I’m sure the question crossed many minds as to whether or not keeping a smelly ol’ buck around would begin to test our patience over time. Well, we’re almost a month in and I can confirm that everyone is just as happy to have him around as when he first came home.

His rut is nearing an end, and he isn’t as smelly as he was. Either that, or we’ve gotten used to his odor. Now there’s a scary thought. I don’t think that’s the case, though, because he also isn’t as loud or as bonkers as he was when he first got here. That and his coat isn’t as ‘greasy’ anymore. I don’t know if that’s quite the right word for it, but one way or another he’s less gross than he was. Plus, he’s stopped peeing on himself from what I can see.

We’d long thought that as soon as a male goat makes it into our midst, the kids would no longer be able to enter in and out of the goat pen unsupervised as they do now. As it would turn out, he’s actually quite small and he’s been respectful towards the humans around him. Our thinking on this may change as he’ll likely double in size over the next year, but for now we have zero qualms of letting the kids keep their free reign of the goat pen for now.

Fear is a funny thing. We’d resisted getting a buck because we were afraid of the smell, afraid of his size, afraid of his temperament. Come to find out, we needn’t have worried this whole time. This has definitely been a lesson worth remembering as we evaluate what else to take on in the future.