it is hot outside to stay cool. They should also have some shade to get out of the sun. As simple leaning shelter with a corrugated steel roof only 4 feet off the ground will work wonders.

Fencing

Piglets will be sure to exploit any hole they can squeeze through. We recommend using pigwire when you build out their pens, it is strong and the holes are smaller toward the bottom. T-Bars are a great way to erect fencing quickly and still keep it strong. A 3’ tall fence would be just fine but what you want is strong. A full-grown, hungry pig is extremely strong and they can push through anything, so use heavy-duty wires on your Pig Fence

Water

Bowl-type livestock waterer with float for goats and other farm animals. Hog nipple waterer for livestock, recommended for high water pressure. Make sure you have a freshwater delivery system as well. So as you prepare your farm now is the perfect time to run some PVC and setup a livestock waterer.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/little-giant-automatic-waterer

We recommend a bowl type that mounts to a fence and includes a float. Make sure you set these up at the proper height as pigs need them much lower to the ground (especially piglets). You can also use cinder blocks so they can setup up to reach a slightly higher watering bowl.

If you have high water pressure (above 50 PSI) use interactive watering devices like hog nipples.

Feeders

These work great for feeding grain to our pigs. And since pigs are so low to the ground we put the hay in a clean place in the pen. Rubber grain feeder for pigs and livestock feeding.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/double-tuf-rubber-pan-with-handles-3-gal

Getting your Goat Pen Ready

Goats are not considerate of where they go to the bathroom. Unlike pigs they do not have a favorite corner, so plan your pen to make it easy to clean and replace the bedding.

Fencing

Goat kids (and adults) will be sure to exploit any hole they can squeeze through, a table they can climb on, and chew any plant they can reach! We recommend using pigwire when you build out their pens, it is strong and the holes are smaller toward the bottom. T-Bars are a great way to erect fencing quickly and still keep it strong. Make sure your fences are a minimum of 4′ high (but keep climbing objects away from the fence as goats will just jump off a table or large rock over a 4′ fence). Playground equipment for goats would include a toddler slide, large tires buried vertical, boulders, or large spools used by electrical contractors.

Shelter

Goa Dog igloo shelter for goats at Diamond E Ranch ts can live in a simple shelter such as a medium to large dog igloo to a goat condo! What is of imperative importance is that they are able to get out of the weather. There is a common saying among goat owners, “a wet goat is a dead goat.” That being said, goats absolutely hate getting wet! Whatever shelter you choose to buy/build it will need to be mucked out weekly or sooner. When waste matter is left behind (especially if there is no air circulation) ammonia fumes build up and linger at the bottom of the enclosure. The build up and constant inhalation of these fumes can/will irritate the goats lungs and they can develop pneumonia. Pneumonia in goats more times than not results in the death of the goat.

If you buy a dog igloo, get the large size (over 50lb animal) and flat bottomed igloos are easier to rake out.

Water

Bowl-type livestock waterer with float for goats and other farm animals. Make sure you have a freshwater delivery system as well. So as you prepare your farm now is the perfect time to run some PVC and setup a livestock waterer.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/little-giant-automatic-waterer

Paddle water bowl for goats, automatic livestock waterer with float We recommend a bowl type that mounts to a fence and includes a float and if you have high water pressure (above 50 PSI) use interactive watering devices like a paddle water bowl that requires your goat to push on a level with their nose. Put these waterers high enough so they cannot poop in them. Also be prepared to use a cinderblock so your bucklings and doelings can reach the water until they grow taller.

If piped water is not available, use a flat backed bucket and a bracket to mount it securely to the wall of a barn or wooden fence. These buckets are great for feeding. Flat-backed bucket for goat feeding and water access at Diamond E Ranch

Feeders

Flat backed buckets work great for Hay feeder and trough for goats at Diamond E Ranch feeding grain, but if you have many goats I would consider a trough that mounts to the fence. Goats are messy with their hay so use a large trough or a hay feeder.

Fence-mounted goat trough for feeding grain and hay.

What to Feed Nigerian Dwarf Goats

Most people think goats will feed on anything, “tin cans,” but this simply isn’t true; they are actually very picky eaters. In spite of popular belief, Nigerian Dwarf Goats are not strictly grazers actually, they’re browsers. The difference between the two are browsers like to take a nibble here and a nibble there of any bush or tree that they might have access to on your property. Shrubs and leafy plants will be the first things that goats go for, especially the pretty ones! They will eat grass but if they have a choice they will choose leafy plants as evidenced in my backyard. All our bushes are stripped of leaves and the trees are trimmed perfectly at goat head height! However, we still don’t mow our lawn because goats will default to the grass once everything else is no longer reachable.

Now that there is some common ground in defining Nigerian Goat feeding behavior let’s talk about what to feed. What you feed your Nigerian goats depends on 2 things:

The nutritional quality of the soil in which the feed is grown.
The gender and stage of your Nigerian goat.

What to feed Nigerian Dwarf Does

The feeding regime we implement for our Nigerian does involves using quality alfalfa hay in the morning and quality forage hay in the evening. Alfalfa is legume hay and contains more calcium and protein than forage/grass hays. Legume hay (alfalfa) will have about twice as much calcium and protein as grass hay. Does in milk and their growing kids will benefit from the extra protein provided in the legume type of hay. Forage hay as well as Timothy, Bermuda and Orchard grass hay are all grass hays with lower protein and calcium percentages.

What to feed Pregnant Does and growing Kids

Our does are supplemented with a mixture 2:1:1 rolled oats, BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds), and Alfalfa pellets. Does that are in the late stages of pregnancy, about 1 month to go, are given this grain mixture to give them extra nutrition and energy for the finishing of fetal & mammary development. Growing goat kids also need the extra protein provided by the grain. You may be able to find some premixed grain rations available in farm supply/feed stores. Check the label to ensure that the grain mixture is around 16% protein, 16% calcium to 8% phosphorus.

In the end you will have a grain mixture that looks like the picture on the right.

Grain mixture for Nigerian Dwarf goats: rolled oats, BOSS, and alfalfa pellets

What to feed Milk Does

If you have Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats as a source of your own milk, there are things yo can do to influence the flavor of their milk. We have found that if you feed the Nigerian Dwarf Does a 2:1 ratio of the mixture above and shredded beet pulp the combination of the beet pulp and the BOSS will sweeten the milk. It is also a good idea to keep your milking does away from eucalyptus trees and leaves.

You may also want to read our article on feeding Nigerian Dwarf Wethers

Supplementing your herd with Selenium

Nigerian Dwarf goat kid in Diamond E Ranch pen, a source of milk.

Selenium is a form of Vitamin E that usually occurs naturally in the feed for your livestock animals. However, there are several geographic regions where selenium is not found in the soil, so the locally grown hay will be deficient requiring you to supplement. That happens to be the case for our ranch as well.

For goats, a deficiency in Selenium can lead to White Muscle Disease and you can especially see this in your kids. You an consider Selenium the ‘Folic Acid’ for your farm as this is a very important nutrient when your does are pregnant.

Selenium is important for the pig as well increasing the efficiency of the immune system.

Supplementing can be as easy as sprinkling it on their feed, and for goats you can leave the minerals out for them to freely consume.

Diamond E Ranch: Farm Updates and Guide to Homesteading