Our New Baby Goats

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I’m so excited! Yesterday we got our first goats! Aren’t they cute?? Really, we had planned on getting chickens first, before we started getting other animals, but I found an ad for these goats for sale for $35/each and couldn’t pass up that deal!

They are Nubians (w/ a little Boer in them); both female. I plan on milking them eventually. We’ll wait a year or so before we breed them and begin milking. I wanted to get babies so that the kids could grow up with them and they could be used to us. Plus, I want to learn what I’m doing before I start milking them! And, the babies are cheaper to buy. The older they are, the more expensive they get. Normally to buy a full grown Nanny they run about $125! So, this was a good investment.

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They don’t have horns; I’m hoping they won’t get any at all. I don’t see any nubs growing. They are still really timid around us, and won’t let us pet them yet. Jada has been sitting outside of their pen for the past hour, talking to them, singing a “goat song”, and dropping leaves through the fence. She’s so anxious for them to be friendly with her. I assured her that it will take time for them to get used to us, but eventually they’ll be running to play with her when they see her coming.

The people we bought them from sent a bale of hay with us. We also bought them a bag of feed at the tractor supply store for $7 for a 50 lb. bag. That should last at least a few months. I have to double check how much we’re supposed to give them.Their fenced in area is very overgrown, so they have lots of leaves and plants to munch on too.

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Titus kept filling a bowl with hay, hoping the goats would come and eat it. Then he wandered over to a nice pile of hard little round things that looked like a tasty treat, and picked them up to put in the bowl as well. A fist full of goat poop. Yuck!

We were fortunate to have lots of chain link fencing laying around, and two extra dog lots that we were able to construct into a big area for them. We put a padlock on the gate so the kids wouldn’t let them loose before they’re trained to follow. For now we have two big dog houses for them to sleep in at night. They’re so little, these are working nicely. We’ll be building a bigger “house” for them soon.

We haven’t fully decided on names for our new babies yet. Jada wants to name them “Sweetie” and “Jada”, but I told her we better not name one after her, it would be confusing 🙂

I like “Baby Mocha” for the little brown one, and I’ll let Jada keep “Sweetie” for the big one. I’ve gotta see what my hubby thinks though, before we settle on it.

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So, here they are!! Our first goats. I’m so curious what the future holds for us and these goats. I’m excited about the idea of having fresh milk, and being about to make goat’s milk soap too. I hope I like goat’s milk. I’ve never had it, but I’ve been told that it’s a lot like store bought whole milk, when it’s fresh. I did read that after the first day it begins to take on a strong flavor, so it’s best to drink it fresh.

My friend Mrs. Hope has been giving me lots of advice about raising goats. She also told me that anytime I want to come and try some fresh goat’s milk that I’m welcome to come over and taste hers. I’ll probably be seeing her soon. I’ll let you know what I think after I’ve tasted it! And as I learn more about raising goats, I’ll be sure to share all the info that I can!

10 thoughts on “Our New Baby Goats”

  1. If they don’t have horns by a week old – they are not going to get them, they grow in fast. We’ve raised dozens of Nubian / Pygmy baby goats. The more they are handled, the tamer they will get. But goats don’t eat just everything – if there is plenty to choose from, they will pretty much stick with what is good for them. But we did nearly loose our whole herd about 6 years ago when my BIL tossed clippings from some bush into their pen, and since they had eaten their greenery in the fenced area and it was winter and we were struggling to buy enough feed to keep them fed, they DID eat it and got VERY sick.

    Nubians are pretty gentle – and are great milkers. But our pygmy mixed does have very small teets and it is nearly impossible to milk them at all.

    We put dog collars on all of our goats – and it was great to have something to hold onto when you were trying to handle them.

    I’m no expert on goats – but my daughter Vannan has a book about goats that is very good on her Amazon Wish List – she had borrowed a copy from the library. It covers everything for the basics.

    http://www.amazon.com/Your-Goats-Gail-Damerow/dp/0882668250/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1WYM824PMXS57&colid=2FVUJDH8P5XMZ

    It’s from a series, they also have books on chickens, rabbits, cows, and other farm animals.

    They are adorable – I’m sure they’ll be well loved.

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  2. Kendra, your blogging is addicting and influecing. First I bought some Heirloom seeds, then I got a frog plate for my daughter. But I must draw the line with goats!!! They are cute, though. My son drank goats milk for a while when we needed to find an allergy. He drank it and didn’t mind. I am not a milk drinker so I couldn’t bring myself to try it. But did you know in cereal comercials they use goats milk for the look. Good luck with the cuties, and thank you for putting time in to your journaling.

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  3. We had goats growing up. If you have tasted goat milk from the store, its a lot stronger in flavor that fresh if you don’t have a billy. The stronger flavor is thanks to the hormones the nanny’s secrete when there is a billy.

    When our goat had twins we named them Sugar and Spice. I think my mother had something to do with that. They were both full blood Nubians and Sugar had waddles (the hangy bags under the chin), Spice did not.

    We also had some alfalfa pellets to feed them as a treat. It was like the petting zoo we would all line up with little hands of alfalfa pellets and feed the goats. Oh, and another thing you want to watch for is mold growing in the feed. Spring can get pretty rainy, but even the humidity of summer can be dangerous.

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  4. They are small. How old? Are they still bottle fed?

    Hey, we happen to have two male goats (boer and pygmy)!

    The only advice I can give (I’m learning too), is to store your feed (grain & hay)somewhere where the goats can not get into it. We have limited storage area and our female got into a bag of chicken feed and overate herself to death. I guess it’s common for them to do that. There is a shot you can give them, but it seems to but it didn’t work in our situation.

    Also, if you are planning on letting them out to “clean up,” make sure you google plants that are unsafe for goats to eat. I don’t have the list in front of me right now, but there are a lot of things that are unhealthy for goats to eat, like cherry tree leaves.

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  5. Congrats on getting such fun little goat kids! That is great! Maybe you can learn to make goat cheese and write about it? It’s the most amazing cheese ever!

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  6. Wow! You are on your way:)
    The only thing I know about goats is that they eat just about EVERYthing! Our friends, outside the city, have Nubians they somenow ‘taught’ to stay on the property without roaming next door or onto the road. Don’t ask me how, I have trouble with a dog!
    Since we live in the city I don’t think we will be getting goats any time soon. We live near farmland so we take our son whenever the farms are ‘open’ for visits, he LOVES it!

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