Rain rain go away...

I read somewhere in January that goats hate water. Well, they drink water but they supposedly don't like being wet.  Now, I didn't think this was all that true since Francis has frequently run through a sprinkler and played with a hose on multiple occasions. However, during a unexplained downpour this morning (what the heck is a desert monsoon?), they proved the old saying totally correct. When my father and I walked up to the pen we could hear them but we couldn't see any part of them.  As we got closer they got louder and finally when I was at their gate three little heads poked out of the wooden box. Even when I entered the pen with a bunch of alfalfa hay, nobody greeted me. I ended up soaked and placed the hay on the floor of the box. Apparently their discerning attitude regarding eating anything off a floor doesn't apply when it's raining and/or they're hungry.

Weaning

You've got to have a pretty thick skin to wean a goat. Honestly. They cry whenever you leave them anyway, can you imagine what it is like when you leave them and you haven't given them a bottle of yummy milk? It's awful. Truly awful. It pulls at your heartstrings.

Luckily, my girls have had many different culinary experiences in the last month, including daily doses of alfalfa. They would suck down the milk and then run over to the trough where the hay was placed. They also were given tastes of nectarines, peaches, dates, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, grapes and strawberries. So, overall, their weaning experience is relatively painless. They know that they're going to eat something and this something is usually incredibly delicious. However, this does not mean that the girls are making me feel any better about it. Both Rosie and Clover are continuing to make me second guess the decision to pull the bottle away at 3 months. They cry and bleat and scream for minutes and constantly circle around me looking for the elusive bottles.

Since before Francis arrived he was weaned. I think this is why he always seems to laugh and smile to himself when the girls are desperately trying to uncover the non-existent bottles. He knows what this is like. He's been there. He's relishing in their discontent.Soon they too will get over it. But, until then they're going to cry and scream and bleat.

Learning to Walk

Along with training my goats to recognize their names, I'm attempting to teach Francis to walk on a lead with a halter. Of course, the halter doesn't fit his miniature head (why should I think that the smallest halter labeled "kid goat halter" would fit?). So, getting him ready for these training activities is quite the challenge. He doesn't like the bulky thing on his head so he throws his head from side to side for a good solid minute...much like this photo.



Today's session went exceptionally well since Francis followed me around far outside his pen and into new territory. One minor drawback to this excursion, which had not crossed my mind previously, was the response by the girls.  The minute Francis was out of their sight they freaked out. Not only were they bleating they were screaming. Clearly the little girls have a special place in their hearts for my boy. 

Name Calling

I have decided to teach my goats tricks. I want to teach them their names. I don't care if I sound like the "crazy wacko lady who personifies her very un-humanlike animals", I just want the goats to come when I call them. 

Personally, I do not think this will be very difficult to achieve.  Yes, I know that goats are not dogs with the canine inherent desire to please but, I have high hopes that my caprine friends will pull through. For starters, I'm using a great technique...food. Second, it's a food that is well liked by my current subject, Francis--the castrated male.

I began by stuffing my pockets with little pieces of dates (these types of dates) and then waiting until Francis lost interest in my presence. After I walked about 5 feet away, I knelt down and called "FRANCIS" and when he reached me I rewarded him with a date piece.  He eagerly munched on the sweet treat and then I began the process all over again.  After the first two times it became increasingly difficult to walk away from him as he continued to jump on/search me for the extra dates hiding in my pockets. He could smell them through my linen pants and was confused by my reluctance to give him the excess pieces.  However, I managed to do this process six times, each time he was rewarded with his favorite treat.  My guess is that in the next three weeks my little wether will come whenever I call "Francis" with or without the dates.

New Home

They finally arrived! After months of searching, a week of manual labor, a 2 hour drive, and a few hundred bucks...they're here!

The girls are slowly adjusting while Francis is already dominating the ranch.  He was not thrilled with the idea of having dogs run around outside his pen but he's learning to accept their un-goatlike behavior. He's rediscovered milk and is determined to get his little roman nose and mouth at the bottles when they arrive for feeding time. This turns into a game of "push the goat" which we're currently winning but not for long as he's learning to "butt" very well with that little head of his. 

Lap-jumping is the newest favorite thing for the girls.  They both love to jump into your lap while you're sitting in a chair and then they leap off to start the game all over again.

How to Build a Goat Pen

A goat pen can be made of a variety of materials...wood, barbed wire, electric wire, cattle panels or chain-link.  We chose chain-link because it is sturdy and can keep predators out.  Coyotes are prevalent around here and there is a fear that with easy access they would love to take one of my little girls away for dinner. We're going to try our best to prevent this by building a pen made of 6' chain-link fencing.

Since my husband and I are anything but handy, we enlisted the help of my father to assist us in constructing the new goat home. First, we needed to stake out the future post sites.  Next, we dug post holes, then we filled them with sand.  Finally, we set posts in each hole and filled the hole with a cement/concrete mixture.  After we used a builder's level to ensure our posts weren't leaning we let them sit (or rather stand) over night.

