The American Dairy Goat Association registers goats by herds as well as individuals. Each herd has a herd name that precedes the individual goat name. My herd name is High Reaches and has been for over forty years.
Spring is a special time for my herd as kids are being born. So far there are seven kids.
High Reaches Juliette was first with twin bucks. She is polled and so is one of her kids.
High Reaches Spring was next with triplets. One is a spotted buck. Two are does, one spotted and the other not. Goats have two teats, so one is left out and gets a supplemental bottle.
High Reaches Agate and High Reaches Valerie surprised me one morning with their kids. Agate has a pretty spotted doe. Valerie has a spotted buck.
The pasture grasses are just starting to grow. The kids are getting lively, racing around playing. Soon they will want to go out and the short grass makes it easy for them to keep up with their mothers.
Later on, the grasses go to seed with stalks as tall as the goats. Then it gets hard for even the adults to find their way around. All day they call to each other to keep together. It sounds like people in the grocery store.
My herd gets smaller every year now as I can no longer do all the work involved. And, a question every pet (I know goats are livestock, not pets, but the line gets blurred in a small herd.) owner must face is what happens to that animal if the owner is no longer around.
I decided to stop adding to my herd. Therefore, all my kids are for sale at three months old.
In a way, this spoils having those fun kids as I know I will be saying good-bye soon. And, in a few years, the High Reaches herd will disappear which makes me sad and wondering what I will do without my goats to start and end each of my days.
