The Chuckling Goat Story: Healing, Holding and Hoping

“Our goal is to leave things better than we found them”. (Shann Nix-Jones, MBE)

The mid Wales town of Llandysul, population circa 1300, is the home of the 2022 World Dairy Awards winner of the Best Probiotic Dairy, Chuckling Goat. It is a pioneering natural health company that was founded in 2014 by American journalist and broadcaster Shann Nix-Jones and her husband, Welsh farmer and harp maker, Richard. However, it originated years earlier. Their son, Benji, was suffering from bronchial infections and as a result of continuous rounds of anti-biotics he developed eczema and stomach problems. Nothing worked and Richard remembered a Welsh old wives’ tale that goat’s milk was good for treating asthma, eczema and bronchial complaints. So, they acquired a goat, and its milk did help Benji but it  produced more milk than they needed. Accordingly  Shann started to search for ways to use the surplus milk. After hearing a Russian Doctor, Natasha Campbell McBride, talking about the benefits of goat’s milk kefir she decided to make it, following  the Doctor’s instructions.

In 2012, four years after they had met, Richard was seriously ill and had to be hospitalised,  where he caught the antibiotic resilient superbug MRSA. In a desperate attempt to save Richard’s life, Shann decided to apply a combination of their goat’s milk kefir and essential natural oils to his skin. Within two weeks he was fully recovered from the MRSA and when tested in the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences  at Aberystwyth University Shann’s essential oils and goat’s milk kefir were found to be efficacious. So, in 2014 Chuckling Goat was founded, working from the table in the farmhouse kitchen. To do so, though, they had to sell Richard’s motor bike to generate the money to purchase the packaging they needed.

While Richard cared for the farm and the goats, Shann looked after the business and learned how to infuse the kefir into soaps and lotions, thereby increasing their product range. Once a week they would take their kefir and hand made soap to the local health food store and sell it for cash which they would then use to purchase fresh produce   from the local farmers’ market. In the first month they made a loss of £1267. Briefly, in 2015, they experimented with a fixed retail outlet in Cardigan but decided against it and opted to trade solely online, using the funds they would have spent on the shop to hire a website developer to build and maintain a world-class website. Also, in 2015 Shann wrote and published her first book, “Secrets from Chuckling Goat” to accompany  their products on the shelves of Fortnum and Mason who had agreed to sell their handmade probiotic skin care. To her surprise the book became a best seller on Amazon, and after she had published her second book in 2017 ( “The Good Skin Solution:  Natural Healing for Eczema, Psoriasis, Rosario and Acne”) they were joined in the business by Richard’s brother, Rhys (Groundskeeper) and their daughters Cerys (Customer Relations Director) and Ella (Creative Director) and her husband, Josh (Operations Director) .

As the business grew new product lines were added. In addition to the award-winning goats milk kefir, the business now offers collagen, mushroom powder, tinctures, skincare, herbal teas, microbe bio testing in partnership with Cambridge University and free advice from a team of 11 in-house nutritional experts. They are now the UK’s leading producer of kefir, with a turnover in excess of £3.9 million, over 120,000 customers in 50 countries, 27 staff and a herd of 50 goats. However, as Shann says   “Cash is not King for us -it’s always been important to us that we work to support our values. We’ve done well by doing good…”. .  We “believe in ecosystems” she observes, “so we value our links to our animals, our team members, our partners and our clients”. To address the sustainability challenge, they:

• Care for their goats and look to improve the diversity of habitats on their 24 acre farm, including planting trees and creating a permaculture orchard.
• Only use natural ingredients and processes. The company does not use machines, preferring to hire people and pay them high wages to keep the process hand made,
• Do not use plastics just recyclable packaging, most of which is made in the UK
• Have reduced their waste products by over 80 per cent
• Work with their suppliers all of whom share their values
• Have created a great place to work with a low carbon footprint.

Accordingly Chuckling Goat is very much an example of Harmonious Entrepreneurship where profit, planet and people are in Harmony with each other. It addresses SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry Innovation and infrastructure), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action) and 15 (Life on Land).

In January 2024, Shann was awarded an MBE for Innovation and Charity in the King’s New Year Honours list. The following year, at the Enterprise World  Global Icons of Impact event in Dubai, she was declared  “The Most Influential Woman in Business to watch in 2025”, having  ‘redefined what it means to lead with heart and impact”.

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