Two years ago, we decided to get two little goats, those super cute little Nigerian dwarf goats. We got a boy and a girl and they arrived around my birthday that fall. We named them Lizzy and Darcy (what else, right?) They were great; there was just one problem...
Lizzy was an escape artist extraordinaire. And while even when she escaped out her pen, she was contained safely to the fenced in sideyard, perfectly safe to nibble on well, everything, and play...this led to a different, far worse problem...
Darcy was a crybaby.
Every time Lizzy would escape, he would cry for her. Not a cute little baby goat cry,oh no... it was an "I'm so desperate for you I am going to die if we aren't together immediately sounding like a stuck walrus cry".
So we redid their pen so she couldn't escape anymore.
And she immediately did.
So we redid the pen again. Stronger, higher, taller, no way she can get out. NO. WAY.
But she did.
and the stuck walrus cries continued...daily. (Darcy was nothing if not romantic and insistent in his longing for her).
Lizzy as a baby; apparently a face that Darcy could not go even
5 minutes without being near...
We live on a gorgeous one acre homestead amidst other horse properties and animal lovers and no one near our vicinity ever complained about the bleating cries of Darcy that some mornings started before 5am. But we wanted to be good neighbors so the lovely lady we got them from took them back and re-homed them... and in our defense, the lady who sold them to us, told us she had never in her life heard a goat WAIL like Darcy did! But, this story has a happy ending...I am told a lovely woman and her husband who had 7 acres took them and since she has no other homes within a mile of her, she doesn't mind the escaping and the crying and the goats are happy and Voila! happy ending...for them.
Except... we miss having goats. and the really funny part? About 2 months after we rehomed them, when we went delivering homemade Christmas goodies that year to the neighbors, our closest neighbor lamented that she missed hearing the goats! Really missed them. Where were they? Could we get some more?
Well...Didn't see that coming. LOL.
My eldest daughter and I, the day we picked out Darcy and Lizzy...
Darcy...seriously, the cutest, if not the loudest ever, little goat...
I love making soap and really wanted to have goats milk for my hobby. And Mr. Darcy wants to make cheese, and the kids just L-O-V-E-D giving the little devils their treats each day and helping with their care. (Although even my daughter who was 6 at the time said she did not miss the 5am stuck walrus sounding crying...).
Well, my husband came home this week to report... One of his clients needs to rehome two of her goats. Different breed. More docile. Quiet, (she says). Do we want them? We know this time around we would have to be race-ready with a better, higher, stronger, structure at the get go (the old adage is, if it won't hold water, it won't hold a goat). She thinks our homestead would be "just perfect" for them. Mr. Darcy thinks we should give them another go...
Here are the lessons we learned our first time around:
1. Goats require a pen that is bigger, stronger, taller, better than the pen you are thinking of in your mind. For our next foray into goat-keeping, we need to be prepared with stronger, taller, fencing.
2.Goats CAN be noisy. Keep this in mind if you have neighbors.
3. Goats kept for milk need milked daily. If you travel alot or have a busy lifestyle outside of homesteading, milk goats may not be for you. Or... you need reliable animal care that can perform what they need when you are away (we are lucky to have a wonderful animal loving friend who takes care of our animals when travels take us away from our homestead).
4. Goats are a great homesteading activity for kids to help with.
5. We have missed having them on our homestead, even if we haven't missed the crying.
Have you ever kept goats? What was your experience?
One last thing, I am a new contributing blogger for a great community blog of farm gals...Farm Chick Chit Chat. Please follow me over there by clicking HERE and check out the posts from the other great contributors! All kinds of awesome homesteading/farm related posts all in one place. You are going to love it!
I'll have to keep this in mind. We are soon moving to 10 acres and hoping to get goats eventually. Our neighbors have them and I love to hear them bleating to each other. FWIW: we have three dogs named: Lydia, Bigley, and Willoughby. Another Austen lover checking in...
ReplyDeleteI think baby goats rank right up there with puppies, they are all CUTE! If we lived on a farm, in the country, I am sure we'd have a couple goats. Janet, Brittany, Cauler and Corbin (Brittany's 2yr old twin boys) went to Grants Farm yesterday and the boys said the doggies(actually goats) were trying to get in their pockets.
ReplyDeleteHi! I found you through the Farmgirl Chit chat site. I am a new contributor also and hope to write my first post this week. Been blogging for a while but think this is just an amazing idea! As for goats, we had the same experience when we started keeping goats. I didn't think they could jump so high! They escaped from everywhere! My handy DH though, spent countless hours building a compound that keeps them where we want them. But those first few days.... Good luck with the new goats when you decide to jump back in.- janet
ReplyDeleteGreat tale Katie. Thank you for sharing it. I have chickens and have flirted with the idea of goats. I don't know .... sounds like quite the challenge. I'll look forward to hearing more from you!
ReplyDeleteThe goats are adorable!! I have thought of having goats or chicken... we have the land it's the time I'm not so sure about. Thanks for the great story and the info.:)
ReplyDeleteHi, just read your goats post, LOve it !! and totally know what your talking about with the goat escaping thing, they really can be mischeivious things. We have had goats for the past 5-6 years, and it was a bit of a challenge to start with. We bought two goats who had never been milked and neither myself or my husband had hand milked a goat before either, wow that was not a fun two weeks or so with both us and the goats being throwen in the deep end. But we love them now, and the cheese is GREAT. Haven't tried making soap yet, but hope to in the next few weeks. Is it difficult?
ReplyDeleteI could never have goats because I have people way too close to us. But we always dreamt about expanding our little "farm" as well. Keep us posted on your development.
ReplyDeleteimotylek.blogspot.com
I have A goat. One only. I know this is a no-no (they're very social), but she came with a pot-bellied pig that thinks HE'S a goat. She head-butts him and he charges at her and a fun time is had by all.
ReplyDeleteI also live on one acre. We have 13 hens - and one rooster. The goat bleats, but is not too loud. The pig squeals (for treats) and is louder. But nothing is as loud as the rooster!
My vote is - get more goats!
(Found you at Farmgirl Friday)