ABOUT
MapleWind Caprines is a small dairy goat herd located in Dawn, Missouri that is owned and operated by Laura Warren-Hughes and her three daughters; Elizabeth, Madelyn and Caroline Warren.
While the weather in northwest Missouri may be unpredictable at times, ridiculously cold in the winter and brutally hot in the summer, the photo to the left shows just why we consider our home to be a little patch of heaven. We live for our breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, rolling hills, and loving animals… just three things that make chore time a little more bearable.
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MapleWind may be small, but we have big goals for our tiny herd. We are committed to raising and selling high-quality French Alpines that will be strong and productive animals regardless of where they find themselves across the country. We are continuously working to improve our herd so that MapleWind does will stand out both in the show ring and in the barn.
"How are we going to achieve these goals?" you might ask. Below you'll find our vision and mission statements and along with some of the strategies that we have implemented to achieve those goals. These statements are broad and lofty... but they are supposed to be. This is what keeps us working to better ourselves and our animals.
VISION
Alpines
“To breed high-quality French Alpines that are nationally competitive.”
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MISSION
“To better promote the dairy goat industry by producing productive does, quality genetics, and better communicating our story, methods, and intentions to the modern consumer and fellow breeders.”
STRATEGIES
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DHIR testing
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Annual CAE testing
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Linear Appraisal
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DNA testing
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Exhibit animals both at local and national shows to better compare quality against the breed standard.
BRIEF HISTORY OF MAPLEWIND
Back in 1979, Laura found herself immersed in the Indiana dairy goat industry after begging her father for a horse and receiving a baby Nubian wether, named Moses, instead. While Moses made for a great pet, she quickly moved on to purchasing her first purebred Nubian doe from Joe Pilotte from the Wea herd in Lafayette, IN.
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She began her journey with ADGA by exhibiting at sanctioned shows, attending ADGA’s National Convention, earning her Apprentice judge’s license and being selected as the 1988 ADGA Youth Representative. Serving as the ADGA Youth Representative and traveling the country as a judge helped Laura make connections and friendships with other breeders that introduced her to her love of the Alpine breed.
Laura found herself at the 1989 ADGA National Show where she met her future husband Scott Warren, whom she married in 1991. A year later, she had the opportunity to work for Willow Run in Huber Heights, Ohio. While there, she was able to bring her first Alpine doe, Maple-Glen Classic’s Chelois whom had been sold to her by the Swayne’s. After the birth of her first son, Laura sold Chelois to the Willow Run herd, where she knew she would be managed to her fullest potential, and moved to Missouri to focus on her family.
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Fast forward a few years, the Warren family had expanded to include one son and three daughters that were involved in showing boer goats. Unfortunately, Scott passed away in 2008 and left our family looking for something to bring them closer together once again. Laura decided to venture back into the dairy goat industry after spending years telling the family about the industry that quite literally brought our family together.
Our herd began in 2009 with the purchase of Angel-Prairie Pharoah Fiction from Scott and Marcia Jura, a baby buck (Angel-Prairie Revive Klassic) and two does from the Sycamore-Acres herd. All three girls quickly fell in love with the dairy goats and our journey started.
Over time, our herd has grown but almost all of our animals trace back to Fiction. We were so lucky to start off with her and the hole that she left in our herd will never be filled. Memories of Fiction and showing those first few years will always be cherished dearly.
The rest, you can say, is history!
