I don't claim to be an expert in any sense of the word...but I thought I would share with you somethings I have learned in my week and a halfs worth of being a goat owner.
#1 Goats are herd animals. Yes I knew this before which is why we got two. They MUST be with another goat or bonded to another animal or things will just be a mess. (Truly a mess). So...when getting two baby goats we thought they'd be best friends and all would be well...not so much. It turns out that Mimi bonded to me so much in the first 4 days of having her that I have become the head of the herd...which isn't a good thing unless I am going to plant myself in the backyard and sleep in the "barn" with them. Daisy May is pretty good, she loves to be around me, but she doesn't mind just being with Mimi. So...what ends up happening is that when I go inside Mimi will CRY for me for about 10 minutes and then is fine until she either hears me, or sees me and then we start the process all over again!
#2 The second thing I've learned is that Nigerian Dwarfs, although small and very cute, are not the quietest animals. So...all this whining that Mimi's been doing is actually part of her breed. Even though Daisy isn't a cryer, it's still something that shows up. Also, because these two are babies they are crying for their momma...which right now is me.
#3 Goats (especially babies) are like little Houdini's. They can get in and out of everywhere. They can jump incredibly high and love to be up on top of things. There is a table by our back door that we use for projects as a work bench and then when we eat outside we cover it with a table cloth, etc...well today, I left the girls out of their yard to see if they'd eat the weeds and they came to the back door and cried and cried because they could both see me...then the next thing I know it's quiet and I look out the window to see if everything's okay and this is what I saw:
It was so funny to see them up on the table as close to me as they could be and they were completely happy and content and not making a peep! They have been there for about an hour and a half now...I have since left the kitchen!
So...in order to eliminate this pesky problem, we have decided to bring in a "Nanny" goat, which in the goat world is an impolite way of saying a Doe. We are getting a goat that is currently milking, has recently weened her kids and this will accomplish a couple of things...#1 We will get milk NOW instead of waiting until next summer when our girls are ready. #2 Nutmeg (that's her name) will be the head of the herd naturally because of her age and size and get these girls inline. They will look to her as the leader as opposed to me.
However...I do not want 3 goats...so we have listed Mimi for sale, who seems to be the instigator of the whining and we'll see what happens. We get Nutmeg tomorrow and we will have the three together until Mimi sells or we decide we can handle it! (I opt for selling...less is more!)
So hip hip hurray...tomorrow I get to milk my own goat!
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