Meet the Goats
We currently have 40 goats in the herd.
Baby Queen
Baby Queen, aka Khaleesi is one of the most spoiled and attention hungry goats on the farm. Goats are matriarchal, and she is the herd queen. She was in the first group that trained to be pack goats, and she loves hiking. And snacking. In fact, when we take her for a hike, for the first 20 mins she has to snack nonstop before we can even attempt the trail.
Baby queen shares a birthday with Heather on March 22, and has had several beautiful, bouncing, baby goats. Sometimes she eats so much in the summer that her stomach swells and she looks like a triangle from above.
Holiday
Holiday is one of our most loving goats. Whether she is mothering her babies (always born at or around Valentine’s Day) or nuzzling her humans, she is always affectionate. And for a 2 year old,
she has grown an impressive goatee. Her kids are always as sweet as she is, which is why we chose Holiday to be July’s goat of the month.
Banana
Her given name is Chiquita, because of her small stature at birth. But don’t be fooled by her size, Banana has the heart and attitude of the biggest goat in the herd. She was picked on as a kid, so when the next year’s kids were born, she turned into a terrific bully. She always fights for her fodder, and won’t be pushed around by anybody.
Although she is tough, Banana has shown great tenderness with her first kid, Margot. She is always talking to her and looking for her, especially when Margot is hiding underneath the hay feeder. She loves her little daughter so much that yesterday they went on a big adventure, exploring the neighbor's acres through a previously undetected break in the fence.
Ziggy Stardust "Roony Tunes"
Ziggy started out as a house goat. He had a pretty rough beginning in life. He wouldn’t eat after he was born, so we got to learn how to tube feed a goat. And only two days after he was born, his mother died suddenly. Which means we got to be his primary caretakers and feeders for the next 3 months. Being a house goat certainly gave Zigs a strong attachment to us humans. Sometimes he tries to follow us home when we go visit the herd in the afternoon. Even if he doesn't come inside anymore, he sure is spoiled. Just like the rest of them.
Chudo
Chudo had one heck of an interesting start to his life. His mom, Wren, was a first time mother. She came in with the herd one evening with a bad cut over her eye, another one on her ear, and was obviously no longer pregnant. We thought maybe something had happened and she had miscarried. We were sad, but just figured that’s how things go sometimes. The next morning, Heather was up in the high pasture checking on the goats. She kept hearing a baby goat cry, and thought that maybe one of the babies had gotten lost from the herd. She looked and looked, but it seemed like all of the babies were with their moms. Suddenly, a lone, skinny baby boy came running up towards her. It was Chudo.
We still don’t know what happened to his mom to make her leave him the night before. Maybe a dog spooked her or she got upset because it was her first time giving birth. But somehow or another, little Chudo survived the night and found us the next day. Chudo is Russian for miracle, and he is definitely a little miracle for surviving such a rough beginning Chudo stayed in the house with us as a bottle baby for several months. When it was time for him to join the herd, he had a hard time adjusting. He is a little bit of a loner, but he loves getting attention from humans. We sure are glad he survived and joined the herd.
Marley "Perfect"
Marley is adorable. She is stout and chunky, but curious and energetic as well. She bounces around during the day, always trying to get Ziggy to play with her. She loves to fall asleep under things in dark, warm spots like under the feeder or in the doghouse. She and Ziggy are learning all about how to be goats: eating grass, keeping up with the herd, and causing trouble! Marley sometimes has to wear the "Stick of Shame" across her horns. This keeps her from getting her head stuck in fences, a lamentable practice at which she excels. Even though she can't seem to stay out of trouble, Marley is one of our favorites. In fact, she is JB's #1 favorite. He calls her Perfect, which has gone to her head. Now she bullies the smaller goats every chance that she gets. Shame on you, Perfect!
Moved On
We have been raising goats for about a decade now. Several of them are no longer with our herd. Whether they have moved to a new farm or departed this mortal coil, their memory lives on in our hearts. And on the Internet.
