Goat Week!

  Goat week, its like shark week only better 'cause its about goats and goats are amazing. I go out a couple times a day to just get my goat zen on. Nothing helps with anxiety or stress quite like watching baby goats at play. That being said I'm going to start out letting you all know I was not supposed to get any goats until next year. Of course, that means Hubs caved and got me some this year anyways. I'm currently up to 7 right now and one of those is pregnant. Poor Hubs. I'm going to do intros today since like I said I love my goats. They are all so different and its so fun to learn their personalities.

  First goat we got was Ruth. We called her Booger for a long time (still do). I wasn't supposed to get a goat thus we had no where to put her. She went into our rabbits outdoor pen and Bunny Barn for a night and day until Hubs threw together a goat pasture. That is just how he works. I tell people how he is a miracle worker but no one really believes me. Anyways, back to Ruth, she was severely underweight and had patchy hair from poor diet. We didn't know it at the time but she was actually pregnant in this picture. Now anyone who knows anything about goats knows they can't be along or they'll be depressed so we had to get another goat... the next day. :) 

   I went and picked up a goat that I was told was a Nubian mix the next day. Her name was Momma for a long time since she was pregnant. It is now officially Esther. I got these goats about the end of May and I was told Esther wasn't due until August, I just want to let you know that due date was wrong. So wrong. As of today, August 2, we have her very happy healthy doeling running around with her in the field and she is about a month plus a week or so. Also now that we know a bit more about goats we don't believe she has much Nubian if any at all. Esther looks to be mostly Saanen mixed with something else, maybe pygmy since she actually has a very short body. 

  Hubs built a shaded little area for the goats out of pallets that we affectionately dubbed the 'goat shack'. One side was water proof thanks to a stapled on tarp and the other just provided shade which is what Esther wanted since everyone knows being pregnant and in the sun is awful. This was a temporary structure. Like I mentioned before Hubs threw this whole set up together in less than 5 days. I pretty much gave the goats unlimited feed at this time too. The grass was still pretty sparse and with Ruth so scrawny and Esther pregnant it just felt like the best plan. Goats are a little bit like potato chips though, once you start.... you just can't stop.

   Next we got this lovely lady, her name was Clementine. That of course didn't go with our theme so we changed it to Abigail. She is younger than the other two goat so she likes to play more which means she made more work for poor Hubs. That little temporary structure he made just wasn't ready for this sweet little girl to jump on. In case you're wondering she is a purebred Alpine goat, no pedigree or anything like that of course since we don't care. Her horns are a little wonky from an attempted disbudding that didn't quite go according to plan.  

   Hubs had to put OSB on top of the goat shelter since she likes to play around on top of it. He also added some more 2x4s to strengthen it up. Also added more tarp so the summer thunderstorms wouldn't be able to blow the rain in. We still consider it to be temporary since we'd like a barn for them to into in the winter time at night. This is more of the field house. 

  In case you think that Hubs does all the work around here. This picture is here to prove you wrong. I made that hay feeder. I even carried the old table up there myself. I'm pretty handy too ;)

Goats like branches. They think they are some of the best treats in the world so we Hubs tries to trim trees a couple of times a week for the goats. Its not like we don't have plenty of trees in desperate need of trimming. I'm going to end day 1 of goat week here since the next goat we added deserves her own post.