I studied about different kinds of goats and decided I wanted La Manchas. The does give lots of milk with high butterfat content and they are especially good-natured. Billy goats are known for being aggressive and butting people a lot, but even La Mancha billy goats are usually pretty nice.
I got a full-grown Doe and a baby that were not related. They were Dusty and Snowy. Guess what colors they were? Dusty was the older one. She looked after Snowy quite a bit in spite of not being related. I took care of them as best I could, which included brushing them and giving them treats and fresh weeds from my garden, in addition to their regular food.
Dusty especially seemed to appreciate how I took care of her. She started showing signs of liking me. Some of these were pretty funny. One I liked the best was when my ex used to yell at me. Dusty always knew. The next time she was around him after he yelled at me, she would kick him or butt him. She even bit him a few times.
I hated leaving the goats in their pen all the time, but there was nowhere else where they would be safe. I thought of a way they could be outside. I hammered in two fence posts for each goat near each other. I ran a wire between them and put a ring on each wire. I hooked a tether to each ring, so the ring could slide along the wire and the goats could move around a lot. I moved the whole setup often so they had fresh grazing. The goats loved it. They could see me while I worked in the garden and they called out to me off and on. I would answer them.
I carried the weeds from each garden row to the end of a row. When there were enough weeds at the ends of a row, I picked them all up and carried them to the goats. They liked the weeds I brought from the garden because the were often a little different variety than those near their tethers. They were also greener and juicier due to the garden being watered in addition to the rain and fog.
Sometimes I kept my nephew to give his mother and he a break from each other. They were already having disagreements when he was three. I took my nephew out to the garden and he went along when I took care of all the animals. This, of course, included the goats. I carefully introduced nephew and goats to each other. It worked out well and the goats clearly decided that nephew was a member of our little herd.
My ex-father-one-law often yelled at nephew to the point of making him cry occasionally. He was too manly even at three to let more than a few tears escape, but Dusty always knew it.
One day the ex-f-I-l, was yelling at nephew when we were done gardening for the day and the goats were loose and headed for their pen and grain, etc. Dusty lowered her head and pawed at the ground. I knew what this meant due to her interactions with my ex after he yelled at me. I warned the ex-fil that he might want to wait on his diatribe or take it indoors. He made a rude comment and continued. Dusty got a good running start and charged him. When she hit his rear you could hear the smack loudly. Although he was over 6 ft. tall and heavy, Dusty got him off the ground. Lol. He was sore for quite a while afterwards. He was also more cautious about yelling at me or my nephew around the goats. My mother-in-law found it all very entertaining. Nephew liked it even better.
The next time I took nephew out gardening I realized that the weed piles at the end of the rows had disappeared. It couldn't be the goats had taken them. There they were on their tether lines. The next time I had a few piles of weeds at the ends of the rows, I looked up to see nephew quietly gathering them and taking them to feed the goats. I had never asked him to work in my garden before, because I thought he was too young. He was only three. He thought differently, and often did little jobs on his own initiative.
I will write more about the goats later.
I got a full-grown Doe and a baby that were not related. They were Dusty and Snowy. Guess what colors they were? Dusty was the older one. She looked after Snowy quite a bit in spite of not being related. I took care of them as best I could, which included brushing them and giving them treats and fresh weeds from my garden, in addition to their regular food.
Dusty especially seemed to appreciate how I took care of her. She started showing signs of liking me. Some of these were pretty funny. One I liked the best was when my ex used to yell at me. Dusty always knew. The next time she was around him after he yelled at me, she would kick him or butt him. She even bit him a few times.
I hated leaving the goats in their pen all the time, but there was nowhere else where they would be safe. I thought of a way they could be outside. I hammered in two fence posts for each goat near each other. I ran a wire between them and put a ring on each wire. I hooked a tether to each ring, so the ring could slide along the wire and the goats could move around a lot. I moved the whole setup often so they had fresh grazing. The goats loved it. They could see me while I worked in the garden and they called out to me off and on. I would answer them.
I carried the weeds from each garden row to the end of a row. When there were enough weeds at the ends of a row, I picked them all up and carried them to the goats. They liked the weeds I brought from the garden because the were often a little different variety than those near their tethers. They were also greener and juicier due to the garden being watered in addition to the rain and fog.
Sometimes I kept my nephew to give his mother and he a break from each other. They were already having disagreements when he was three. I took my nephew out to the garden and he went along when I took care of all the animals. This, of course, included the goats. I carefully introduced nephew and goats to each other. It worked out well and the goats clearly decided that nephew was a member of our little herd.
My ex-father-one-law often yelled at nephew to the point of making him cry occasionally. He was too manly even at three to let more than a few tears escape, but Dusty always knew it.
One day the ex-f-I-l, was yelling at nephew when we were done gardening for the day and the goats were loose and headed for their pen and grain, etc. Dusty lowered her head and pawed at the ground. I knew what this meant due to her interactions with my ex after he yelled at me. I warned the ex-fil that he might want to wait on his diatribe or take it indoors. He made a rude comment and continued. Dusty got a good running start and charged him. When she hit his rear you could hear the smack loudly. Although he was over 6 ft. tall and heavy, Dusty got him off the ground. Lol. He was sore for quite a while afterwards. He was also more cautious about yelling at me or my nephew around the goats. My mother-in-law found it all very entertaining. Nephew liked it even better.
The next time I took nephew out gardening I realized that the weed piles at the end of the rows had disappeared. It couldn't be the goats had taken them. There they were on their tether lines. The next time I had a few piles of weeds at the ends of the rows, I looked up to see nephew quietly gathering them and taking them to feed the goats. I had never asked him to work in my garden before, because I thought he was too young. He was only three. He thought differently, and often did little jobs on his own initiative.
I will write more about the goats later.
