Goats Ahoy!

I crossed the Eastern Continental Divide this morning and went to look at goats. I'll be bringing two of them home on Saturday morning. They are two sweet little girls and at least one seems to have a good milking potential. I was wrong in my first mention of them. Their daddy is a rather handsome cream colored Nigerian Dwarf named Dudley and their mommas are La Manchas.




The first looks a lot like her daddy, Dudley. She just didn't want to pose for the camera, but did enjoy a good ear rub and back scratch before she wandered off. Trust me she is quite adorable and reminds me of the goats I had in Africa. The picture doesn't do her light golden coat justice.



The second looks more like her mother, Cow Girl, but with ears (La Manchas have very short or almost non-existant ears; for those of you who didn't check the link above). She's all sleek and svelte. Her udders are very nice and I think based on her mother's and father's records will be a good milker. As you can tell, she likes to pose.

It was fun to visit the farm today. One of Monkey's classmate's mother manages the farm. We chatted and she showed me the milking operation and the new soon-to-open creamery. All the little babies were so cute (I swear baby goats are cuter than labrador puppies!). It gave me courage to try this new venture. All the does just come up and want to be petted and have their ears scratched. The bucks were all friendly now that breeding is done and recieved a fair amount of fawning over. They are smart enough to spot a sucker (that would be me...). Along with the goats, there were chickens and emus. The emus were interesting, but not something I want. The male was growling. I don't need any birds that can growl.

Both of these does are being sold because they will be too small to fit in the owner's new milking stanchions. And she is setting up her new creamery for Grade A status, which means everything is pretty uniform. But they should be good for us. We just have to find a nice small (preferably for the first breeding, Nigerian) buck to breed them to this fall, so they can have kids and freshen for next year. Then it's cheese for everyone!

Now here's the rub. They don't have names (They've both been known as Dudley's girls). I have to come up with names. If we leave it up to Monkey they'll both have princess names or be called Gigi. So that's where you come in. Send me your suggestions. We here at Little Creek Farm will choose the winners. Your prize will be the satisfaction of naming a cute little goat and a jar of Big Daddy's Now Famous Strawberry Jelly Jam! Entries will be taken until Sunday 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Enter as often as you like.

Let the naming begin!