A couple of months ago, I launched a Patreon account. I announced it here and have…
ASK ME ABOUT MY GOATS!
WE’VE GOT GOATS and I’m obsessed with them.
Can you believe how darling these faces are?
And these girls are so nice.
I adore them.
BUT WAIT.
Back to the beginning.
We bought the new house about 8 months ago. It’s on 10 acres of land, which is mostly wooded and hilly, with a bit of pasture, and about an acre that is mowed.
Sidenote for those who enjoy geology: Our hills are truly odd for Michigan, which is a really flat state. We’ve got hills because we’re in a glacial end moraine. The geology was formed between three glacial lobes 13,000 to 16,000 years ago and marks their maximum advance. It’s pretty awesome and reminds me a bit of where I grew up in the driftless area of Wisconsin (a part of Wisconsin that is very hilly because it escaped glaciation). You can read more about our geology on the website for a local land conservancy.
Since moving, we’ve been asked many times if we have plans for the land. And the plan has been to not do much. Just live on it and enjoy it. We harvest fallen trees and burn them to help heat the house. We take walks with the dogs.
Jon contemplates hunting the deer (though honestly we see the same deer over and over, so it would be like killing a friend and I don’t eat mammals anyway, so Jon would be on his own). We do have a few deer cams and they are fun.
MAYBE, maybe, maybe we’d get some some of livestock eventually, we said. The land doesn’t have pens or fenced-in areas, so this was a down-the-line proposition. Maybe we’d get sheep. Maybe goats. MAYBE. In a few years.
But then we fenced in a half-acre behind the house to prevent the dogs from visiting the neighbors (which they had taken to doing.)
And then we discovered that there is quite a bit of poison ivy on our land. QUITE A BIT.
And then we discovered REPEATEDLY that I have an above-average allergy to poison ivy.
Did you know that goats have a barnyard super-power?
THEY EAT POISON IVY!
I work in town part-time and its a small town where everyone is chatty. I tend to have trouble with small talk (I’m an introvert), but I do alright if I have some topics to ask people about. I started asking if they had goats or know anyone in the area who did. I just wanted to see what breeds people had an how easy the goats were to keep. No one knew anyone with goats for months and months and then one day, a fellow named Pat, who is a sheep farmer, told me he did know someone with goats and it was a shame he hadn’t known I was interested in goats sooner, because this guy, John, had a really nice pair of goats and had just given them away.
“Too bad!” I said.
But then Pat appeared again the next week and said, “You know those goats? My friend still has them and he says you should call him.” A few days later, we went to John’s house and met the goats. First impressions:
- THEY ARE HUGE. Their shoulders are at my hip. That’s about 38″ above ground. People think our dogs are big and the taller one is only 24″ at the shoulder.
- They are very social. They walked right up to us when we arrived and hung around with us the whole time we were talking to John and Eileen about the goats, which was almost an hour.
- They are well-behaved. They didn’t jump on us at all or butt us. They have been living free-range and never left their owner’s land. They peacefully coexisted with sheep and chickens and dogs.
- They have a lot of personality. They definitely look for little opportunities to misbehave. One went into a greenhouse as we stood there and uprooted some vegetables.
- WE LOVE THEM.
We agreed to take them, but asked for a few days to build a barn for them. As for transport, while we could put them in the back of our Subaru wagon, that’d run the risk of them peeing and pooping whilst in there. Pat, the guy who introduced us, was going to be delivering sheep in John’s neighborhood and said he’s transport the goats to us when he did.
Perfect. Free goats AND free delivery. We had some money to throw at the goats, but building their barn and getting them shots and such was a fun way to spend it. These goats are about as perfect a fit as we could have hoped to find. They are used to dogs and big enough that our dogs will respect them. They have been kept as pets and that’s how they’ll be for us, too. YAY YAY YAY.
Here’s the barn we built:
Please note, this barn is too high off the ground. Whoops. We’re going to put in a porch for it (largely to function as a huge step) this coming weekend.
Also, the barn will get a door when it gets cold, but it’s good as is for now.
Bea and Gracie arrived less than 48 hours after we met them and have already started trimming back our poison ivy. In fact, they actively seek it out and munch on it, which is THE BEST THING EVER.
I’ve started a quilt that depicts the goats, but I’ll post that on it’s own another day. Because today, the goats are getting all the glory.
GOATS!!!!
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you are cracking me up over here!
GOATS!!!!!!!!!!
I remember loving our goat when I was a child. I used to get in trouble because I would pick flowers for it to eat. It's job was to keep the weeds down. They really are sweet animals.
Bring them to my yard in MN……we've got poison ivy too! BTW, they are cute 🙂
I too love goats. But this is what I learned from having goats.
-they love almost all shrubs, including raspberries, roses etc. You can't expect goats to eat grass, cause that's what sheep eat, goats love small but hardy bushy growth. But if they run out or get bored, they will stat knawing off tree bark, they aren't fussy about this. Just a few things I learned and would love to have them again someday. Can't wait to see your goat quilt. If you make it into a pattern I'd love to test it for you. Cheers!
We got goats for our girls and they sold milk for spending money. One was a Nubian called Dynamite but she sure wasn't. Very sweet. She had FOUR kids. I wish we had goats again as they are ALL you said and I see we now have poison ivy! 🙁 enjoy!
Gah!!! You are living the dream! I love goats! Goats and quilts! Bea and Gracie are beautiful and I am so glad they will be your pets. Yay goats! Have you seen the baby goats in pajamas? http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/04/411960057/your-moment-of-baby-goat-bliss
Congrats! I love goats but ooh they have creepy eyes.
You lucky, lucky thing. I had goats growing up, mine being a Saanen I helped my dad deliver via caesarean, after its mother got black teat mastitis. That sort of put me off studying Vet Science. Our goats loved willow, which is as much as pest here, as poison ivy is over your way. Goats are so loving, and nicer smelling than sheep.
watch out for young trees and shrubs. I had some goats and sheep that did a number on my tree seedlings.
My sister and I both love goats and especially the pygmies. We are both gardeners, and roses are a staple, which is why we cannot have goats! Yours are divine! I'm envious.
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
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Keep Posting:)
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
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Keep Posting:)
Thanks for sharing about your goats. I think goats are so neat. I think it’s hilarious how they love to stand on things.
That’s really cool that you have goats now!! I didn’t know that they would eat poison ivy, but that works out so well for you. Are fiber sheep next on the list? Hmm-Cormo, BFL, Merino-so many neat ones to choose from….
Goats are festinating for me. We kept hens in the yard for almost 3 years before the neighbors had had enough. Someday I want to move out to more land and have hens (and a big loud rooster) a small flock of geese, an apple orchard and sheep. I didn’t know goats ate poison Ivey. I am so allergic to that stuff. I should add a goat or two to my list of farm yard creatures. Your goats are awesome!