Samuel Malcolm Abney was elected to the Board of the American Goat Federation (AGF) December 2011. He was born on August 16, 1940 in Prattville, Alabama the first and only son of Zach and Nell Abney. He is the fourth generation of Abneys to live in the family home. His first memories of goats date back to when he was six years old and he continues to raise goats today. His family of goats have been in Christmas nativities, parades, seminars, shows, educational displays at schools and civic functions, nursing homes and goat cook offs. He and his wife have approximately 40 acres within the city limits of Prattville where they raise Boer goats, chickens, peacocks, guineas, pigeons, rabbits, a pot bellied pig, a jersey heifer and a horse. Raising goats is the main business of his family farm.
Mr. Abney attended Prattville Elementary and Autauga County High School, where he often carried animals to school and even rode a goat to school on numerous occasions. He was a member of the FFA and 4-H, and along with his two sisters showed dairy goats, dairy cows and horses. Mr. Abney attended Auburn University where he was a member of ROTC. After Auburn, he attended Alabama Military Academy and graduated commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served for eight years in the Alabama Army National Guard commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant. Later, he attended Massey Draughn Business College. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Prattville and the order of Masons.
Mr. Abney worked in the wholesale grocery business for twenty-five years and later owned his own business, a wholesale produce company, in which his entire family worked. He is currently retired from the business, but continues to run the family farm. He was instrumental in helping develop a handbook for goat producers, copies of which are distributed at shows, auctions, seminars and personal contact with prospective producers. He has been a member of the American Boer Goat Association (ABGA) for about thirteen years, where he has served on several committees, including the finance committee. Also a member of the Alabama Meat Goat and Sheep Committee, he helped get the Goat Check Off passed. Alabama was the first state to implement the Check-Off program for goats and sheep, and the program has been extremely successfully.
He served as the Chief Inspector for the Autauga Country Election committee for several years. When he became interested in Boer Goats, the Autauga Country ALFA Commodity Division, asked him to serve as the chairman of the Autauga County Meat Goat and Sheep Committee, where he continues to serve today. He was also nominated and elected to serve on the state Meat Goat and Sheep Committee. He has been a member of that committee for ten years and have served as chairman or vice chairman for most of those years. He also serves on the A+ Marketing Goat Committee for the advancement of finding ways to promote goats in the medical field.
Mr. Abney comes from many generations of farmers. In 1867, his great grandfather, Capt. Zachariah Abney established himself in Prattville where he practiced law and took up farming. In 1982 he married his wife of twenty-nine years, the former Mary Lou Jones, a retired elementary school teacher. They combined their families of five children and together spent many hours carrying them to church, school functions, sports and civic organizations. Their children excelled in competitions showing cattle, horses, 4-H, church choir and sporting events. They learned firsthand what being a Christian meant, and their families carry on the tradition of love of God and country with their ten grandchildren.