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Jenn's Animals Northeast Mississippi |
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Our Goats Nesbit
In 2002, a friend of ours wanted some chickens. He asked if we would trade for a goat. My husband said yes of course. Then he brought the goat tied up in the back of his truck. As he untied him, I noticed he was a big goat, a large goat, a billy goat, a large billy goat :) I had never had any experience with an animal larger than a dog. He was big and smelly. As they got the goat tied to the tree he freaked and broke the chain. He took off running and didn't know where to run to. We only had 3 adults that needed to catch this big goat that had never been handled before. You see, he was a herd goat. He had never been away from his herd before. We all gathered around him to try to block him in to catch him. Guess what he did. Of all people he ran towards, he ran towards me. All 4'9" 125lbs of me moved out of the way. I knew that goat was bigger than me and I wasn't standing in his way. He ran past me, up the driveway, and across the street to an old barn. Once in the barn the 'men', I did not go, were able to catch him. By then he was tired, the men were tired but they were able to get him tied back up. This was not a good first impression for me. Of course I was the one to make sure he always had water and new weeds and grass to eat, so I had gotten use to moving him around. I realized he was not going to hurt me. When he would get tangled he would wait patiently for me to get him untied. After a while we decided to tie him to cinderblocks. This way he could move around on his own without too much control. We tied 3 cinderblocks to him, yup, 3 blocks. He was strong, he would pull them up the hill and down the hill. He realized that we were up at the house and he began to spend more time closer to the house. Next thing we knew he was sleeping on the porch and on the carport. We had named him Nesbit. We thought it was a nice name for a goat. He became part of the family. He was like one of the dogs. He didn't really have any bad habits at all. The only thing he ever got in trouble for was getting into the chicken feed. He didn't climb on the vehicles, eat garbage, eat cans, hit us with his large horns. He did scare off strangers :) I can't say that was a bad habit though. Nesbit and Nanny
After 5 years of being the only goat, we noticed him getting a bit feisty. He wanted to play. One of the rules around here is that humans and goats don't play together. We found a beautiful nanny and her two babies and brought them home for him. Oh, he was in love and very happy with his new family. We named the nanny 'Nanny', fitting huh. Both of the babies were boys so we raised them till they were about 6 months old. It was sad to see them go but we just can't have that many male goats around. Babies born 2-11-08
Nanny is great. She lets me milk her and this year (2008) she gave birth to 3 little boys (no girls :( ). They are adorable. Nanny is very tame and loves to be petted. She is so sweet that we were able to take her and one of her kids to 'vacation Bible school' last year. They did great and the human kids had a blast. I have really enjoyed my goats. I am still looking for one more nanny. When the right one comes along I will know it. Until then I will be happy with the ones I have now. Babies a few days old.
Babies about 4 months old
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