I'm sure if you ask Mark our stories of how we acquired 2 goats would differ. He likes to claim that it was not his doing, but he's the one that found them on Facebook and told me to contact the seller. Therefore, we have two goats..
Meet Ivy and Benjamin! Two days after we got back from the beach (July 3rd) we went to see about some goats. I told the owner, a woman named Moey, that we were interested in two castrated male goats (whethers) because we were not interested in milking or breeding them, we just wanted weed eaters.
However, in the sea of goats, Ivy, the white female goat, was so calm and sweet. I loved that she loved to have her face rubbed. She was in the beginning stages of drying out, meaning she was not milked daily anymore, but rather was going 3 days or more between milkings to start the process of drying up her milk. If you've ever weaned a baby or tried to dry up breast milk, you get what I'm talking about.
In the end, we ended up taking Ivy with her bulging utters and her one year old son, Nathan, whom we renamed Benjamin or Benji. When I yell, I like calling him Benjamin. It makes me seem like I mean business and I do. 😉
We brought them home in the back of our Expedition with a drop cloth laid down. Luke, the lover of puns, said, "Get it? Drop cloth??!!" He's so weird, but oddly enough, if it weren't for their smell, we would have hardly known they were there!
The actually didn't even poop or pee the almost hour ride home and they were quieter than the human kids!
Goat ownership hasn't been hard, but it can be frustrating. First of all, these goats are a little skittish. The just spook easily which is exasperating at times. The other thing is that they eat the bark off trees. Thirdly, to get them to graze in an area with weeds, we have to tether them to a stake, tree or fence to get them to stay put. When they are tied they need to be monitored almost hourly as they get so tangled up at times. When we are going to be running errands or I'm too busy or lazy to keep checking on them or sending someone else to check, they stay in the paddock up by the house. In 6 weeks, Benjamin has gotten out twice. I suspect they could get out all they wanted, but this has been working out pretty well so far.
I ended up getting pet tags for their collars in the event that they got out and wander away instead of eating my garden and sticking close to home. It has their name, our address and my cell number...just in case.
We used to try to lead them where we wanted to go, but that was ridiculous as they are the size of large dogs and they are strong and kind of dumb. As of lately, they will for the most part just follow us up and down the driveway and come when called. They are kind of like dogs in that way, only a lot dumber!
If you were wondering where we keep them when they are not eating weeds, that would be in the little stall Mark made under the hay loft ladder. We used to store hay and shavings here so we didn't have to go up into the loft daily, but now it's the goats' stall. Mark built this simple little gate and so far, only Ivy has gotten out once. It's working out well!
Our barn is messier now as we store our hay and shavings in a different spot, but I've kind of made peace with that on most days or I'm too tired to care. 😁
We used to have this cool birch tree handrail on the steps going down to the barn, but unfortunately, they thought it was tasty and chewed it until it just fell over one day. It was compromised before we got the goats, so they just finished it off. Apparently, goats are very safety minded!
Ivy and Benjamin have done an amazing job of eating the weeds and brush. You leave them for a few hours and they will eat an area clean.
The funniest thing is that they really like eating the leaves up high more than the ones on their level. If you watch them long enough, you'll see some goat tricks like Ivy pictured above.
The nice thing about having them is that Mark doesn't have to bushhog the paddock anymore because they do a good job of keeping that trimmed down as well. The horses are really only ever turned out in the paddock when the creek floods and our creek is just about completely dried up, so they are saving Mark on mowing.
Sometimes in the evening when we are down at the barn doing chores, we will let them out to free range for a little bit. I'm not ever worried that they will run a way, it's more that they will start munching on our landscape plants and our garden. They really have been pretty harmless. When I want them back in, all I have to do is call them for the most part and they come running like dogs.
Above all else, they are cute to look at!
I love you, Benji! 😍
Ivy's milk is almost completely dried up. It was hard to look at her at first because as a once upon a time nursing mother, I just felt badly for her while she was drying up. She didn't seemed bothered in the least, her udder was just weird to look at.
All the honeysuckle they are munching there is pretty much gone. They are power mowers!
Frank wasn't too sure what to make of them at first, but now they seem to get along. I have been wondering lately, if Ruby would be nice to them if I threw the goats out in the pasture to graze with the horses? Ruby can be a bossy pain in the butt, so I may think on this arrangement for a little while longer.
Goat circus!
More often than not, if they are left to their own devices, they end up in the barn munching on the hay we've thrown down from the loft.
Mark said he wants to get rid of them after they've eaten all our brush, but these two crazies have grown on me and I actually kind of like them. I can't say for certain we will have them forever, but I wouldn't mind keeping them around for a while, especially if I get them to graze with the horses and eat the weeds in the pasture without having to be tied up. Silly goats!