Dizzy
Dizzy is an Oberhasli/Saanen cross. When we first met Dizzy, we had big plans for him to become our first pack goat. Unfortunately however, when he was 3 months old, our herd queen, Babs, head butted him way too hard and injured his spine. Because of this injury, he can no longer walk in a straight line, and he will not be able to carry a pack for us. Lucky for him, he is super personable and has won a place in the herd as a freeloader. We have lots of those. He’s a big, super sweet, cuddly teddy bear that loves scratches behind his ears.
Read Dizzy's Goem: 'Dizzy'
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Babs
Babs was the first matriarch of our herd. She gave us lots of beautiful girls over the years and tons of milk for soap making!! She helped us get our feet wet, teaching us so much about how to care for goats. We’ve had lots of memorable experiences with her over the years, and over half of our herd has her genetics. Even though she never went on a hike, Babs was always a leader. Here’s to Babs, our little lovable trail blazer!
Read Bab's Goems: 'Babs' ‘What did you say?’ ‘A pensive goat’
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Margarita
Margarita was born on Cinco de Mayo, hence her name. She is one of our most vocal goats, usually the first one to say hello in the morning.​ A couple of things that sets Margarita apart from the others are, her sweet, floppy ears, her slight head tilt and sideways gait, which is especially cute when she’s running.
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Margarita no longer lives on the farm. She had a bad bout of meningial worms several years ago, and the damage made it hard for her to keep up with the herd as they roam and graze every day. She was increasingly upset because she had so much trouble walking. Goats don't like being by themselves, but she was physically incapable of keeping up with the herd. We were able to take her to the fine folks at Magnolia Harbor, where she can live out her days surrounded by other injured animals, getting all the care and love that they need. The folks there do great work, and we are forever grateful that they were able to take her in.
Read Margarita's Goem: 'Margarita'
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Cleo
Cleo was full of attitude. She is an attentive mother and is usually covered in dirt from letting her kids jump all over her like a trampoline. She may be sweet to her kids, but she doesn’t put up with any nonsense from the other goats or any of the dogs. In fact, she was our second herd queen.
As the biggest girl on the farm, she usually got her way, especially around the hay buckets! Her kids Ziggy and Daisy are two of the largest goats in the herd, so she passed on those big genetics, as well as a big attitude.
Read Cleo's Goem: 'Birthday Goats'
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Rain Boots
At first we were not planning on keeping Rain Boots. His size was promising, but his attitude was a little too timid and skittish. Fortunately for all of us, he has warmed up to humans and developed into a sweet and gentle personality. He was one of the largest boys we ever had on the farm, weighing about 200 lbs! His huge frame and sweet nature made him a perfect candidate to be trained as a pack goat. Rain Boots and his cousin Heart live on a farm in the East Tennessee mountains, enjoying all sorts of adventures and living their best pack goat lives.
Sox
Sox is such a trouble maker. We sold her to a friend. She got out so many times, and taught her goats so many bad habits, that our friend sold Sox back to us. So in honor of her wicked ways, and
to welcome her back home, we named Sox our August goat of the month.
Elvis
Meet Elvis. For two years he was the only intact buck on the farm. All the does thought he was a real hunka hunka burnin’ love. His favorite bumper sticker reads, “In spring I strut, in fall I rut.” He had a special cologne that he used to lure in the ladies, and in autumn he is ripe. So be
thankful that we do not make a soap with his special scent. Something tells me it would not sell very well.
Todd
Named for Mary Todd Lincoln, Todd was born on President's Day in 2020. We tried something new with Todd, and let him keep his boy parts longer than we usually do. We wanted to see if we could get him bigger than our pack goats usually get. We succeeded. At 8 months old, he was the same size as goats who are a year older. But he is as sweet as any of the little babies. And one cool side effect of our experiment is his superb goatee.
