Goats

People keep asking how the goat thing is going. The answer is, mostly awesome. I mean, we have some issues.

Like the goats getting out of their pen and hassling the chickens.

And, you know, generally doing things they aren’t supposed to be doing.

One day, I was bringing the kids home from co-op, and my neighbor flagged me down. “Your goats are up at the slaughterhouse. You’d better go get them.” He gave us directions–it was right across the river from us. Apparently the goats had walked across the dry river bed, just to see what was up there. So the kids and I turned around and headed back up the road. When I got there, a very sweet Old Order lady poked her head out of her window and told me, “Just give me a minute to check my cookies and get my Crocs on.” When she came out and was walking me to the barn where they were secured, she said, “I saw them coming up over the hill and I wondered for a minute if they were surrendering!”

BUT, they are super fun. They prance and head butt. They like to go for walks with us.

They are funny, the kids love them, and they are doing an amazing job clearing some land that we’ve been unable to use for years.

They eat greenbriar, honey suckle, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, wild grapes, you name it. And the more difficult to get to, the happier they are. I can’t wait to see what they do in the spring.

The children are learning a ton from the kids, as they do from all of the animals we have around.

Petra named Sarah, and we’ve never been able to get her to say why. The other day, she asked me when we were going to have baby goats. I said, “No, we need a mommy and a daddy to make a baby goat. You know that. Our goats are both boys.”

She said, “But I named the one Sarah so she could turn into a mommy!”

So then we had to have a little talk about how that sort of thing works, and doesn’t.

We upgraded their fence, using some materials my dad brought us, and Petra and Carlos were a huge help with that–and, again, learned a lot. We gave Carlos the basic outlines of how the electric fence works, and showed him how we needed to clear out everything around it so that it doesn’t ground out. Petra learned that she is a might force. She was hauling rebar all over the place–and it was heavy! She’s so proud of the fence she helped build.

People look at us funny when we tell them that we don’t milk the goats, that we haven’t given much thought to butchering them, that they’re mostly our grounds crew, but we don’t care. They have taught us a great deal, and they’re good company. Also, our woods are going to be a whole new place next spring.

If you’re interested in buying some goats, please be in touch. The young lady I bought ours from is incredibly knowledgeable and great to work with.