raising Nubian dairy goats Archives

For the last five years I’ve kept my intention to keep no kids, to let my herd gradually dwindle away. Meet my Opal goat and broken intention.

Why Not Keep Kids?

Goats live twelve to fourteen years, usually. Mine are as much pets, family, as livestock and I have no family interested in giving them a home.Over the years I’ve found, even those people with the best intentions, often can’t provide a permanent home for a bunch of spoiled brats.

As I’ve grown older, even become old (much as I hate to admit it), the question of what is to happen to my girls has become important. It was better to stop adding to the herd and plan on outliving them.

Other Considerations

Jennifer, my first goat, was born in June, 1974. Forty-nine years is a long time to be a goat keeper. This is doubly so when they are dairy goats requiring attention twice a day, every day, regardless of weather or health or other activities.

For some years I had someone to milk for me over a weekend or, once, a real vacation. There has been no one now for twelve years.

I do need to take that back a little. I do know someone now who will try to do chores for me now and then. The herd does not agree. They rarely see anyone but me and consider all other people something to flee. It’s hard to milk goats hiding out on the hills.

My new Nubian doe High Reaches Drucilla’s Opal is sweet and friendly most of the time. Like all goats she can be ornery, curious and get into all kinds of situations around the barn and out on the hills.

Meet my Opal goat

High Reaches Drucilla had a single doe kid this year. The kid adopted me as well as her mother. I was glad when the person who bought the other doe kid didn’t want her.

Guilt set in. I can barely keep up with chores now. How could I propose to care for Opal for another ten plus years?

Writing came to the rescue. I really enjoyed doing “The Little Spider” and wanted another such project. Opal and Agate (from “Capri Capers”) will hopefully become partners in crime, adventure and more in an easy reading series.

And Opal gets to stay.

Goat kids grow up too fast. They want to go out to pasture with their mothers. That can be turn into a goatkeeping nightmare.

There are four kids here. The oldest ones are close to a month old. They are lively and their mothers want to go out to graze.

One Consideration

Later in the year I would not let them go out as the grass blooms with stalks taller than they are. They get lost in the grass.

These stalks are so tall, only the ears of the adults are easy to see. Hunting for a lost kid is close to hopeless as I have to almost step on the kid before I can see it.

Second Consideration

One evening my herd came in minus two kids. The grass wasn’t very tall yet, so that wasn’t the problem.

Kids, even when they know me and my voice, will often not answer me when they are lost. So I put a lead rope on their mother and drag her back out to where I think the kids might be. It is important to know where the herd went that day.

We went out across the bridge and up to the hill pasture. The doe was bellowing and Nubians are very loud.

Reaching the edge of the pasture, we stopped to look around. I looked down and those two kids were curled up sleeping totally oblivious of their mother’s bellows from three feet away.

Goatkeeping Nightmare

This last week one of the four kids did not come in. I’d noticed earlier he was missing and had been out looking. I didn’t find him.

I dragged his bellowing mother out. We went to the areas I thought the goats had been. We heard and saw no sign of her kid.

That evening I went back out looking and found nothing. It was starting to rain.

This storm continued through the next day dropping six inches of rain. The temperatures dropped to forty, not real low, but dangerous for a young, wet kid.

The little black Nubian buck, the friendly one, the one that stands on me (not good, but cute) went out one morning and didn’t come in. The debris is from the small flood from the rainstorm he was out in.

Surprise

This kid was lost. I had no ideas where to look and thought he hadn’t survived.

As I mentioned, Nubians are loud. I heard a kid calling. It kept calling so I went to investigate.

My lost kid was standing at the pasture gate. He was hungry, but fine. His mother was glad to see him. So was I.