Goatorama kids of 2014

[Nanno]

Snickers and Sputnik are now officially "too friendly". They're at that endearing yet annoying stage of jumping on people. Sputnik in particular loves to come up and plant his dirty little goat feet on our shorts. Then he hops up and down on his back feet and looks at us if to say "Up! Up!" He keeps at it till someone picks him up and cuddles him (at which point he almost immediately wants back down). These two are little balls of energy. Finn is getting downright fat and consequently less energetic than he used to be, but the new babies are slim and fit and wired 220! They certainly keep Finn on his toes!

I finally had to get Finn a collar. He's gotten too big for me to pick up and move around conveniently. He fought the collar when I first started pulling him around by it so I began tethering him while I feed and milk Lilly. He spent the first morning fighting furiously against the leash, but by the second morning he had it figured out. Now by the third day, he's leading quite well by the collar, which makes him so much easier to handle now that he's such a chunk! I have a feeling Lilly might wean this guy early, and heaven knows it won't hurt him. He's going to be a big randy buckling before the end of summer and I'm already having to think about how I'm going to separate everyone once these boys get too frisky to play with the girls.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Need to play the "throw the baby away game"

pick em up and give em a good toss away from you and say "Get Outta Here". They land jump up in a half circle and run back to you for another toss

[Nanno]

Our little Finn just keeps getting bigger and prettier and more friendly and outgoing with everyone. He LOVES to go hiking and he comes running when we call his name. Today he got separated from everybody and started crying. Lilly and I both called to him and he came to me instead of his mom. It was very heartwarming. He leaps into the truck on command when Phil wants to take him out, and I'm teaching him to lie down on command as well. He's learning incredibly fast!
   

I've never seen brighter, livelier eyes on a goat. The intelligence behind them reminds me of Cuzco, but there's an eagerness to please that shines out the same way it does in a dog's eyes. I hope he never loses this!
   

Finn also loves to sit in my lap (as far as it's still possible). This must be genetic because Lilly used to do the exact same thing till I made her quit when she got too heavy--he waits till I'm sitting down, then he sidles up next to me, puts his head in my lap, then slowly eases himself up one front leg at a time until he has sort of snuggled his way onto my lap. Lilly hasn't done this since last winter, so I know she didn't show Finn how--she must have whispered instructions when I wasn't looking.
   

And I just love those perky ears!
   

[Nanno]

Tomorrow I'll try to make time to throw out some photos of Snickers and Sputnik, who are also getting prettier by the day.

[Nanno]

Faster than a speeding bullet!
   

More powerful than a locomotive!
   

Able to leap tall goats in a single bound!
   

Look! Out in the driveway talking to Phil!
   

Under the tree, posing for the camera!
   

Pestering the dog! It's Snickers and Sputnik!!
   

These two have really been growing nicely, and Snickers is becoming friendlier and more intelligent by the day. He knows his name and comes when he's called now, and he's so sweet and gentle (much like Finn). He also likes to mess with the dog... a lot.
   

Sputnik is also starting to learn his name, but he comes when he feels like it. This little guy has had an attitude since the day he was born and he's getting feistier all the time. He regularly picks fights with Finn (and I'm talking some pretty hard fights!), and I wouldn't be surprised if he was bossing Finn around before long despite the size discrepancy. The second he got over his shyness around me he started testing the boundaries. He went from timidly taking cookies one day to butting my hand as he snatched them away the next. He got spanked twice yesterday for butting me on purpose, once when I wasn't even feeding. He's the little squirt of the bunch so I guess he feels he needs to compensate. Well not with me, buster! Although he's not related to her, his attitude reminds me a little bit of Nibbles. She didn't like to be held or restrained either and was always on the move and scrapping with everybody. Hopefully he can learn to channel his "enthusiasm" or that splashy coat of his is going to look mighty nice as an area rug.
   

[sydneyjd]

You have such cute goats.

[Nanno]

You have such cute goats.

Thank you so much! We strive for aesthetics around here. Our slogan at Goat-O-Rama is "Put some color in your herd!"

