How Ashley's "Goats With Lasers" Grew With OMTech

Here is one of the simplest yet most encouraging truths in the laser engraving business: some of the best ideas are found in the area of expertise you are already familiar with. For Ashley, the founder of Goats With Lasers, that area of expertise was handmade awards- for her daughter's FFA rabbit show- and it turned into a thriving business now stocked in over a dozen retail stores.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Ashley for a pleasant conversation, during which she was kind enough to share her story of how one small desktop laser, a lot of hustle, and an OMTech upgrade turned into a business built around a niche nobody else was serving: the livestock show community.

2023: Ashley Does a Project for Her Daughter

It started in March 2023 when Ashley's daughter was in her first year of high school and was active in the non-profit called organisation called Future Farmers of America

( FFA). Her advisor reached out to Ashley saying that he needed an award for the annual Bunny Bash rabbit show. Ashley had a small desktop laser at home and figured that, as she says it, she could “figure something out”.

The truth is that she actually could-but barely. At the time, all she had to work with was a tabletop machine; she was “using about three layers of plywood and gluing everything together” in a slow, painstaking process for a single award. But it worked. And it caught attention.

Ashley Discovers an Underserved Niche

Word spread fast. Other families at the show started asking if Ashley could make something similar for their kids. Then more people asked. Then more.

That's when Ashley noticed something the laser engraving world had largely overlooked: the agricultural and livestock-show community. Fairs and shows across the country needed signage, decorations, and awards, and most families were making everything by hand themselves. There was demand, and almost no one was meeting it.

"Being part of the agricultural world really opened my eyes," Ashley said. "I realized there wasn't really anybody in agriculture doing what I was doing, and there was a big market for it."

Hitting the Limits of a Desktop Laser

The problem was capacity. A small, paper-sized desktop laser simply couldn't keep up with growing demand, especially once Ashley wanted to make bigger pieces. 
Livestock shows aren't about small tabletop signs; they're about big animals, and Ashley wanted signage and cutouts to match, like the oversized steer cutouts her daughter used at shows that fairgoers loved.
She started researching, looking thoroughly through all the major laser brands, seriously looking for a laser engraving machine that could handle a larger bed size and higher production speed without adding unnecessary complexity. OMTech stood out. When Ashley saw the OMTech AF3555-130 - 130W CO2 Laser Engraver Cutting Machine, she knew that was exactly what she needed. 

As Ashley told us: "The bigger bed size was definitely part of it, along with how fast the machine could work," Ashley said. "I've been really happy with the brand, and I'll continue using it. It has served me well."

The bigger bed size Ashley noticed was the AF3355's 35” x 55” working area, which is roughly comparable to a large tabletop or a little larger than a standard 4' × 4' sheet when considering usable surface area. It is substantially larger than the working areas found on a desktop and hobby CO₂ laser.

Ashley also mentions how fast the machine could work: that's the  100 - 600 mm/s engraving speed and the 1 - 40mm/s cutting speed of the AF3355 (actual speed depends on material).  

• With an engraving speed of 100–600 mm/s, the machine can process designs quickly, making it well suited to both detailed projects and higher-volume production.
• Flexible cutting speed: A cutting speed of 1–40 mm/s provides flexibility for different materials and thicknesses, although the optimal speed depends on the material being cut.

Is the AF3355 Still Available?

The AF3355 has been discontinued at this time, but you can buy a pre-owned unit.  This is a model that has been previously owned, returned to the Anaheim headquarters, and repaired and tested by OMTech Specialists. The device may have some signs of cosmetic wear and/or structural damage, but is fully operational and functions 100% as intended.

The AF3355 laser engraver has also been replaced at OMTech. The old AF3355 model has been replaced by a bigger and more powerful model, the OMTech Maker AF4063-150. This new 150W CO2 laser machine features a bigger 40" x 63" working area, which is the largest in the Marker Series, still engraves up to 600 mm/s, and gives you much more versatility, including tumbler engraving and more material compatibility.

The AFAF4063-150 is currently on sale and comes along with a free 6L chiller and a free standard rotary. 

The Upgrade That Changed the Business

The new machine didn't just make things faster; it made an entirely different scale of business possible. With a larger processing bed, Ashley could finally produce the bigger signage the livestock community actually wanted, along with a broader range of thank-you gifts, awards, and decorations.
"There's no way I could do what I'm doing now on a tabletop laser," she said. "The biggest changes are the size of the products I can make, how quickly I can produce them, and the amount of product I can get out to customers."

From Etsy Listing to Word-of-Mouth Growth

Not long after upgrading her equipment, it occurred to Ashley that it would be a good idea to open an Etsy store, and she did so on a whim; just a couple of products, mostly to see what would happen. What happened was orders. Enough of them that she paid off her new laser within a few months of opening the shop.

Find Goats with Lasers on Etsy here. 

From there, growth was organic. Ashley made signs for her own kids' stalls at shows; other families saw them and asked where they came from. Word of mouth did the rest, and soon fairs themselves were reaching out directly, often needing custom awards turned around in a matter of days.
Fast turnaround became a defining part of the business. Ashley regularly ships next day, a pace her Etsy customers have noticed and comment on directly, some pointing out she can get them a personalized item faster than standard retail shipping.

Launching the Reusable Chalkboard

About a year into the business, Ashley spotted another gap. Families showing livestock often needed decorations for a different animal every season, and personalized wood signs, while popular, aren't reusable once an animal goes to market.
Her answer: a reusable livestock chalkboard, designed so families could swap animals and details as often as they needed, at a lower cost than a fully personalized sign. She built early versions at a dairy goat show, refined the design after a few attempts, and started posting the results on TikTok.
"I really try to make things affordable because I want every kid to have the opportunity to have great decorations for their projects," Ashley said.

A TikTok Video Turns Into a Retail Partnership

One TikTok video changed everything. A customer who bought a chalkboard after seeing it on TikTok told the retailer Murdoch's about the product. Murdoch's reached out directly, ordering 600–700 chalkboards for a soft test across five stores.
The test worked. Today, Goats With Lasers chalkboards are carried in roughly 15 additional stores, with two to three new locations added most months.
To keep up with retail demand, Ashley now keeps roughly 20 units of each animal species pre-made and ready to ship, replenishing stock as Murdoch's orders come in — a production rhythm built entirely around the speed and reliability of her OMTech machine.

Combining Laser Cutting and UV Printing

As demand grew, so did Ashley's product line. About a year ago, she added a UV printer to her workflow, pairing it directly with her laser cutting process. Instead of hand-painting every piece, a process she'd grown tired of, she could now cut shapes on the laser and add full-color detail with the UV printer.
The combination opened up possibilities that would be difficult for customers to replicate at home, and color options became one of the most requested features from buyers who wanted more than a single wood tone.
A typical chalkboard now moves through both machines: cut from painted chalkboard material on the laser, then finished with colored detailing on the UV printer, before packaging and shipping.

What's Next for Goats With Lasers? 

Today, Goats With Lasers offers a full lineup that flexes with the seasons: ornaments around the holidays, chalkboards during livestock show season, and thank-you gift packages for buyers at market sales. Ashley is currently building out a new Christmas collection and working to shift more of her product line toward acrylic, alongside the wood pieces her customers still love.

Looking ahead, she's eyeing a second UV printer to keep up with growing demand, more retail placements beyond Murdoch's, and continued growth of her own website alongside Etsy. It's a long way from a single plywood award for a rabbit show, built one order, one show, and one machine upgrade at a time.

Ready to build something for your niche? See how the OMTech laser engravers can help you scale from a first project to a full production business.