We Have Nigerian Dwarf Goats!

We Have Nigerian Dwarf Goats!

One day at the end of February, Luke and I were texting back and forth (while he was at work...it was a slow day for RV sales) about a milk cow vs milk goats. Luke didn't think we were going to be able to have enough land to feed a cow on top of the other animals we were hoping to raise for our own meat consumption. I was scrolling Craigslist and found a post regarding a couple of Nigerian Dwarf goats that just had a baby each and they were selling all 4 for a deal.....i sent the posting to Luke right then and there and simply said, "fine, then lets just get these". I was joking, but apparently, he didn't think it was funny and said, "ok, lets go get them!" And THAT was how we ended up with Sparkles and her doeling Diamond, and Cookie and her buckling Fuzzy.

We had no real fencing yet, so Luke stopped by Lowes on his way home from work to pick up a roll of wire fencing. The next day (it happened to be his day off) we picked up the goats, stuck them in the room off the back of the barn, put up a partial fence around that one room, and went and got some straw, and....that was going to have to do for now!

Our new goats: Cookie (left) Sparkles (right)

Our babies: Fuzzy (left/bottom) Diamond (right/top)

 Here's the back of the barn and the area we put the goats...yes, its in rough shape!

 Luke working on getting a gate put up.

 Pounding in T-posts...its harder than it looks! Poor Luke was so sore the next day!

 We all went to go pick up 4 bales of straw for their bedding.....and then swung over to the farm supply store to get a water bucket and a couple other essentials.

 They are in their new home and although scared at first they quickly warmed up to the idea that this is what they would call home....

 We had to make a feeder for them for their hay.....they won't have the ability to graze for a little while...until we can get the rest of the fencing done, so alfalfa hay will have to do for now! The plan is to dedicate a 1/4 acre to our own hay production so we won't have to rely on ANY outside feeding...only their supplements (goats need certain extra minerals, baking soda, and while in milk a little bit of a grain mix).

 We didn't want to overwhelm them completely their first day here so Ephraim, Jireh and Havilah had to wait to get some goat loving (it was too small of a space for ALL us and ALL the goats and outside wasn't finished getting fenced in yet)...lucky little Charis however did get to come in with me while I was setting things up.