About Our Goat Ranch
After 43 years in the oil industry, working all over the world, Preston and Sarah Sawyer Neely returned to their part of the family ranch. The Sawyer family has been in the ranching business in Sutton County since the late 1800s when Sarah’s grandfather, Edwin E. Sawyer Sr. came from Maine to Texas to seek his fortune.
Uncle Wesley Sawyer, like many ranchers in West Texas, kept Spanish Goats. Upon Wesley’s death, his nieces and nephews inherited his ranch. At that time, on the Edwin Sawyer ranch, Eddie Sawyer, Sarah’s brother, developed an interest in the Spanish Goats from the Wesley Sawyer line and began to breed those Spanish goats to bring out their strengths. He used a herd consultant and started culling on undesirable traits. When Angelo State University started a buck performance test, he began sending the Sawyer bucks to the test. Upon the death of Edwin and Lura Sawyer, the Sawyer ranch and the livestock, including the superior Spanish Goat herd, were divided among the four Sawyer children.