Goat Herd: The Girls Are Out & About.

Hooray for Spring in Maine. Finally. It is now time for our girls to escape their barn a bit every day ... to enjoy the greens ... antagonize the chickens ... destroy some perennials ... and follow us all around the yard during our outings.

And here are last year's kids ... You and Sweetie Pie. My how they have grown! And so have their hooves. So, Meaghan and I spent the other morning cutting and filing their hooves down. Not our favorite chore. Or theirs. And sadly, there was some blood involved. Me (our Queen of the herd) is not easy to work with ... and I cut a bit too far by accident ... but all is well now. Well, except that she is WAY overweight ...

... as can be seen above. I am almost embarrassed by this. But my Dad thinks that loving the goats means giving them food every time they "bleat" (click here to hear a goat bleating). And so, I have to give my Dad some of the blame for my overweight goats. No matter how often I tell him to leave them be ... that I know how to care for them ... he doesn't listen ... and thinks I am starving them. Ugh. I think I may need to hide their food from him. But he would likely just buy them more.

But tis the season for less grain and more natural greens ... so here is hoping I can get their weight down a bit.

Sweetie Pie above. Named by Isaac. And totally lives up to her name. She is so very sweet. Except when she bites me for trimming her hooves. She was our replacement for the goat that died within 24 hours of coming to our farm. That sweet goat was named Mini-Me ... and was so very ill. She was Isaac's goat ... and he and I tried desperately to save her ... but she passed in our arms ... and he later picked this one out to replace her on the farm. This Sweetie Pie is all the more important to him because of the passing of Mini-Me. And she is doing very well.

You is above. And she may be my favorite. Such personality. Always hangs out right by my side. Always a bit comical. And never bites when I am trimming her hooves. Thank you, You.

We love our goats. They are way more work then we initially thought ... but their company is so worth it. We have yet to milk them ... or put them to "work" for the farm in any way ... but we do so enjoy them.

And who could possibly resist these faces ...


Or even THIS one. (Our dear Emily).

So there you have it - a quick update on our small goat herd. They made it through a looong winter ... and are so happy to be out and about in the spring mud. As are we :)

ENJOY!

Love,

Jodi