Originally, we thought of buying goats for Pearl, so that she would have other livestock to guard besides chickens. Then the light bulb came on and we realized, “Hey! We could have OUR OWN RAW MILK!” So in December 2014, we brought home two pregnant sisters, Ice Cream and Cookie Dough, and the goat fun began.
A Sad Goodbye Too Soon
Ice Cream turned out to be ill, and she and her beautiful kids had to be put down in early 2015 for humane end-of-life care; one of our hardest days. Cookie Dough and her two kids, Bucky Buckminster and Princess Moonspot, became our goat herd. You can see them above, Cookie in the middle, Princess on the left, Bucky on the right.
Milking
Amy milked Cookie Dough daily for two years. Cookie hated milking, and was obstreperous and miserable every time.
Nigerian dwarf goats give the richest milk, but, not as much quantity as other breeds. And Cookie Dough did not want to share her milk. A typical milking episode lasted for 45 minutes—for, at times, a few tablespoons of milk.
Milking a peanut (tiny nipples!) attached to a bucking bronco, a hostage, a terrified, violated creature (no matter what you do) is no. fun. So, Amy stopped milking. She practiced more observation and more listening, and more crediting Cookie’s point of view. If Cookie was fighting, Amy switched to the premise there was something wrong that needed to be discovered, rather than, Cookie was being “bad.” (Bonus: Amy spent many hours contemplating how she has been behaving this way in other contexts. Oh Lord.)
Slowly, Cookie rebuilt trust with Amy, and Amy built trust in herself and her instincts instead of listening to other people telling her “how it’s to be done.”
Since milking is over, the goats contribute a few key farm products to support us and the whole operation: joy, amusement, and love.
Goats’ Emotions
Goats are highly emotional, expressive, and pushy creatures.
Cookie was the queen of the herd, and, status was very important to her. She wanted to be greeted first and wanted first treats in the group. If not so honored, she turned to the wall and sulked. She drooped. It was hard sometimes not to laugh, but, she was genuinely crestfallen.
Typically, dairy farmers sell off the wethers for people to eat as meat, to keep the farm feed bills down and to make room for the “more valuable” milk goats. We were clear from the start that we did not ever want to separate the family. We could not imagine the grief they would feel if separated.
Spring 2019 Goat Update
Goat bonus: cashmere! Who knew?!? Brush these proud little animals (bribe: black oil sunflower seeds + Bar Ale SheepKeeper Complete pellets) and clean your brush. You get balls of raw cashmere from their undercoat. Sigh of contentment. Planning to learn how to hand spin. Hoarding cashmere balls.
January 2021 Goat Update
In 2019, Cookie Dough died of natural causes, suddenly and unexpectedly. One day she stood, staring at the back wall of the sleeping hut, and within two days, she was dead. Rest in peace, Cookie. You were a great teacher and friend.
In 2020, Bucky followed. He died of a urinary tract blockage. This happens in wethers, both goat and sheep. We feel lucky to have had so much time with him. His last day on Earth was painful, but we took him immediately to the vet, got him pain relief, and when the problem was quickly diagnosed, with no hope of cure, we agreed to a gentle and humane euthanasia. Rest in peace Bucky. Your friendliness taught us to be more receptive to life’s good possibilities.
With Bucky gone Princess was left alone, after an entire life as a twin. She was shattered emotionally and began withdrawing from life. We put her in with Hercules the ram, who we knew would dominate her and chase her around and make ridiculous overtures, which would get her into the here-and-now. It worked. So well that we came upon them in the beginning of flagarante delecto, and had to separate Princess into an adjoining pen.
Goats are social animals, not meant to live alone. So Leslie Adkins of Heartfelt Fiber Farm was kind enough to let us adopt Mia, a Nigerian dwarf/Nubian mix. Mia came to be a companion for Princess and has drawn Princess out of her grief. Princess is living an entirely new life now with Mia, going out to pasture with the sheep flock for the first time in her life. Mia is a big personality with many charming attributes. Having her in the flock is like having a glass of champagne most days: she makes us laugh and feel merry because she is so outrageous.
Pup adores the goats. He was born on a Nigerian dwarf goat farm, and he always has a penchant for the smell of goat, the company of goat, all things goat. Mia joined right in with this, receiving his adoration with composure.