Tag: Nubian goats

Goat Retirement Home

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date February 6, 2026

My barn is now a goat retirement home filled with old goats suffering through the cold winter weather. I get to sneak back into the house to warm up. My old goats stand out shivering even with sweatshirts on.

There was a time when the old barn was full of goats, young goats keeping each other warm and busy as they debated which goats got the best spots. That is now a decade in the past.

It’s hard being young surrounded by older goats. High Reaches Kingpin wants to play and they don’t.

Nine Goats Remain

Once the goat herd numbered over forty. Now there are nine. The big goats range from four to thirteen years old. Kingpin is bored with all the old goats.

At seven months old, Kingpin loves to play. The does don’t. They get mad and whomp him. Pest is his playmate.

There was a time when Pest was very small. He is now over 200 pounds and trying to be dignified as befits his age of seven. However, Kingpin is persuasive and they have head butts every morning.

Nubian wether Pest or Big Lug was such a small kid. He is now middle aged and 200 pounds.

Late January Thaw

The cold weather is supposed to take a break this week. My goats are already feeling better as their itchy sweatshirts are off.

Snow is disappearing from the pastures. Smashed grass is reappearing. The herd is abandoning the boring troughs of hay for the taste of grass.

Goat kids grow up into adult goats. These get older and need special care.

Looking Forward

My goat retirement home should get lively in several months. My old goats are not too old to have kids.

Kids are so cute. They are also temptations. Surely I can keep one or two.

It will be so nice to have lots of milk again. The prospect of buying milk is so disappointing after fifty years of my own fresh from the barn.

Goat kids are so lively. They race ahead of the old does who lag further and further behind the herd.

Being Practical

My barn will remain a home for old goats including me. My goat retirement home will have no new members.

Time marches on and my goats and I must deal with it, like it or not.

Tags Nubian goats, raising goats

Latest From High Reaches

Black Spots on Nubian Kid

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date December 20, 2024

I’ve seen a lot of spots on Nubian kids over the years. This is the first time I’ve seen black spots on Nubian kid. They are striking against a soft brown.

White and Brown Spots

Usually, kids have white spots like one or both of their parents. Sometimes they have hazy edges. This is usually when the background color is a bit frosty.

The deep black with white spots coloring is the one people love. For a time goat owners would breed just to get this combination. The problem was that the color didn’t necessarily keep good milk production and conformation with it.

Brown spots on kids are sometimes called liver spots. Generally, these start turning white in a few months. Sometimes the main spot will be white with a brown edge.

At a week old this Nubian buck kid is practicing looking impressive. He is also starting to chew on everything, not for teething, but to get bacteria in his rumen and start his cud. Yes, he will be for sale in a few months.

Black Spots Are New

Nubian doe High Reaches Spring is a red brown with brown ears. Her color goes back to some red bucks like Goat Town USA Gaius. She has no spots nor any spots in her background.

Nubian buck High Reaches Silk’s Augustus is gray with frosted or white ears and nose. He has lots of white spots. Red is in his background. He is the only buck in my herd.

Both of these buck kids are definitely Augustus’ kids. He passed on his frosted ears and nose to them.

One is red brown with black dorsal stripe. He is big and bold. His stance is often that of a proud buck.

Then there is the other one. Black spots on Nubian kid surprise. These spots are jet black. His coat is brown so the spots really show up.

Will These Black Spots Turn White?

Liver spots turn white. Augustus has white spots. Spotted Nubian goats usually have white spots.

Over the next few months, I will watch and see if these spots change color. They probably will. However, it would be nice for them to stay like they are now.

Tags Nubian goats, raising goat kids, raising goats

GKP Writing News

Nubian Goats Are Loud

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date August 9, 2024

It’s breeding season for my goats and I’m having a hard time remembering why I wrote “For Love of Goats”. Nubian goats are loud and breeding season is an excuse to be extra loud.

Just typing Nubian goats are loud doesn’t begin to say how loud they can be. I found out early.

Nubian buck High Reaches Augustus neglects eating during breeding season. He spends most of his time outside standing on top of the goat gym watching the pastures to see where the does are. This is when a buck smells giving people the impression goats smell bad. Only the bucks during breeding season smell bad.

Jennifer

My parents had moved to northwest Arkansas. I’d stayed behind in California until, coming home from work one night, I had an accident. Suddenly I needed to come home to recover and get back on my feet again.

Being stranded over twelve miles from town with nothing to do was frustrating. My parents had a few goats and goats are cute.

Sandy had a little doe kid. We made friends. Goat kids are demanding. When I walked the quarter mile down to the mailbox, I could hear Jennifer calling me.

Milking Time Lately

If I have this correct, the other morning Pamela, Lydia, Drucilla and Opal were all in season. They announced this loudly, continuously. Augustus put on his best display blathering and stomping.

After milking, when the goats finally went out the gate, Opal proved again that Nubians are loud. She bellowed off and on all day from pastures near and far. Augustus answered every bellow.

Maybe it’s a good thing our nearest neighbors are over a mile away.

Out in the pasture Nubian does Rose and Drucilla are looking over toward where Augustus stands. They should be eating some of the food surrounding them. But, it’s breeding season and they are in season.

Breeding Season

In colder places Nubians are like the Swiss breeds with their breeding season being the same as for deer. In the Ozarks Nubians will breed all year, although the bellowing is reserved for the fall season.

The does cycle for a couple of days about every three weeks. Since I prefer to breed the few I still breed in October, all of my does will continue to prove Nubian goats are loud for several more rounds.

Perhaps I will sit down and read some of the fun sayings and stories in “For Love of Goats” to remind myself why I put up with breeding season every year.

Get a free eBook copy of “For Love of Goats” at Smashwords with coupon code P93KK.

Tags "For Love of Goats", Nubian goats, raising goats

Latest From High Reaches

High Reaches Kids

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date April 22, 2022

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.

These two livewires belong to Nubian doe High Reaches Juliette. They often stay in the barn lot for the day as there are so many other kids to play with. These two are the ring leaders for all kinds of activities like climbing on sleeping does.

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 Spring loves her triplets, but escapes to the pasture with the herd during the day as they are getting so lively and demanding.

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.

High Reaches Agate is proud of her little spotted Nubian doe kid. She is growing fast and out playing at a few days old.

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.

Nubian doe High Reaches Valerie spends lots of time searching for her buck kid. He likes to find a quiet corner and sleep. His mother will eventually find him. Or he will get hungry and go looking for her.

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.

Tags Nubian goats