There’s few things we’ve looked forward to in our homesteading journey more than purchasing Nigerian dwarf goats. We can make milk, cheese, soap, and they make great pets too! But, when we brought our three wonderful goats home, we have to admit: we were not ready for goats.
If it’s your first time here at The Silly Couple, let’s make one thing clear. Our goal is to be honest and transparent with everything we do. We want to be real so you understand what you’re getting into on your homesteading journey. In the spirit of honestly, we have to say this first week has not been fun so far. Despite this, we are ready to rise to the challenge and make this work.
But, what exactly makes this so tough?
They Really Are Escape Artists
If you’re not going to take anything else from this post, take this: goats will find a way. Don’t let those innocent faces fool you. Every minute of every day, these goats are plotting out a way to go somewhere they shouldn’t. Whether that’s going Mario on some cinder blocks to jump their way over a fence, or squeezing between two posts that seem even a cat couldn’t fit through, they find a way.
Let’s get specific about the scary situation we found ourselves in Sunday (the day after we got them). See, we had split the yard in half so Jadzia and the goats could get acquainted without the goats getting too scared of a 90 pound great Pyrenees. As I was working on some stuff, I let Jadzia come with me to the big garage. And, thinking the goats were safely in their enclosure, I left the dog’s gate open so I could easily go back and forth. BIG MISTAKE!
As I’m working in the garage, I hear Delilah like she is just behind me. Sure enough, I turn and see her outside one of the garage doors. And of course, when I go to grab her she starts wandering off towards the woods. Fortunately, Jadzia channeled some sort of herding dog in that moment. She flanked Delilah and chased her into the garage (not the best behavior, but it worked). Once there, I tried to grab a hold of Delilah, but once again she took off running. Fortunately, our livestock guardian did what needed to be done and herded her back to through the open gate -crisis averted!
While we might not have been ready for goats, we have to give huge props to Jadzia. Once back in the pen, she just sat as if making sure this goat wouldn’t try to run away. Even though Delilah was definitely ready to put up a fight! After getting her back to her side of the enclosure, Delilah was nice enough to show me where the weakness was in the fence. And, with about 15 minutes of work, I got things squared away. Let’s just hope that’s the only time they find a hole our fencing!
The Stress of Milking a Goat
When getting Delilah and her two doelings (Isabella and Gabriella as we’ve named them), we figured we’d be ready to start milking. We watched plenty of videos on technique -how hard could it be? Well, a lot harder than anyone makes it appear in videos. But, let’s get specific about our troubles, shall we?
First, Joseph was dumb enough to build the feeder box right into the milking stand. And, that milking stand was not out of reach from our Great Pyrenees overnight. After all, we open up the dividing gate during the night so she can keep guard on the entire fenced in area. Well, she apparently thought the feeding box was a chew toy, and the second day we really didn’t have an effective way for Delilah to eat while milking -that was not fun.
But, what made it worse…she didn’t really seem to have milk. It was one thing for us to get very little milk Sunday morning -after all, it was our first time milking. But, when Monday rolled around and she still didn’t really have anything to give, we started to wonder. Well, it turns out we were just idiots.
See, when you get a goat in milk WITH two doelings, the doelings have a habit of feeding overnight. In other words, we don’t get much milk because the doelings are drinking their fill. OK, good. To solve this, we’ll tape her teets overnight so we can get more in the morning.
Of course, when you try to feed a reasonable grain ration, properly clean the udders, and dry them off before milking, by the time you start, she’s practically finished eating. And, you can bet Delilah senses our inexperience, because she is testing us, kicking, dancing around, and doing everything she can to make it difficult on us.
The truth is, we have yet to properly milk her. But, we’ve gotten encouragement, advice, and watched more videos. We’ve also gone ahead and put some straps on the back of our milking stand. So, we’re hopeful we’ll start getting actual milk production. Because let’s face it…we want to share with the doelings for now, but we want some of this milk too!
Is Anyone Ever Ready for Goats?
Of course, as we reflect on the past few days, we keep asking this question: is anyone ever ready for goats? I mean, you read about how they jump, how they climb, and how they generally are escape artists. And, you hear about goats kicking milk buckets, dancing around the stand, headbutting, etc. But, hearing about it or even watching videos on is much different than actually handling goats firsthand.
Let’s be real. We watched a lot of videos on milking goats leading up to bringing our Nigerian dwarfs home. And, basically all we’ve been doing when not working/taking care of the animals is watching YouTube videos about goat milking, hoof trimming, and other goat care activities. Again though…that doesn’t really prepare you for the reality of it.
Nigerian Dwarfs Goats are Fun
Regardless of how stressful this week has been so far, we need to make one thing clear. Nigerian dwarf goats are a joy to have around. And, we’re ready to argue to anyone who claims they got any kind of goat and were fully prepared for them. But, we also want to be honest here. We’ve been stressed, we’re currently exhausted, and we’ve both asked more this question more than once: “should we have gotten these goats?”
Every time we ask, our answer is yes. And, even in the few days we’ve had them on the homestead, we’ve gotten better and better at handling them and knowing what to expect. So, while we work to improve our milking technique and keep praying there’s no more escapes, we know we made the right choice. No, we weren’t ready for goats, but is any first time owner really ready?
Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.