Saturday, September 5, 2009

Goat Wrangling and New Goats


Today hubby and I spent some time managing our herd.  Our latest babies were old enough to be separated from their mothers which meant the boys were taken to the market to be sold (I don't like to think about it) and the mothers moved into another pasture, away from the lone female.  We have to do this because the babies will continue to nurse long after it's necessary for their survival.  It's not easy to move the goats.  We have to load them into a cage in the back of the pickup truck and drive them to the other pasture.  In the meantime, the guard dog and the remaining goats want to run out as soon as we open the gate.  We're trying to come up with a better system - maybe a ramp so we don't have to lift the goats and so we don't have to worry about accidents involving us and their powerful horns. 

In the meantime, while hubby was at the market, a friend called about some female goats he was taking to market and asked if we were interested.  After several calls back and forth, three beautiful young female goats were delivered to our farm.  As is my custom, I had to have a *christening ceremony.*  I spent some time deciding on names and then went out to the barn to determine which name was suitable for each goat.  Thus, we now have:  Angie, Jolene, and Wendy (From left to right:  Jolene, Wendy, and Angie).

The new goats are a bit skittish right now (can't say I blame them) but I think they'll settle down and make a nice addition to White Flint Farm.