Flora left our farm today. She went to live with friends of ours who will use her as a milk goat.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right decision for us, our friends and for Flora. Flora hasn’t enjoyed living with us, as Pepper and Peony are far too dominant for her. Pepper and Peony are their own ‘squad’ and it’s clear that Flora is not part of it. Our friends have Nigerian Dwarf Goats, much smaller animals that won’t be able to walk over Flora as easily. It works out for us, as we don’t enjoy Flora’s milk as we do Pepper’s (we set it aside for cheesemaking only), while our friends have had Flora’s milk and liked it. Hard though it may be, it seems a good thing for everyone. And since she will belong to friends, it’s only ‘so long’ rather than ‘goodbye.’

So, we’ll be left with four milking does. We’re only milking Pepper at the moment, but by next year we will be milking four. We said at one point that three milk goats should cover all our family’s dairy needs. I think we were wrong; milking two goats this year has been barely enough for us for drinking and making the occasional mozzarella. We have a beautiful new cream separator for making butter and we haven’t been able to use it once. Why? Because our boys are growing, and the amount of milk they’ve been drinking has realistically doubled from last year to this one. Three does would probably give us just enough for milk and butter, but we want cheese and yogurt too.

So, for those of you who may be confused as to who came, who went, who was born and stayed and who was born and left (or is leaving), I’ve compiled our roster below for the goats that we currently have:

 

Pepper

Breed: Pretty much all La Mancha

Age: 2 years

Pepper is our herd’s most dominant member. Machiavellian in nature, she is sure to keep all the other does in line. That said, she understands that we humans are ‘alpha,’ and readily defers to us. It’s a relief that our herd’s matriarch is on ‘our’ side! She is extremely docile with the boys, and I have no qualms allowing our four-year-old into the goat pen on his own. She is our only current member of the herd in milk.

 

Peony

Breed: Nubian with a splash of Boer some five or six generations back

Age: 1 year

Peony is Gabe’s goat, and for some reason or another she is only about half to two thirds the size of a normal Nubian goat. Her Boer ancestry does not offer any hints as to why she is so petite, as Boers are meat goats that tend to get very large. She will hopefully be introduced to a buck this month and deliver in January to be our second goat in milk. She loves people. In addition to being our most affectionate goat she is also our naughtiest – she routinely runs to the gate whenever someone goes to it so she can get out. And though goats are not escape artists, Peony does look for ways to get out of the pen and will readily take advantage of any loosely latched gates.

 

Easter Lily

Breed: Nubian/La Mancha cross (with a little bit of Saanan)

Age: 18 weeks

Lily’s name derives from the fact that she was born on Good Friday (also Luke’s birthday!) She is Flora’s daughter and a delightfully awkward little doeling with one ear that sticks out and one that flops slightly. Goats that are raised by their mothers (as opposed to being bottle fed in the house) tend to be wary of humans, and Lily is no exception to this. That said, she does timidly approach us out of curiosity from time to time, and I don’t have any doubt that she will come around.

 

Black Eyed Susan

Breed: La Mancha/Nubian cross

Age: 15 weeks

Black Eyed Susan is Pepper’s black-and-tan daughter. In my opinion, she is the most beautiful of our goats. She has all of her mother’s alpha traits, as she can routinely be found trying to dominate her twin brother. That said, while Black Eyed Susan is assertive with the other goats, she is the shyest when it comes to us humans. She will approach me with hesitance and I’ve steadily been gaining some trust out of her. The boys are far too rowdy for her even in their sincerest attempts to be subdued – she makes herself scarce whenever they are in the goat pen. Both she and her half sister Lily will be bred in the late fall when they are old enough.

 

There you have it – our does for the 2019 milking season! Scary that we’re already thinking about next year, but as we’ve learned you have to always be thinking a year or two down the line when homesteading. And I want to make hard cheeses next year. All I need now is a cheese cave and I will be all ready for next Spring…