Well, there's been great weeping and gnashing of teeth at the Hassey barnyard this week. I set up two goat pens a few hundred yards away from the house in a big patch of woods and overgrown scrub oak that I want cleared. The goats were very unhappy to be moved so far from the house into the big scary forest where they just know the bears are lurking. But I have my reasons: One, the aforementioned brush removal. And two, the boys are going to smell bad very soon and I don't want them anywhere near my back yard.

Since I was moving everybody and they were all upset anyway, I figured it was a good time to also wean the kids. That way I only have to deal with one week of unhappy, crying goats instead of two weeks of cacophony. To be safe, I'm only letting the kids out during the day with the electric fence. At night they are locked in the horse trailer. I don't want anyone getting desperate enough to try jumping through or over and ending up strangling themselves in the netting.

All in all, the kids seem to be taking it pretty well. It's the mamas that are most upset. Petunia screams loudest and most often. She used to have a nice Alpine baa until she had babies, and now she has an annoying Nubian scream. I wish she would shut up. Our new goats seem worried that they've moved to a farm where we torture goats for fun. I'm milking Petunia now in hopes of evening up her udder just a tad more before show time next week. It's not perfect, but at least it's very functional. I think she's nearly a gallon a day milker!

Snickers and Sputnik are nursing off Lilly twice a day now. One night of no food and Sputnik was finally hungry enough to drink off grandma. If Lilly will allow it, Finn still gets to nurse in the morning when the other two are finished. Lilly doesn't like letting her grandkids nurse off her and grumbles and shuffles around a bit, but she throws a fit when Finn tries to nurse. She's definitely of the opinion that he needs to be weaned. I hold her still for the little guys, but I let her decide whether she'll allow Finn. I don't want to get in a wrestling match with Lilly and get kicked or have her flip over the stanchion. She really doesn't like him near her back end any more!

Finn doesn't understand why Lilly suddenly hates him so much, but I have a hard time feeling bad for him. The first thing he did this morning was spray my leg when I went to let the kids out of the horse trailer, and last night he was snorting and stomping when I brought hay. He's also been rubbing his pee-stained face all over me at every opportunity. Snickers came out of the horse trailer missing hair this morning. He obviously got sideswiped with a horn and it's not hard to guess whose it was. It's high time I got this guy away from the girls or there will be kids in January!

[Nanno]

Well, the babies are in their own pen tonight instead of the horse trailer. I put Pac-Man with them to keep them company and also because I MUST get him off the girls' alfalfa. He's terribly fat and I don't want that causing other health issues for him. I didn't realize until I separated him that I'd have to wean Pac-Man too! He's out there crying his eyes out because he's stuck in the boys' pen away from his ladies. At lease the kids are all being quiet and good. Hopefully Pac-Man doesn't work them back up again.

Snickers and Sputnik are very happy with the twice-a-day nursing routine with Lilly. This is the first time in Sputnik's life that he's been able to suckle until he's full to bursting. He staggers away from the udder with that glazed, pot-bellied look common to kids fed by Lilly. I love seeing him so full and content.

[Nanno]

I told you this little guy likes laps!
   

He'd sit here talking to me for hours if I let him. I have to be careful, though, because his horns are at exactly the wrong size right now and all it takes is a slight bop of the head to smack me right in the chin. I got a fat lip three weeks ago because he jumped up on the stanchion just as I leaned down to pick up a bucket. It was an accident, but we all have to learn to be careful these days!
   

Sputnik's coat is going nuts right now. All these dark spots are coming in everywhere on his front end. He's hard to photograph because he simply will not sit still, and photos also don't seem to capture the spots very well yet and leave them looking washed-out compared to what they look like in real life. But he's a crazy-looking critter!
   

He's also incredibly clever! I've been teaching Finn and Snickers to lie down on command (a difficult command to learn, but best taught when they're small). They are getting it pretty well, but when I tried it on Sputnik he panicked, so I decided to back off a bit and teach him some simpler tricks instead. I started out with "spin" and he had it within about five tries. Most goats take a couple of days to even start learning that trick! He was so attentive that I introduced "shake hands" that same morning. He offered me his leg the third time I asked--a new record! Petunia learned it in about five tries last year and I thought she was clever! Hopefully once he "learns to learn" he'll listen to my "lie down" command without having a panic attack the minute I force him to bend his knees and go down.
   

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

cant wait till he is a 250 lbs lap goat!