Joey

Sweet Joey. My first goat and the one who has taught me the most. He was one of the two given to us as a gift. The morning after we got him, he became sick.

It was pneumonia. Knowing nothing about goats, I was lost. I couldn't afford to have a vet come look at the poor guy, so I got on the phone and internet

and started asking questions. What followed was about 3 weeks of constant care, force feedings every 1/2 hour, needles, medication. He lived in a box in our living

room under a heat lamp. As he was too weak to stand, I had to lift him onto his feet and move him around after eating because he needed movement to digest his food.

I cannot even begin to describe the sick feeling at the pit of my stomach and how heart-wrenching it was to see this little guy struggle to stay alive. He hovered on the

verge of death more than once. I saw the look of pity on my husband's face when I'd stand Joey up and try to get him to walk and his legs would fold underneath him.

It came to the point where I realized that I should just let him die. I was prolonging his death and causing him to suffer every day. I went to bed on a Saturday night

with the thought that if he was still alive in the morning, I wouldn't feed him. I'd let him die, because he was so close to death anyway, it would probably be the

most humane thing for him. In the morning, I looked into his box and breathed a sigh of relief because he wasn't breathing...the ordeal was over. Then he lifted his head

and gave the most pitiful little whimper. OMG. I broke out crying and realized I had to keep fighting for him to live. So I did. And he did. Unfortunately, Joey's

problems didn't end there. A short six months later, I went down to the barn one morning to let the goats out and noticed Joey acting very strange. He wouldn't

leave the corner, tilted his head and looked around as if afraid of something. I quickly realized that he'd gone blind. After more phone calls and

internet searching, I found out that he had polio...yes, goats get polio. The cause could have been either a lack of thiamine,

moldy hay (even though I'm so careful), or too much corn (which I'm now more careful about). Believe it or not, the fix was simple

and Joey has his sight back. I'm not sure if it's 100%, it's not as if you can do an eye test for goats :-), and I think he has some problem seeing

well in the dark, but he's basically back to normal. All it took was huge doses of thiamine every 6 hours for a couple of days, then down to 2 times a day

and then once a day for a total of 10 days. Every once in awhile I give him and the other goats a dose of thiamine to ensure none of them end up with polio.

So, to finish a long story, I now have the most amazing, healthy, personable, affectionate goat anyone could ever want.

*Note - Joey's half-brother, Sable, who we got at the same time, died after a few weeks. Turns out it was a selenium deficiency.

If I'd known more about kids, I would have known that a small dose of selenium injected would have saved his life.

Moonbeam

Since goats are herd animals and DO NOT like being alone, I bought another one to replace Sable, so Joey would have a friend. I picked him out from the same farm that Joey came

from. It was so cool walking into a barn full of baby goats. Trust me, all baby animals are cute, but none of them are as cute as baby goats. Of course when I realized that all the bucks

were slated to go to market with 99.9% of them being bought for slaughter, it made my decision very difficult. I knew I'd save one of them, but couldn't save them all. Anyway, Moonbeam

was my choice and he's been wonderful. He and Joey are the best friends. They do everything together. I did have an scary incident when his legs started getting rubbery,

he started tripping and crying at me. I immediately injected him with selenium and within 20 minutes he was fine again. Experience and research saved his life. Now he has a problem

with his back leg which I think might be from an injury. Although he walks and runs on it fine, when he stands, he holds the one leg up of the ground all the time. I did have a

chiropractor come to the farm and treat him a couple of times and it seemed to help, but I'm afraid it's an expense that I can't afford currently. Moonbeam is very protective of me, he takes

his job as herd boss seriously. If I give one of the goats or dogs heck for anything, he comes from wherever he is and stands between me and the culprit. If he's in a bad mood, he'll

go after them and chase them away. He is VERY moody. If Moonbeam walks into the barn or anywhere close to the goats and he's in a mood, they scatter. He doesn't even have

to look at them, they just know it's not safe to be near him. He also has an entire hayrack or grain bowl to himself. Everyone else has to share. :-) Moonbeam is a character.

