WHY WE LOVE OUR GOATS

                                                                                                                      Cinnamon    Feb. 2013     “I don’t need no stinking braces”

      Cinnamon make this face at me with one of the burro’s placed perfectly right behind him.  I happened to have camera in hand.  It was maybe a second in time but I caught it!  So cool because it is so goatish.  Is goatish a word? No.  But I am going to make it one.  Goats make funny faces and expressions.  They do very odd goofy things. When the weather warms up I promise you I will spend some time videotaping them IF I can catch them at the right time.  Once every few days they have these spontaneous intense play sessions which last for about 10 minutes usually spurred on and lead by Sweet Pea. It is HILARIOUS!  Their faces and watching their daily antics is what makes you to fall in love with them.        

         Cinder at the gate.  2010     “LET ME OUT”  A common pose among goats.

When Rockin Roy and I first got Cinnamon and Cinder it was for practical purposes.  I was a city girl becoming a country woman!  I told Rocking Roy we have to learn how to manage this land.   Every spring the grass and brush start to grow like crazy and over take this place.  Can we say FIRETRAP?  Rockin Roy had to spend hours with the weed wacker and I was the lucky one kinda resistant to poison oak who spent hours in the spring and summer cutting brush (when I could have been riding) then burning it in the winter.  Goats were the answer I thought.   Rocking Roy being the saint he is agreed to sign on to the goats.  So we started with two adults.  Long story short now also have 5 growing babies who are all coming up on their first birthday here real soon.

       I have a few photo’s here showing their weird kind of beauty if you can call it that.  Taking photo’s of goats close up with a wide angle lenses is a challenge.  Their first inclination is come right up to you to investigate the camera.

Topaz  Feb 2013                    “Can I eat that thing you are sticking in my face?”

  “If not I’ll just go strip the bark of this redbud since the leaves won’t come out”  NOT!!

Redbud when it is leafed out is their favorite.  Lucky for this tribe of goats, we have plenty of it around here.  Did you know a herd of goats is called a tribe or a trip?  My goats are a trip!  Goats are browsers and go from one scrub to another.  We have plenty for them to choose from.  They like grass but prefer scrub oak, poision oak, manzanita, toyon and  buckbrush  just to name a few.  The only problem is that most are not leafed out in the winter so unless we feed some grass hay they start to strip the bark off a lot of things eventually killing the plant.  NOT good especially on our propagated trees that we need for shade around here.  Another  lesson I’ve learned while becoming a country woman using goats to manage this land.  

       Sorrel    Feb 2013            “Doing my job on the Buckbrush”

  Sweet Pea Feb 2013                         “My Sultry Look”

                                  Sweet Pea’s Halo

                     Dublin  Feb 2013                    “Weird Goat Beauty”

Dublin is our biggest challenge.  He is first at the gate, first to knock over the grain bucket, first to jump up on the hood of someones car.  If fact the only one of my goats that will do that. He lost his brother and buddy Dingle to a mountain lion last fall so poor guy does not have anyone to pair up with like all the others do.  Maybe that is why he is a challenge.  But isn’t he handsome?  He is a Alpine goat and his black and tan marking have a special name that I forgot.  I have to message the vet from New Zealand who told me.  I will find out.  Here is Malachite below getting a drink on a hot day this summer.  Fish in the tank to keep it clean is another trick I’ve learned becoming a country girl.   Boy the stories I can tell about that subject.  I’ll save them for another day.  Signing off for now.

          Malachite           Aug. 2013                     “Goats Head Soup”

                                             Hope you enjoyed my goats for the day.

                             Stay tuned to the drift for more goofy goat stories to come.

                                                             Adios Amigo’s