Goats, goats, goats . . .

Hmm, where to start with introducing the critters . . .?  We have sort of an Old McDonald Farm.  You know, "And on that farm he had a cow. E-I-E-O."  We've ended up with a little bit of everything.

Right now we have two cows, two ponies, two dogs, two peacocks, two roosters (no, we're not building an ark), five goats, a pig, a flock of chickens, three bee hives, three kitties and a Blue Jay (that's a whole other post!). 

Our first farm animal purchase was a herd of goats. 

 

The farm was badly overgrown with weeds and junk trees when we moved in.  We could not see from our property to the nearby neighbor's because of all the overgrowth.  So when we heard of a dairy farm that was going out of business, we jumped at the chance to buy some goats. Around the same time we also bought some meat (Boer) goats. 

 

The goats did a great job of clearing the underbrush.  Plus, our nanny goat, Daisy, gives good, rich milk and we will, in theory, get meat from the Boer goats.  So far we've only bred our meat doe one time and she threw such beautiful bucklings that we sold both of them as herd sires instead of putting them in our freezer.  They're just so darn cute that it's hard to think of slaughtering them.

 

 

The goats have been a constant source of entertainment and also, less often, irritation.  They are the Houdini's of the animal kingdom.  The old joke, "How do you know if your fence will hold goats? If it will hold water" is very true.  They're into everything.  In this picture Peaches (the goat) has untied Belle (the horse).  Run, Belle.  Be free!

 

 

 

We have to make sure every gate is shut and locked every time.

 

 

 



Last year one of our Saanen doelings was sick for a couple of days so she lived in the house until she could rejoin the herd.

 

 

And the other needed a bath . . .

 

 

The goats are headed back up to the barn after a busy day of brush-clearing.  You can see from this picture that they've done a marvelous job; the ground near the barnyard is perfectly clear.  They're having to venture further and further out to find all those yummy weeds.