Goats? Oh, yes, goats.

19 October 2013

Artemisia, our sweet little girl

Vincent, our naughty little boy

This year at the county fair some friends of ours were helping in the petting zoo. They had brought two of their young goats to be petted on and one of them kept eating my shirt through the fence. As I stooped to pet him, we were informed that they were for sell.

My husband looked at me with a sparkle in his eye. "Goats are magical creatures" that glint said. "Goats will solve all our problems" it hinted. I knew I was beat right then and there. I knew come the end of the week we would be bringing home goats. So I said, "It's up to you, dear. But you're taking care of them." What else could I do.

I wanted goats. My children and I are allergic to cow's milk and when I lived overseas I came to love goat's cheese, so I've always wanted a goat for milk and cheese. I had researched the ones I wanted, too. Nigerian dwarf goats - little ones that give lots of milk, that start out the size of cats and stay smaller than a black lab, that don't eat a million pounds of food in one day.

But did we get Nigerian Dwarf goats?

Noooooooooooo.

We got Boer goats, big ones that are grown for meat. Big ones that eat a fifty pound sack of feed in a week as well as good grass hay and alfalfa too. Big ones that can knock me over even though they aren't full grown.

Sigh.

I named them after artists. It seemed amusing at the time. Vincent van Goat was just too good to pass up, so of course the little girl had to have an artists name as well. She is Artemisia Gentleschi, a 16th century painter from Italy. Artemisia fit her name from the start. She is very gentle and shy, every bit a little lady even if she is a goat.

Vincent, well, he's certainly grown into his name. The list of his escapades, you ask? Read on my friends, read on.
1) He figured out how to open the door between the chicken house and the garage, get into the feed bins, and help himself to a smorgasbord of chicken feed, rabbit feed, and goat feed.
2) He learned to unlock the hook and eye latch on the gate to the yard with his lips so he can wander through the garden and eat at will.
3) He managed to bump the rabbit feeder enough that it pulled away from the cage and then he opened the lid and poured out the contents. He really likes rabbit feed.

We've only had them for a month now, so I figure with enough time he'll figure out even more things. Lol. If he'd only figure out how to stand up to our bantam rooster that runs him off from the food bin and chases him out of the house, he'd have it made.