10/28/2026
Fellow Guernsey breeders really need to read this and pay attention.
We need to work this problem together as a community so that we are a collective voice rather than giving any one person the ability to stand for the breed again.
One way we do that is by ALL being a voice for guernseys. Get LOUD. Make positive Guernsey posts often and on group pages as well as your own farm pages. SPEAK UP when you see someone working against the goats we love so much. BE VISIBLE so that newcomers to our breed know that they've got many people they can turn to with their questions.
We are brainstorming solutions on the Guernsey and British Guernsey Advocates page. Jump on over if you'd like to help out.
When the people who built a community are no longer welcome to speak, what happens to the community they built?
I believe it's time we had an honest conversation about what's happening within parts of the Guernsey goat community, particularly in the Facebook groups ADGA/BGS Guernsey Goats, American Guernsey Goat Alliance, and American Guernsey Goats & Breed-ups.
These groups have the potential to be invaluable resources for our breed. They connect breeders, educate newcomers, share experiences, and provide a place for people to learn from one another.
But what happens when groups are hijacked, posts are deleted, people are blocked for questioning information or correcting inaccuracies, and disagreement is met with exclusion rather than discussion?
Since when did asking questions, challenging information, or holding a different opinion become a reason to silence someone?
No one is obligated to agree with everyone. Group administrators have a responsibility to moderate their groups. But there's a difference between maintaining reasonable standards and creating an environment where certain perspectives can no longer be heard.
My concern goes far beyond individual posts or disagreements. It's about the long-term consequences for the Guernsey breed.
The Guernsey goats we have today, and the progress made in establishing and improving this breed in the United States, are the result of DECADES of dedication, hard work, careful breeding, and accumulated knowledge. Many people have invested an enormous amount of time, money, and personal effort into preserving and advancing this breed.
That history shouldn't be dismissed. That knowledge shouldn't be lost. And the people who helped build it shouldn't feel that their only options are to remain silent or walk away.
We absolutely need new breeders. We need to welcome them, encourage them, and help them succeed. But newcomers also deserve the opportunity to learn from experienced breeders, hear different perspectives, and have access to accurate information—even when that information challenges what they've previously been told.
What happens when experienced voices are silenced, and disappear from the conversation, while the people who remain are exposed to fewer and fewer perspectives and accurate information?
Who corrects the misinformation? Who shares the lessons learned through years of experience? Who preserves the history and context that can't be found in a registration database or learned from a handful of Facebook posts?
A group can continue gaining members while losing the very knowledge and diversity of experience that made it valuable in the first place.
And by the time the damage becomes obvious, how much will have been lost?
This isn't about demanding agreement. It's about accountability, transparency, and the ability to have honest conversations without fear of being shut out simply for asking questions, expressing a different view or correcting misinformation.
The Guernsey breed is bigger than any Facebook group, and its future should never depend on one person's willingness to allow opposing viewpoints. A breed is built by a community. It shouldn't be controlled by one voice.
Influence is not ownership, and administering a group does not mean speaking for an entire breed.
No single person holds all the knowledge, represents every breeder, or gets to determine which opinions are worthy of being heard. The Guernsey community is made up of people with different experiences, perspectives, and decades of work invested in this breed.
We need to work this problem together as a community so that we're a collective voice rather than giving any one person the ability to stand for the breed.
It took decades for dedicated breeders to build what we have today. We should all be asking whether the way these communities are being managed is helping preserve that legacy—or putting it at risk.
Because the real question isn't who controls the conversation.
It's whether the conversation is still serving the breed.
And that is a discussion worth having.
