For the Love of Goats

We have been goat owners for a little over a week now and we are loving it!  Let me introduce you to our three 9-week-old goats.  

First, we have Star.  My daughter picked her out when Star was just a day old.  Star is named after the star-shaped white patch on her head. 

She is brown and white with a sweet little face.  She is the only one that has wattles (hair-covered appendages of flesh hanging from the throat area) and the only one that doesn’t have horns.  I guess sometimes they are born without them.  

I love her curious nature and boldness when she wants to see what we have in our hands.  She will stand right up on her hind legs to get to whatever it is she wants to see (or smell).

Next is Star’s twin, Oreo.  Oreo is black and white which was the main characteristic that my son wanted in his goat.   

 

We were so thankful when we saw Oreo, because all the other goat kids were brown.  She doesn’t have wattles but does have horns.  

So each twin is unique in its own way.  It is even more special that my twin children have twin goats!  Oreo is smaller than Star and very shy.  She is the first to turn and run when we approach her.  She goes everywhere her sister goes.  You can definitely tell they are twins. 

Lastly, we have Reeces, Star’s and Oreo’s half-sister.  She is brown with markings on her face like that of a gazelle.   

 

She also has horns and no wattles.  She was born the day after Star and Oreo and has been raised in the same herd.  She was the least scared those first few days and let us pick her up and pet her often.   

 

She is about the same size as Oreo and you don’t see her quite so joined-at-the-hip as Star and Oreo.  My youngest son loves that he can carry her around and hug on her so much.

My kids were a little disappointed that the goats were scared of us those first few days.  

 

We immediately bought some sweet feed and began a new morning routine of feeding them before everyone left for school and work.

 

It didn’t take long before the goats were running to us and letting us pet them.  They LOVE sweet feed.  Goats apparently have a sweet tooth (like me!) and can actually make themselves sick by eating too much.  So, we regulate them to only have a handful in the morning so they don’t get bloated.  Goat bloat is a real thing.  They have such sensitive digestive systems that it can actually cause them to die if it gets too bad. 

 

Goats also love to climb.  We made a pile of pallets and telephone poles (that we cut off the top of the pole barn we are building) to make a little mountain for them.  It sure is fun to watch them play and chase each other.  They use their heads to butt each other off the top as if playing King (or Queen since they’re all girls) of the Mountain. 

 

I am enjoying the new sounds on the homestead.  My parents’ property backs up to ours and although they can’t see straight through to our property, they tell me they can hear the goats occasionally.  The goats don’t bleat a lot, just when we come to them as if to say “hi”, or when we leave them and it seems they don’t want us to go…or when my kids bleat at them and the goats respond.  I think it’s a cute sound.  In fact, just yesterday my kids ran off to go to Nana and Papa’s house and Reeces ran after them, bleating her little heart out, as if to say “wait for me!”

 

When all the kids are gone to school and my husband is at work, I like to go talk to the goats.  I think we are building a really good bond.  They run to me and stand by me, wanting me to pet them.  If I give one of them too much attention the others stand up and put their front legs on me to get my attention back on them...which is the first bit of training we need to work on.  I don’t think we will like having a full-grown goat stand up on us!  But, for the love of goats, they are cute no matter what they do.  

My Take-Aways:

1. Goats are fun and so darn cute.  I am fully convinced that these goats are just as loved, if not more so, than a dog would be on our homestead.  They share a lot of the same characteristics that make them so lovable. 
2. The routine of caring for goats is good for children.  It teaches them responsibility.
3. We will have these goats well after the kids have grown and moved away.  (Although, at this point they say they are never moving away.)  The average life-span of a goat is 20 years.  I look forward to this journey with them.