And Then There Were Goats... (Part II)

If you're short of trouble, take a goat.

~Finnish proverb

When we brought Elinor and Marianne home, we placed them in the pasture and expected them to start eating the vast variety of yummy weeds and shrubs and grasses thriving there. (Goats are browsers, preferring a sampling of many things rather than the focused grazing on grass of cows or sheep.) But they just stood at the fence and Meh-ed at us for days. And days. Since their previous owner did not have pasture for them, they were kept in a small pen and fed oats. We continued to do this for a few days but then decided we needed to starve them out and force them to browse. Even then, they mostly just stood at the fence, keeping a watchful eye for one of us to step outside so they could cry at us. They were pathetic. 

Every evening we would let them out with us and they were our shadows. (Actually Elinor was our shadow and Marianne was Elinor's shadow.) We strolled up and down our long gravel driveway while they nibbled on blackberry bushes and dried leaves, never leaving our side. If we had to step inside for a moment, this would be the view from inside (accompanied by very sad crying): 

Feeding a goat is not as straight forward as other livestock. They need a mix of hay (second or third cutting alfalfa), goat-specific mineral supplement, and grain. Plus, they are subject to various ailments like bloat, which occurs if they eat wet grass, kidney stones, and lactic acidosis (grain overload) if their rumen PH falls below 5.5. (I'm not sure I even know what that means.) Plus, many common plants are toxic to them, including rhododendron and laurel (we have both) and tomato plants (which I totally would have thrown to them at the end of growing season, if I had not read this). All of this was stressing me out the first couple of weeks. Finally, we bought some Purina Goat Chow, which I'm sure is junk, but at least won't kill them immediately, and we are purchasing some second cutting alfalfa for the winter.  

They are definitely more comfortable now and venture out into the larger pastures to nibble on goodies, but still prefer to be fed (and if it comes directly from our hands, all the better.) They are more like dogs than farm animals, which took some getting used to, since we already have two dogs and I wasn't really in the market for more. 

Yes, that's Elinor giving me a kiss.

I have grown to love these creatures, but they are a handful. They used to gladly follow us back to the pasture when their time out with us was finished. Now, they're too smart for that and I have literally had to drag Elinor the LONG distance down to the pasture while she dropped to her knees like a toddler who doesn't want to go where she is being led. They force their way through the small chicken door into the coop (actually breaking it) and devour chicken feed (which can also be toxic to them). They mysteriously appear places with no indication of how they got in or out. They truly are endearing though. And they just want to be with us. Is that so wrong?

People ask us why we bought them. Are they working goats? Are they pets? We thought they would work on our weed and blackberry and poison oak problem, but they are so finicky and so small that they could eat every hour for the rest of their lives and really not make a dent. We would like to breed Elinor this fall or spring and sell some kids. (Shock of shocks: Caleb said he would like to keep one of the kids. I'm including that information here because after something is written on a blog, it's irrevocable, right?) After breeding, Elinor will be in milk. I really would like to try milking her, but it is a huge commitment, as goats have to be milked twice a day, at 12 hours intervals. After gushing extensively about how convenient it was to spend a little more money and purchase the pre-sliced Tillamook cheddar from Costco, my dear husband gently suggested that maybe my zeal for pre-sliced cheese indicates that I am not quite ready to tackle home dairy. Touche. So let's face it, they are pets, and we are okay with that.

And Then There Were Goats.... (Part I)

If you're short of trouble, take a goat.

~Finnish proverb

My whole life I have had the inexplicable desire for a goat. I don't know why, except that they are awfully cute and I have heard, are brighter and more like pets than other farm animals. So when we moved to our little homestead property, I promptly purchased The Backyard Goat: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Goats. There are so many breeds of goats and each with their own distinct purpose, from meat to dairy to fiber to transportation (pack goats), that I wasn't really sure what breed would best suit us. But I did discover almost immediately that we did not want a buck (an un-altered male). 

"Though regal and often affectionate to a fault, 

bucks have bizarre habits that make them 

unsuitable for most applications...
Bucks don't make good pets or working goats. "
pg 15

To expand on this, a buck considers female humans part of their herd and courts them, challenging human males for leadership. Although it has been a long time since I've been courted, it hasn't been long enough for me to find a goat's courtship flattering. And while under most circumstances I would enjoy seeing Caleb defend my honor, I would hate to see him battered by a 200 pound, love-struck, horned goat. Believe it or not, that was the least offensive behavior described. I won't go into detail, but bucks are a little obsessed with their private parts and find many unseemly ways to express this. I'm all for home education on the farm, but at this point there are some places I'd just rather not go with my young children. 

In all honesty, after reading The Backyard Goat cover-to-cover, I cooled on my goat plan a bit. They seemed (even aside from bucks), perhaps, more high maintenance than we were up for, and we were busy with baby chicks and cows about to give birth and planting a large garden, etc. I shelved the idea for several months. And then after our calves were safely delivered, I breathed a sigh of relief... and I got a bee in my bonnet: I wanted a goat!! I searched Craigslist everyday. I read blog articles and informational websites to discover a breed that would be suitable for our family. I settled on the Nigerian Dwarf breed for a few reasons. First, they are completely adorable. Second, their smaller stature make them easier to manage and less expensive to feed. Third, if I ever want to pursue my dream of a home dairy, Nigerians are the ideal choice. Fourth, they can be bred anytime of year and usually birth 3-4 kids which can be sold for at least a couple hundred dollars each.  

I found a lady on Craigslist about 20 minutes from us, selling off a large assortment of Nigerian Dwarf wethers (castrated males), doelings (females who have not been bred) and kids. For about three weeks I watched her change her CL ad to reflect her dwindling inventory. By the time Caleb consented (over a peaceful Friday night dinner and glass of wine, sans children) and we landed at her farm the next day, she only had one kid and a few doelings to choose from. She informed us that it really was not an option to only take one because they are herd creatures and absolutely need companionship. Cows can occasionally stand in, but really, they need another goat. We decided to take her one remaining kid, a scrumptious 3-month old black and white female with blue eyes (we paid a premium for this trait, as it is supposedly quite desirable) and a beautiful auburn and white year-old doeling. We opted to pay extra to have them papered so that if we decide to breed them, we can in-turn charge more for the kids because we have proof of their purebred blood lines. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Elinor and Marianne (named after the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility):   

How much cuteness can one picture hold???

We really did not prepare for them in advance. Their owner fed them oats twice a day so I scrounged up some breakfast oats from my pantry. We boarded them in a barn stall. As we looked around for a water container, we noticed a bucket attached to the wall. This property was a goat farm, and not just a regular goat farm, but a dwarf goat farm, so we are actually totally set up for dwarf goats in ways that we did not even realize. The barn has little doors cut into the stalls to allow goats to come and go freely. Each stall has water and feeding troughs at just the proper height for dwarf goats. The fencing around our 3 acres of pasture is specifically designed to keep small (naughty) goats in. This is what we were designed for!  

To be continued...