The countdown begins

Because of a miscalculation...or rather because of my misreading of a calendar...the goats will be arriving on April 26, 2010. One week from today.

This is what the goat area looks like now. By next Monday it will have:

• 40' x 20' 6 foot chain-link pen
• Sun shelter
• 1 gate
• water bucket
• feed trough
• various toys and platforms

It will also have three goats in it. :) Rosy, Clover and Francis.
Rosy and Clover are Nubian sisters. Francis is a wether who is a Nubian/Nigerian Dwarf cross.

And then there were three...

We have goats! They're still residing in Poway until April 26th but they are ours.

After seeing both Nigerians and Nubians, and speaking extensively with a dairy goat farmer, I decided that Nubians are the goat for me. So, we picked out two cute little Nubian kids (1 month old) and then the lovely lady at Urban Acres Farm threw in a wether as well.  Apparently the wether will be great company for the girls and he will help me realize when the girls are ready for breeding.

This cutie is named Rosy.

This one is Clover.

Goats for Leche

For the past few months I have continuously searched for dairy goats in the Coachella Valley but to no avail.  Perhaps they simply do not exist here.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a small goat farmer and was disheartened to see the conditions the goats were living in. Hundreds of goats to a relatively small pen and nursing does suffering from all kinds of ailments. Additionally, although I repeatedly asked the farmer over the phone if his goats were dairy goats and each time he replied yes, they were not.  We had some difficulty communicating until finally I said, "cabra por leche??" to which he replied, "oh no." thanks

Not all hope is lost because we're driving to Poway, California tomorrow to visit this farm.  I'm confident they'll have healthy, happy and high producing goats. I'm not confident I'll be able to afford them. We shall soon find out.

Searching for Goats

Apparently finding potential dairy goats in the desert is rather difficult.   Although we have a large farm/agricultural population this doesn't include my potential Nubian ladies.

I have almost ruled out the traditional route of going to a licensed/documented/award bragging breeder. They are supremely expensive and since they're so focused on bloodlines, are they really paying any attention to the quality of the milk?

My husband suggested I try local schools and see if their agriculture department has any animals for sale. This morning I thought I had a lead when we passed by a high school that had a sign, "Goats for Sale." Fantastic. I called the operator of the school who gave me the cell phone number to the caretaker of the farm. Then I called the caretaker. This was our exchange:

"Yeah, I've got one goat left."
"Great. Is it a dairy goat?"
"Oh no. It's a BBQ goat."
"A BBQ goat?"
"Yeah. A BBQ goat."

Now, in all my research for dairy goats I have come to know a little bit about meat goats. However, in no article or book or journal are goats ever referred to as a method of cooking.  Albeit slightly uncouth, I guess it makes the transition from farmyard to dinner table a lot easier when you're always referring to the goat as "Daisy, the star of our next neighborhood cookout."

So, the school thing didn't quite work out.

My search continues.

Step 1: Build Goat Pen

If you have a large cleared area of land (at least 10' x 20' per goat) you're ready to build your pen.  However, if your area is not already cleared then obviously you need to clear it before you build. And, if your future goat pen area has an abandoned pig pen in it, you must remove that first.

So, for me, it was Step 0: Remove abandoned Pig Pen.

At first glance I thought, "okay, a good 2 hours should have that chain-link fence up and out of there."  After digging down a few inches and noticing that the bottom of the fence was no where in sight, I re-thought the projected completion time. Then, after digging down 3 feet I thought, "who the hell buries a chain-link fence by more than 3 feet?"

Apparently, pigs are notorious diggers so you must bury their fence so that they can't dig under the pen and wander away.  However, I can guarantee you that there is no pig in the world that can dig down more than 2 feet and thus, to be overly cautious, no fence should EVER need to be buried more than 30".

My first battle with the pig pen ended in frustration and a very sore lower back. I dug and dug and then pulled and pulled and still that pesky fence wouldn't budge. I'm rested and recovered and today I'm bringing in the artillery. A tractor. Instead of fighting with a shovel and desperately hoping that I can unearth the end of the fence, I've enlisted the help of a tractor.  I'm just going to rip that thing from the ground. Best outcome; the fence comes up clean and intact. Less desirable outcome; the tractor pulls up most of the fence and I bury whatever is left. Either way, this fight is already won.





The future site of the goat pen

Birthday Fairy

The Birthday Fairy arrived three days early this year. She arrived in the form of a brown cardboard box from Amazon.com. After initially pondering "did I order something?"and then, "I thought I canceled the items in my shopping cart?" and having my husband look at me in disbelief as if he was thinking, "how in the world can you not know if you ordered something," I realized it must be instead a birthday gift.  Of course that was it, and it wasn't me suffering from the onset of early Alzheimer's.

My fabulous sister sent me these books to highlight her support of my new adventure. She also sent them to show her awareness of my absolute ignorance about goats, and the craziness of this quest. I love her.