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Keeping 14 Goats, Plus Town Clerk Duties, Not Too Much for Silsby
At Ken and Nonie
Silsby’s Kenona Farm, a couple of kids recently chased chickens in
the driveway.
“Maybelle,
Gesibelle, come over here,” Ken called gently.
Ken Silsby plays with kids near
Kenona Farm, which he owns with wife Nonie. |
Though the Silsbys
don’t have any children of their own, they most always have
kids—young goats, that is—running around their property.
The couple has been
raising goats and taking them to fair shows “since my sister-in-law
got me into it,” remarked Ken.
“They’re just too
cute,” he said he remembered saying to her, more than 10 years ago.
Today, visitors to
the Silsby home first see a wall of championship ribbons. And on one
end table stands a slew of the couple’s most recent trophies.
Showing their goats
is a passion the Silsbys have shared with local children for 10
years. The two have been 4-H leaders for more than 30 years.
Ken, a native of
next-door
Aurora,
has called Osborn home for 35 years, and he is enjoying his
retirement from Union River Electrical Co. But he doesn’t plan on
retiring from town government—or from breeding goats—soon.
Currently he serves
as Osborn town clerk, town tax collector and registrar of voters. He
is also a member of the town Fire Department.
As for the goats,
“they don’t help shovel the snow,” Silsby said, though he plans on
keeping them at least until he’s older than 70.
“I can see myself
going to the fair shows with a cane,” he said.
Osborn folks all
know the Silsbys and their goats, too.
Many residents,
such as current 4-H member Crystal Shorey, have been the Silsbys’
4-H students in the past.
Other neighbors
enjoy dropping by their house to taste the richness of homemade
goat’s milk fudge. Most only get the treat once a year at the Blue
Hill Fair.
But this year,
Silsby said that one lady hoped to extend the pleasure, buying a
whopping $45 worth of the chocolate treat—60 pieces.
But most folks just
like stopping by the Silsbys’ home to visit their friends and the
goats, now numbering 14.
When Ken Silsby
recently brought the youngest goats out onto the front lawn, it was
plain to see his love for the animals—and their love for him.
Together the three
scampered around the front hedges, rolled in the grass and acted
like, well, kids.
“What do you think,
Gesi? Time to go back in?” Ken asked the kids.
But each time he
asked, the three went galloping around the yard once again.
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