Got Goats?

Many (many, many) years ago as a kid, I convinced my Dad to get me a baby goat.  At the time we were at a wedding and the neighbors of the bride had a goat that needed a home.  My Dad was socializing with his friends, not really paying me any attention, and certainly not knowing what he was agreeing to (sneaky me, huh?).  The next morning, I reminded him what he had agreed to....he had a vague recollection of saying 'yes' to me the night before and without further discussion, he went to work building a pen for a little goat.  Well, the little goat turned out to be not-so-little, already about 4 months old and big, I named him Max.  I didn't really know anything about goats and kind of fudged my way through the next 7 years.

What I really wanted was a horse, but we didn't enough property for one, so I settled for a goat.   Max grew to be very large.  I used to hook him up to my wagon and he'd take me for a ride or I'd just hop on his back, hold on to his horns and ride him, almost as good as a horse.  When I had parties at my house, we would play 'stay away from Max' as he would try to run us down and smash us with his horns.  A few times my Mom even called me home from school because he got out of his pen and she was afraid to go outside.  He was really jealous of my boyfriend and tried to hurt him as often as possible.  I didn't know it when I got him, but he had CAE, or goat arthritis, and he wouldn't live past 7 years old. 

Fast forward a few (ahem) years, my hubby wanted goats for milk.  After my ordeals with Max, I really didn't want them.  But I got two Nigerian Dwarfs, a Mom, Patches, and her unbeknownst to us pregnant daughter, Greta,

....then 2 more, Twinkle-toes and Divinity

...and now we have 6, two are bucks, Zeke and Max.

I plan to start breeding them, both for the milk and to create more milkers.  Their milk is delicious, very similar in fat content to our Jersey cows, although we don't get much from them.  Mostly I've been making yogurt, ice cream, butter, cheese, soap and saving the left-overs to drink.

For Christmas, my sweetie bought me an Angora and her Nigora daughter.  I can't wait to shear them and start using their fiber.  I've already started looking for an Angora buck, so I can have some more of these beautiful creatures!