Meet Morgan Family Farms in Sturgis

Raised in the suburbs of Jackson, she was a self-proclaimed city girl. Drew, on the other hand, was born into a long agricultural legacy. After the two were married, they came back to Drew’s family farm in Sturgis, located just outside of Starkville.

Crazy For Kikos

Drew’s family were hog farmers until the corn shortage of the ’90s put most of the smaller hog farms out of business, but it didn’t take long after moving home for him to return to his farming roots. 

See more: Jackson-Based Farmer of the Year Shares His Passion For Farming

“When Laura and I moved to Sturgis, I wanted pigs and chickens,” he says. 

His co-workers at the time also kept encouraging him to get into the goat business. Since they share farmland with his dad, Steve, he had to do a little convincing for his father to add goats to the family farm, but now, five years later, they are the proud owners of 90 head of Kiko meat goats. 

The Kiko breed originated in New Zealand and is relatively new to America. Amongst goat breeds, Kikos are recognized for parasite-resistance and hooves less-inclined toward foot-rot. 

“Purebred Kikos are really rare around here, but people go crazy over them,” Laura says.

Living near Starkville, a portion of their market is the international community associated with Mississippi State University. The market is interested in goats for holiday celebrations. 

“Mostly, we sell to small families wanting to get into farming and interested in raising meat goats,” Laura says. “That’s what we love about it. We get to teach others about farming and share the love of farming with them. Some folks don’t have a lot of space, but goats can be anywhere.”

See more: Women in Mississippi Agriculture

Full-Time Family

They also raise pastured pork with their four sows and boar. 

“Each sow has 12-16 pigs twice a year,” Drew says. “We had 65 pigs on four sows this past fall.” 

The Yorkshire-Duroc-cross pigs are crossed again with Landrace. 

“The three-way mix helps with disease,” he says. 

Once weaned, the Morgans sell the pigs to others in the community to feed them out for farm-finished pork.

Laura works as a speech-language pathologist in the Starkville School District, while Drew is his own boss at Drew Morgan Land Surveying. The two spend their days working their regular jobs and care for the farm on nights and weekends with much help from Drew’s family. 

“My parents, Steve and Shelia, are retired and play a huge role in the family farm,” Drew says. “We go to work and they feed the goats every morning. In the evenings when we get home, I feed the pigs, chickens and one cow.” 

The story comes full circle as Drew spent many evenings after school washing out hog barns with his father and uncle and credits his father with teaching him everything he knows about farming. 

See more: Women in Mississippi Agriculture

An Unlikely Match

The Morgans have dabbled in other animal pursuits as well, raising 50 turkeys and even raising livestock guardian dogs from their Great Pyrenees who keep watch over the goat herd. 

In an unlikely turn of events in 2021, their dog Dolly − named after Dolly Parton − had recently given birth to a litter of pups when a newborn baby goat found itself orphaned. They were in the middle of a cold winter with lots of snow, so the Morgans put the goat in with Dolly and her pups hoping to keep it warm. 

“Dolly actually took the goat in and was nursing it with her puppies,” Laura says. “He followed her around like that was his mama until the day he went to pasture.” 

The goat was aptly named Lucky. 

Hoofing It

Drew and Laura’s children, Bayne (6), Lilly (4) and Boone (2), enjoy being on the farm. The oldest is getting to the age where he can show livestock and be involved with 4-H. 

For now, the Morgans are putting their focus on raising goats and children on the farm. 

“I was a city girl, and now I’m a country girl,” Laura says with a laugh. “I love every minute of it.” 

To learn more, visit facebook.com/ morganfamilygoats.