Escaping the big city for a better quality of life, I purchased an incredibly beautiful piece of property through which Onion Creek flows just south of Austin, Texas. Naming it Onion Creek Ranch, I moved there and began fulfilling my dream of building a new life in the country after having been a Houston native. The property had been part of the famed 7000+ acre Heep Ranch that was created after the Depression. When Boone Heep, Jr. died, his widow sold his part of the Heep Ranch to investors. Unbelievably, it was actually platted for townhomes, but the real estate bust which hit Central Texas stopped those plans in their tracks. When I first saw the property, it was in foreclosure, and the neighboring cows were grazing on the pastures and wandering through the house via an open patio door! My house at Onion Creek Ranch.... previously explored by cows wandering in through an open patio door! A place of scenic beauty, Onion Creek Ranch features huge flat rocks that hang over Onion Creek, which is located below a 70-foot cliff behind the house and barns. The creek is 15 feet deep and 25-30 feet wide in places and runs the entire length of the property. Rocky, rolling terrain made it ideal for raising goats. Rocks overhanging Onion Creek Relishing this 180-degree change in lifestyle, I began educating myself about living in the country. After observing the challenges presented by the neighbor's cattle, I began thinking about animals that could be more easily managed by a woman.

That decision was made when I attended an antique furniture auction in San Antonio, Texas. Along with the antiques offered for sale was a novelty item in a box marked "Texas Scare Goat." I came home that night with an antique telephone and a solid white Myotonic doeling about two months old which I promptly, and with tongue in cheek, named "Billie." After a couple of weeks of living in the yard with Rusty dog, Billie was obviously lonely. So the next time I attended the antique auction, Billie's breeder sent a man carrying a tow sack containing a male Myotonic goat. The Grande Dame of Onion Creek Ranch! Onion Creek Ranch Billie in June of 1998

Parts of an old wagon against the tree in front of my house at Onion Creek Ranch   "BOB" spent the entire auction in the bookkeeper's office, admiring himself in a mirror. The bookkeeper told me that I surely had a vain goat on my hands. BILLIE and BOB got together, and BONNIE was born on the next Valentine's Day.

The Onion Creek legacy had begun!

"Renewed" might be a better word, because I found out a few years later that the original owner of my place, Mr. Boone Heep, was the first person in Texas to import Myotonic goats to Texas from Tennessee... back in the 1940's. History had come full circle; the stiff-legs had come home! I purchased goats from two other bloodlines. Ten animals, including the legendary BUCK and nine fine does, came from the Anderson herd in New Braunfels, Texas. Three more heavily-muscled does arrived from the Bertram Ranch in Pipe Creek. Shortly thereafter, I met David Goll, and we decided to join forces and raise these wonderful goats together. Both of us recognized the agricultural potential of animals which had been relegated to the exotic animal trade because of their unique stiffening ability. We realized that this very trait builds large yet tender muscling for which the meat goat industry has yearned.

Bonnie is the Boss and she Knows It and Shows It! Onion Creek Ranch Bonnie, my first born at Onion Creek Ranch and first daughter of Onion Creek Ranch Billie.

The legendary Onion Creek BUCK (on right) at less than a year old when this photo was taken in Dec. of 1991. BOB wasn't so sure he wanted the competition! Especially considering the way BUCK was growing! Click here to see why BOB was so worried!

Onion Creek Ranch Brown Betty & Onion Creek Ranch Natalie. Fullblood TENNESSEE MEAT GOAT™ does.

With careful consideration of bloodlines to avoid in-breeding, occasional selective purchase of new genetics, and serious culling, we bred large and heavily-muscled fullblood Myotonic (Stiff-Legs) back to similar but unrelated fullblood Myotonic goats. I already had on the premises some of the largest Myotonics with which to begin this project. By the Spring of 1995, we had bred a herd of fullblood Myotonic goats of sufficient size and muscling to make them readily distinguishable from the common Stiff-Leg. Recognizing the increased interest in goats that accompanied the introduction of the Boer goat into the U.S., we knew that our improved Myotonic goat would be a valuable addition to the meat-goat industry.

This unique animal we named the TENNESSEE MEAT GOAT™.