Today 13 year ago I bought my first goats. They were three pygmy goats I picked up in Ellensburg. There’s Carrie on my lap, Ben I am petting and Annie at the end of the bale, all on the day I got them. Carrie was a real sweetheart, friendly and gentle. Ben was a roustabout but also friendly. He was an add-on purchase, such a deal! Annie was not friendly, standoffish. I learned a lot from these goats, both good and bad. Annie, I lost to pneumonia after a C-section. Carrie was killed by a sheep. Ben died of old age. Carrie, in particular, really stole my heart and broke it when she died. I switched to Nigerian Dwarf goats after these three pygmy goats partly because I wanted milk and partly because I did not wish to repeat the experience with Annie. But these pygmy goats were real delight to live with. I fell in love with pygmy goats at the Puyallup Fair when I was a kid and if it weren’t for those goats way back then, I would have never started getting goats, then sheep, etc. So here’s to 13 years of goats in my life!
Feasts of Ice and Fire
Cooking from the Game of Thrones
You Can’t Eat Mount Rainier
Recipes from 1950's Seattle restaurants
They are such wonderful creatures. I can’t imagine my life without a bunch of goats around me, but they really do steal your heart. Congratulations on 13 years of fan-goat-abulous adventures.
Thanks Teresa! They are wonderful (and frustrating too).
Very cute picture. I’m glad you started with the goats cause it led you to the sheep, which I wouldn’t have gotten if it weren’t for you selling them.
Jackie
Thanks Jackie,
Yes, goats led to everything else. I just got hooked after these three.
Happy Anniversary! They grey goats look like PeeWee. I have had him 2 years, what is the life span of a goat anyway?
Thanks! So far here they have lived 9-13 years.
Wonderful story, No matter what the species I guess it is always hard to forget your first love.
Thanks- you’re right.
I miss my Pygmies. A LOT. I had some shipped in via air from Seattle area, and I drove to Knoxville, TN and Wooster, OH to pick up the rest. They were registered and were a separate herd from my ‘grade’ pygmies that now, looked nothing like them. Regardless of their purpose here or pedigree, they were all loved and fantastic animals.
After having a year where all my does aborted due to toxoplasmosis (thanks barn cats!) I moved them all out as I couldn’t bear to have them anymore. That, and my flock of sheep was ever growing and they didn’t mesh well here.
I miss them every day and seeing photos of them makes me miss them even more. They are incredible animals!