Educating the massess

I recently made a batch of goat cheese (you can find the recipe here) and everyone that tried it--friends, family co-workers--asked the same question, "Is it from your goats?"

Pardon my frankness but, "Of course it isn't!"

My doe kids are 3 months old, so no, they're not milking at the moment. It seems absurd that highly educated people (including other lawyers) cannot grasp the basic anatomy and life cycle of other mammals. Do women produce milk without giving birth? Honestly, my goat kids aren't even old enough to be bred, let alone old enough to have given birth already.

So, for everyone out there who is woefully uneducated about goats this is for you:

Life Cycle of a Dairy Goat 101:
When goats are born they're called "kids";
Female goats are called "does" and male goats are called "bucks" if they are not castrated and "wethers" if they are;
Goats can be bred at around 8 months of age or when they reach 75lbs;
The gestation period is 150 days;
After kidding (giving birth to baby goats) a doe will produce milk;
Does will continually go into heat for the rest of their lives and if continually bred will live until 11-12 years.

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.

And then they're gone....

When my little Francis arrived at the ranch he was already "banded." (A procedure wherein a very tiny rubber band is placed around the top of the scrotum which continually restricts the blood flow from body to testicles). He walked around like this for weeks and I constantly checked between his legs to see the progress of this intriguing and somewhat disturbing process. Little by the little the testicles shrunk and hardened as they dried up from lack of blood. Little by little the tiny band pulled the skin connecting the sack to the body until one day...they fell off.

So, now I have a wether.

One Month of Residence....

The goats have officially resided on our humble little ranch for 1 month today. During that month I have learned:

• Goats love people
• The procedure of banding a male goat is painful and possibly inhumane
• Goats can learn their names (especially if you have a very yummy incentive for them)
• Cow milk can be fed to kid goats and they'll never know the difference
• If you drop a treat or hay on the ground goats will not eat it
• Human/animal companionship is an absolute necessity in the everyday life of a goat
• Dogs and goats can be friends
• A halter can be made out of the nylon rope from hay bales
• A diet high in date fruits will disrupt the digestive system of a goat
• Pull a goat, don't push it
• Goats jump
• If a goat escapes her pen, she can be easily lured back with treats

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. 

Toys

Goats are incredibly curious. They're so curious that you cannot get a new toy into their pen without them pushing and pawing at it before you get it through the gate. 

Pretty much anything is a toy to a goat. Shoelaces, shirt sleeves, tree branches, boxes, and empty milk jugs are all fabulous toys. Today, I added a wood plank and a large plastic pipe to the goat pen.  Before I could place the plank between the upside planter and the shipping crate they were already walking/jumping/chewing on it. When I rolled the pipe in they were crawling all over it and falling over each other.

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.