Experience Royalty, Award-Winning Feta at Split Creek Farm

Visit Split Creek Farm to see Royal Golden Guernsey Goats and taste award-winning feta

The little-known fact that goats can be dubbed “royal” has unusual significance for the Upstate. Four Golden Guernsey goats born at Split Creek Farm in Anderson are among only eight in the country, and they’ve received His Majesty King Charles III’s designation as Royal Golden Guernsey Goats.

These four came to Split Creek, a small Grade A dairy farm, by way of an enormous amount of planning and breed preservation by teams of experts over nearly three decades. Split Creek’s co-owner Jessica Bell has been part of the effort for at least 20 years. This is the first time in recent history that the protected title has been granted to a livestock breed. The title applies worldwide. “They look British,” says Sandra Coffman, co-owner of Split Creek Farm.

This bonnet-eared rare breed of goat native to the island of Guernsey exhibits more delicate traits than their US counterparts. They are proportionally smaller, and don’t eat as much as other breeds, which keeps them from having weight problems. “They’re economical,” Coffman says. “Very stoic and don’t make a lot of noise.”

They’re also pretty cute, as goats go, with long golden locks, and for a dairy farm, they’re incredibly desirable as they produce milk that has high butter fat, meaning more cheese can be made from less milk. 

The owners of Split Creek Farm have worked diligently with partners in the United Kingdom to preserve and save the long golden-haired Guernsey goat from extinction. The Royal Golden Guernsey breed still remains “at risk” per the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. There are currently around 1,300 Golden Guernsey goats in Britain, according to the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System.

Earlier this year, frozen embryos from an adult Golden Guernsey doe were surgically placed in surrogate carrier does at Split Creek Farm and another goat dairy located in Oregon. This effort resulted in the birth of six Golden Guernsey kids that now carry the newly granted Royal title. The four born at Split Creek Farm are owned by the Guernsey Goat Breeders of America and will eventually move to new homes where they will become foundation breeding animals to continue the Royal breed here in the US.

It will be a little while before that happens, though. Bell says it’s common practice to begin breeding does as young as six months old, but she plans to wait until the new does are at least a year old before breeding. “No teenage pregnancies around here,” she jokes.

Split Creek, where Bell has tended to thousands of goats since 1993 and currently has a herd of 254, is best known for being open to the public and providing agricultural education, along with its award-winning goat cheese. This opportunity to add yet another educational component was worth the years of planning, she believes. 

“We’re keeping another animal from facing extinction,” Bell says.

Award-Winning Goat Cheese

It’s not just a catchy phrase. Split Creek Farms has produced restaurant-quality cheese for years, and their many awards are the proof.