lemongrass
Chillin' with the herd
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2011
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- 12
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I came over here form the sister site, backyardchickens. I got goats before I got chickens, and I loooove them. My three girls are Alpine, Bailey, and Pepper. At the auction I got Bailer first (a cream/beige colored girl with some black points), then Pepper (I think they call her a grey agouti? kind of salt and pepper colored with black dorsal strip/legs and white patches on her belly on either side), and finally Alpine (a white girl with black points... back stripe, legs, on face...). Alpine was one I just had to have, and we almost lost her in auction. Me and another fellow were "battling it out" bidding higher and higher. Finally I said to myself "I won't go higher than this!" and bid one last time... well I certainly got lucky, cause he didn't bid again! We still didn't spend over $200 for all three, closer to 180 actually. When we brought them home we took their auction ear-tags off and, for a long time, they HATED us. Wouldn't let us near them. I knew eventually they'd come around, we are feeding them yummy grains after all...
Alpine is our leader, Bailey is the second, and Pepper just kind of follows them around. Pepper is the most care-free, but is also the most skittish to be touched. Pepper will also be the first one to eat something new. The first time they went on pasture in the spring, Pepper was muching on fresh grass in no time and showed the others how great it was.
Since going outside and facing all the new things in the world, they've become a lot less skittish. The pasture is visible from the front door of the house, and whenever I go outside the girls bleat and baaa for me and, if I come down off the main step and head anywhere near the direction to the barn, they come galloping inside for their treats. I love it! They used to love my fiance more than me, never could tell why except that I was the one that held them while he took out the ear tags day one... and I suppose they associated me with all the scariness.
Anyway, I've been working with them daily for about a week now, giving them grain in a bucket that their whole head just fist in (keeping them kind of blinded to whats going on around them). When Alpine is digging in now, I can touch her anyway, lift and hold her front feet and starting to be able to hold her back feet... I just don't think she can balance as easily without both back feet being down. I also picked her up to move her today and she didn't fuss at all while in my hands. It was only a second or two, and she walked away from me when placed down, but she didn't cry or fuss at all! I was so proud. The other two are coming around... as well, each day we make progress. I love the tupperware/bucket. It came with cookie dough inside, and I couldn't not use it when I was done making the cookies -- its the perfect size!
So anyway, I have lots of questions about my goats and I'm about to make a post in the appropriate area. Are there any other Maryland-ers out there? If so, I'm looking for a Pygmy billy to breed to my girls, hopefully full bred, but I may accept a half breed if its mixed with something else small, like a Nubian. I'm nervous about breeding my girls to anything with bigger goat genes, since I want their pregnancies to be easy and not to babies bigger than they can handle. If anyone has experience with breeding pygmies in my area I'd love to get to know you and learn from you.
-Katelyn
Alpine is our leader, Bailey is the second, and Pepper just kind of follows them around. Pepper is the most care-free, but is also the most skittish to be touched. Pepper will also be the first one to eat something new. The first time they went on pasture in the spring, Pepper was muching on fresh grass in no time and showed the others how great it was.
Since going outside and facing all the new things in the world, they've become a lot less skittish. The pasture is visible from the front door of the house, and whenever I go outside the girls bleat and baaa for me and, if I come down off the main step and head anywhere near the direction to the barn, they come galloping inside for their treats. I love it! They used to love my fiance more than me, never could tell why except that I was the one that held them while he took out the ear tags day one... and I suppose they associated me with all the scariness.Anyway, I've been working with them daily for about a week now, giving them grain in a bucket that their whole head just fist in (keeping them kind of blinded to whats going on around them). When Alpine is digging in now, I can touch her anyway, lift and hold her front feet and starting to be able to hold her back feet... I just don't think she can balance as easily without both back feet being down. I also picked her up to move her today and she didn't fuss at all while in my hands. It was only a second or two, and she walked away from me when placed down, but she didn't cry or fuss at all! I was so proud. The other two are coming around... as well, each day we make progress. I love the tupperware/bucket. It came with cookie dough inside, and I couldn't not use it when I was done making the cookies -- its the perfect size!
So anyway, I have lots of questions about my goats and I'm about to make a post in the appropriate area. Are there any other Maryland-ers out there? If so, I'm looking for a Pygmy billy to breed to my girls, hopefully full bred, but I may accept a half breed if its mixed with something else small, like a Nubian. I'm nervous about breeding my girls to anything with bigger goat genes, since I want their pregnancies to be easy and not to babies bigger than they can handle. If anyone has experience with breeding pygmies in my area I'd love to get to know you and learn from you.
-Katelyn
