Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Goats

With the goat shelter ready and in place, we were ready to go pick up our goats over the weekend. Guv'nor was able to borrow a cattle trailer from Neighbor to transport them to our property. Apparently even if the goats are haltered and tied to an open trailer, they can get nervous and still try to jump out. So we needed a covered trailer to make sure they made the move safely.

We are now the happy owners of three female goats. The two brown ones are Boer/Nubian. The greyish white one is a Kiko/Nubian. Guv'nor would like to give them names, so we are thinking of suitable ones.

They seem to like their new home and started in immediately to eat leaves. Within a day Guv'nor had them eating out of his hand. We've started out feeding them a mixture of hay and a little "sweet" feed. 

Initially we will use the goats to clear some of the overgrown areas around the property, keeping them contained and safe using the portable electronet fencing. We would eventually like to have milk from them. We're also thinking about getting a large guard dog for them.

One surprising thing so far about goats is that they can easily stand balanced on their hind legs to reach the tree branches and leaves (or anything else for that matter). Another surprising thing is that their bleating cry sounds almost human and childlike. So those YouTube videos are real.











2 comments:

  1. Do I recognize the cute "Cowgirl" and vicious "Guard Dog" in the foreground of pic #1? TJ..... :-)))))

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    1. Well spotted. We loved having them here and I think they liked being here too.

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