Rebel

I was bitten by the bug. The goat bug. I wanted more. Of course, my excuse was that if I bought a couple more goats, they'd heat up the barn and be

warmer in the winter. I went back to the farm to pick out a couple of more. I always buy in pairs so they have a buddy to bond with. By this time,

Joey and Moonbeam were too big for a young one to cuddle up to and I knew there'd be alot of herd hierarchy stuff going on. Anyway, faced with about

4 dozen or more kids to choose from, I had to decide who would live a wonderful, spoiled life and who would die. Rebel got my attention because he

was a whirlwind. Insane. Crazy. He ran, jumped, kicked and played with such a love for life, there's no way I could leave him behind. He's been

healthy and happy. His main problem is the horn he has that keeps growing back. Not a major thing, except that it curls around and pushes into his head, therefore,

it needs to come off once a year or so. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as you'd think because it bleeds like a sucker and the poor guy experiences

excruciating pain. I have a vet come to sedate him and give him painkillers.

Merlin

After choosing a high-energy kid like Rebel, I decided to balance it out with a nice, quiet mellow kid. Merlin. The entire time I chased Rebel around trying

to catch him for a cuddle, Merlin lay in the corner and stared at me with his brown eyes. His colors were gorgeous and set him apart from most of the other

goats. Hmmm. My plans for a quiet goat didn't last long. When I got him home and managed to get a better look at him, I realized that he was infested with

lice, fleas, and various other parasites. More than half of his body was covered in bites and a red rash. No wonder he was so quiet, his blood was being

sucked out of him by various mini, unwanted hitchhikers. He was malnourished and anemic. No wonder he lay in the corner quietly, he had no energy to

do anything but. My guess is that he wouldn't have lived more than a few days. So, after worming, de-licing, de-fleaing and pumping him full of vitamins,

his health came back. As his energy came back, he rivaled Rebel for being a hell-raiser. Merlin is the first of my goats to learn how to wave and shake a hoof.

Snowflake

Sweet, loving Snowflake. Even though I'd only meant to buy 2 goats, I ended up bringing Snowflake home with Rebel and Merlin.  The few times I'd gone

to visit the other 2 goats, Snowflake climbed up into my lap, hid his head under my coat and went to sleep. He chose me and no way was I leaving him to go to market for meat.

For the longest time, he was a lap goat and every time he saw me crouch down and lean against the barn, he ran from wherever he was to climb into my lap for a cuddle. Now, he

weighs approximately 190 lbs. so there is no way he can climb into my lap, but he still loves to cuddle. His health has been great. He's my only goat with wattles...the two

pieces of skin hanging down under his chin. Nothing more than goat jewellry, but I like them.

Pixie

The chance came up for me to work on a goat farm to help with bottle-feeding the kids during kidding season. I jumped at the chance. Turns out that

my job involved a lot more than bottle-feeding. I wouldn't even take a guess at how many kids I've helped pull from a mother having a difficult birth.

It's amazing to be part of life and to help clean off the newly-born kid. In an effort to break the cycle of a common goat disease called C.A.E., we took

the kids from the mom and bottle fed them right from the start. It was great at first, but heart-breaking to see the kids grow, fight to keep them alive when

they got sick and start to care for them, then have to load them on the truck for market. I cannot tell you how the personality, intelligence and affection

that goats possess. Anyway, I'm not at the farm any longer, the life of any animal on a factory farm is something that should be tolerated in today's society, but it is.

So, back to Pixie. He was so tiny and used to constantly stare at me unflinchingly. He just stood there with his hooves on top

of the short pen we kept the kids in and watched everything I did. I knew I had to buy him and bring him home to my growing herd. Pixie loves the camera. Every

time he sees it pointed his direction, he has to pose. Can you tell? Pixie also waves and shakes a hoof. He's probably the most talented at these tricks of all my goats.

Lightning

Well, as you've probably learned by now, I couldn't bring Pixie home alone. He was tiny, all my other guys big by now. I'd have to keep Pixie

separate from them for awhile, so he needed company. So, I ended up choosing another kid born 3 days after Pixie. LOL. But as tiny as Pixie was,

the kid I chose was huge. Lightning. Very similar in markings and color to Pixie, just a lot bigger. I'll post a photo below of the two of them so

you can see the difference. Lightning's story is an interesting one. When goats are sick they tend to stand off from the herd, usually with

their head stuck in a corner. When Lightning was about 6 months old, he started spending time alone and always in a corner. I worried that

something was wrong. I checked him out for everything, made sure he was eating right...did everything I could think to do. He was healthy

and growing fast so there was no problem. I felt sorry for him, so I'd take him with me when I'd go down to the manure pile, keep him

in the back of the barn with me when I was doing chores, gave him all kinds of love and special treatment. Surprisingly enough, he perked up

and started socializing with the herd again. He held his head higher and didn't let himself get pushed around by the other guys. Wow. The difference

a little attention made was phenomenal. I came to the conclusion that Lightning suffered from lack of self-confidence. Believe it or not!

