Of Goats and Boys

Want to make a 3 year old boy happy? Tell him he can go play with the goats.Want to make the goats happy? Let the boy in the pasture.
Cream Soda is the whitest one, Ginger Ale is right behind her and Leia is bringing up the rear. We have had Cream Soda and Ginger Ale for about three months. We've had Leia for a little more than a month.

We no longer have Teresa and Pixie. As much as I loved them, they weren't the calmest goats and I worried they would be too rough with the younger children. So we sold the whole herd and started over, so to speak.

Cream Soda is a mix of Saanen, Alpine, Nubian and Boer. Eventually my goal is to breed her to a Boer buck to raise meat goats. Remember, our goal here is to be a sustainable homestead. At least to some degree.

While we still rely on commerce for a lot of what we consume, we do raise the bulk of our food. It's nice to know that even though we don't have to rely 100% on what we raise, we do raise enough variety to live fully off what we raise if we ever need to.

Ginger Ale (who is redder than the pictures show) is a mix of Saanen, Nubian and Boer. Although I suspect some Alpine in her line based on her coloring. She will be bred for milking. Her mother, who was Nubian, Saanen and Boer, was milking more than a gallon a day when I bought her. She will be bred to a spotted Nubian buck later this fall. I'm really hoping to get spotted kids.


Leia is full Nubian and gives great milk. She is very sweet and gentle. While she is the queen of the herd, I've never seen her be the least bit harsh with the other two goats. We still had Teresa when we got them and they were scared all the time because she was so mean to them. That was another deciding factor in selling her. She needed a home where they had a larger herd and more room.

Leia will be bred to Yancy, who was the Nubian buck we bred our Toggs to last year. He throws beautiful kids and a fairly high number of spots and doelings.