Rescue Goats

I know I have talked about how we came to be pygmy goat parents but this is about the conditions from which they came. Doyle did some calling around and checking Craigslist for a while before he agreed to go pick them up from a place about an hour away. The original plan was to get two babies, similar in age. When he got to the little goat farm there were 85+ goats on 5 acres or less without a blade of grass in sight. These animals were living on a dirt knob without shelter and without the ability to forage for their own food. Few had been socialized with humans, as is the case with Mama Goat (Clarabelle). As a result, Doyle decided removing a mother from the breeding population was a prudent idea. So the mother goat, above, and her 4 week old baby, Clementine, came to live with us. When we got them home, they were both infested with all three kinds of goat lice, had worms and the mother had very little hair on her whole body. Her head was nearly bald and her coat in general was falling out in large clumps. Off to the vet we went. We deloused, dewormed and brushed the heck out of these two. The mother goat hated to be brushed because we had to catch her first. The baby, on the other hand, loved it. In the picture above my daughter is offering grain treats to Clarabelle, it took her weeks to even get this close. For the entire summer we kept them in a dog run close to the house. This run is big and has good shelter. We wanted them to get used to the other animals and us being around all the time.

If the baby, Clem, were to climb on your back now it would not be comfortable. She came to us at 8 lbs and now tops the scale at about 45 lbs. We laughed when we saw this picture because she looks so skinny in this picture. She is nearly as wide as she is tall now. Definately a hoot and a half! We added Ollie to the bunch a few months ago so Clem would have a playmate. All three goats have beautiful coats, have hair covering their whole bodies and are likely overfed, which is the case with all of our animals. If you have thought about these little guys for pets I highly recommend it. Just make sure you have a good, safe place to keep them and time to play with them. There is always someplace to rescue them from!