*Note - Pixie on the left and Lightning on the right in the first photo below. Big difference in size considering there's only 3 days between them.

Pendragon

Well, with 8 goats and lots of poop to clean daily, I was NOT looking for more goats. But I was still working at the farm and being tempted on a daily basis.

There were about 75-100 bucks at the buck barn getting fattened to send to market. One drew my attention with his black and gold coloring. I tried to get

close enough to pet him, but he turned and ran from me, so I climbed over the fence. When I looked back at him, he was darting in and out of the other

goats to get close to me, so I climbed back over the fence. He ran from again. So, I left...again. It was hilarious. We played this game for a couple of weeks every time I was at the

farm. Each time, he'd come closer and closer, until finally he let me pet him. Pendragon is the most life-loving, inquisitive, carefree goat I have. Somehow, out of a barn full

of other bucks, he got my attention and made me fall in love. So, home he came. A short while later, he got sick and though I treated him for everything that could possibly be wrong,

he didn't get better. After having tests done, I found out he had coccidia, and though I'd treated him for that, he needed a 2nd round of medication. Finally, he got better.

Because he'd been sick for so long and during a growth spurt period of his life, he's one of my smallest goats. I don't think he'll ever grow any larger.

Goblin

I couldn't help it. I was doing one last chore before leaving work and I was told that one of the does was giving birth. Considering the last kid had been

born a couple of weeks earlier, this late birth was a little bit of a surprise. The doe had a difficult time, so with the help of another worker at the farm, we helped

deliver the kid. A big buck. As he was the only kid in the nursery, he soon became very spoiled and expected attention from anyone who went into the

nursery. Of course, being a buck, he was considered useless and the time, energy, and money spent feeding him was considered a waste. I couldn't stand

leaving him to a certain death, so I brought him home. And since he was born on Halloween and black and white, I had no choice but to call him Goblin.

Once I built my herd, I needed a way to protect them against the coyotes that are so prevalent on our property.

I researched llamas and donkeys, but ended up buying a Livestock Guardian Dog. There are about 5 breeds

most commonly used for the job of livestock protection and I ended up with a Maremma. Historically speaking

these dogs would be sent up into the mountains with the herd for the summer months. Left without human contact

and the responsibility of guarding a herd, these dogs learned to think and fend for themselves. Instinct to protect is

strong in these dogs and I've seen our dog in action against coyotes on more than one occasion. Timber was about 2

years old when I bought him and somewhere along the way, he'd been abused. He was food-aggressive, wouldn't let

me touch his ears, paws, or tail. Was leery of strangers at first, though he became a big marshmallow once he got to

know them. The worst thing was when I'd reach for his collar...he'd drop to the ground cringing, yelping and crying

as if I was beating him. It took awhile, but I can take his food from him, put my hands in it, and hug him when he's eating.

I can trim his nails, look in his ears and touch his tail. He loves people so much and, as long as I'm slow, I can

take him by the collar and lead him. I have to be very careful not to pull on the collar, or he still cringes. It breaks my

heart to see such a wonderful, beautiful animal cringing, but he has come so far and I love him dearly. Especially because

he keeps my goats safe.

Timber

When I lock the goats in the smaller barn in the winter, Timber is left alone in the barnyard. I hated closing the gate on him

and leaving him standing alone and watching me walk back to the house. Besides that, I'd heard stories of coyotes

killing livestock guardian dogs in our area. I decided that Timber needed a companion and helper. Since Timber

was 2 years old when I bought him, I decided that this time I wanted a puppy. So I looked for someone who had

a litter of pups the same breed as Timber and picked out a puppy. Phantom is actually a Maremma and

Great Pyrenees cross. I brought him home at 8 weeks old and he's been with Timber and the goats ever since.

I'd never had an outdoor dog until Timber and I've never had to leave a puppy outside. One of the most

difficult things I've ever done was to leave this adorable puppy at the barn and come to the house. He never

leaves the barnyard without the goats (except for the occasional escape) and his life is with them and Timber.

With these 2 dogs protecting my goats, I feel fairly secure that they are safe.

Phantom

The goats and dogs love company, so visitors are always welcome. Please contact me to make arrangements.