So… We Have 9 Goats Now

Right now we have nine goats here… and I’m still not entirely sure how we got from “let’s just get a couple” to a whole little herd, but here we are.

I remember bringing home the first four and thinking that felt like a lot. Now it just feels normal… which probably says something.

Those first four will always be special though, because they were our “we have no idea what we’re doing, but we’re doing it anyway” goats. All Nigerian Dwarfs, all tiny, and all with way more personality than I ever expected from something that small.

Darla was my first bottle baby, and that alone kind of sealed her place here. If you’ve ever had a bottle baby, you already know they don’t stay “just a goat.” She earned the nickname “goat puppy” almost immediately because she follows me around, wants attention all the time, and genuinely acts more like a dog than anything else. She’s this beautiful tri-colored dapple — brown and white mixed together — but honestly it’s her personality that stands out the most. If I’m anywhere around she has to be touching me - like a toddler - whether it’s crawling in my lap or trying to stand on my shoulders.

Nala is our black and white girl, a little quieter, a little more observant. She’s the type that hangs back just enough to watch everything before deciding if she wants to be part of it. Maple, our brown and white doeling, kind of falls right in the middle — easygoing, not trying to be in charge, not trying to hide either. Just steady. Neither of them were bottle fed, so they tend to be more standoff-ish when humans are in the pasture but still love treats!

And then there’s Chuck… our one little buckling from that group. Grey and white with a bit of black, and just enough personality already to remind me he’s probably going to keep things interesting as he gets older.

Nigerian Dwarfs are funny like that. They’re small, but they don’t act small at all. They’re friendly, curious, always into something, and just fun to have around. They’re also known for being great little milk goats, which is something we’re slowly working toward, but right now we’re very much still in the learning stage.

Not long after them, we added Reba and Bob — our Silkie fainting crosses — and that’s when things started to feel like they were really growing.

They’re both black and white, both bottle babies, and both a little extra in their own ways. If you’ve never seen a fainting goat before, they have this trait where they stiffen up when they get startled, which sounds sad but really just ends up being… kind of funny in real life. Add in that soft, almost fluffy Silkie look, and they’re just completely different from the others. They’re not full siblings, however, we did get them at 2 days old.

And again, bottle babies… which means they’re attached. They want to be around you, they expect attention, and they absolutely know when it’s feeding time.

Then somehow we ended up with three more… all bottle babies again, because apparently I didn’t already have enough on my plate I needed to add a little more.

Butterscotch is one of those goats that catches your eye right away. She’s a Boer doeling with this soft orange-beige and white coloring, and she’s built completely different than our Nigerians. Boer goats are meat goats, so they’re bigger, stockier, and just have a totally different presence to them.

Biscuit is our Lamancha buckling, and if you’ve never seen one before, you’d probably do a double take. They don’t really have visible ears — just these tiny little nubs — and it makes them look so different from every other goat we have. But what they lack in ears they make up for in personality. Lamanchas are known for being really calm, really people-friendly, and just easy to be around. Biscuit definitely leans into that. he reminds us of a deer, very skinny body & long lanky legs.

And then there’s Daisy. She’s another Boer, grey with some black, and technically she belongs to my parents… she’s just here with our herd right now. She’ll eventually be a meat goat, which I’ll be honest, I’m trying not to get too attached to. It’s one of those parts of homestead life that you understand… but it doesn’t always make it easy. Let’s be CLEAR I did not name her, my mom did!! Which is going to make it more difficult when it’s her time to go into the freezer. But, that’s life with animals.

So that’s where we are right now — nine goats, all different, all with their own personalities, and all kind of shaping what this is going to become for us.

We’re still figuring things out, still learning the breeds, still deciding what direction we want to go long term… but for now, it’s a lot of feeding schedules, a lot of little personalities running around, and just learning as we go. We do have a tentative plan, I will share that soon for now let’s enjoy some cute photos.

And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.