NKOTF

People keep asking if and when we’re going to have more kids.

Last Thursday, it turns out.

We let Silas and Petra name them. They decided to call them Sarah (the tan one) and Pigasauce (the dark brown one). The latter name gave me pause. I said, “Do you mean ‘Pegasus’?” and he gave me a withering glance. Silas said he wanted to name him “After an animal and a food.” My mom said, “Well, it sounds like ‘Sarah’ got off easy.”
Then I told her that they’re both boys.

Regardless, the kids are pretty thrilled with each other. The goats love treats and follow Petra and Silas around in hopes that they’ll get a nibble of something yummy.

They’re whethers, which means that they are neutered males. We got them because we have a serious undergrowth problem in our woods. Ever since the derecho brought down several trees a few years ago, the undergrowth has been completely out of hand. And it’s all nasty stuff to deal with, too–poison ivy, greenbriar, multiflora rose. These lovely goats just look at all that mess and say, “Yum!”

We couldn’t be happier with them! They’re already making a dent in the mess that is our woods, and the children totally enjoy them. They seem sweet-natured, if a bit ornery (like all goats).

We’re using some movable fencing and also tethering them. I didn’t like any of the options for tethering that I could find, and then I heard of someone using dog harnesses. They work really well (so far), and have the major bonus of being very unlikely to strangle the goats if they get caught on something. Getting them on the goats was a bit of a trick, but I think they’ll work well.

A young woman at our church breeds goats, and she sold us this pair. She’s quite young–I think only in eighth grade–and I’m amazed by how much she knows. I wish I had known that much about anything when I was her age. She even whethered the goats herself, and immunized them! We’re lucky to have her as a resource we can call on if we get into any trouble with the goats.

We also got four ducklings last week. It was a big week for baby animals at our house. We feel pretty confident about the ducks, though. We’ve raised poultry for several years now. But goats? A whole new adventure!