The Men Who Stare and Goats (and Feed Them, and Water Them, Too!)

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November 3rd, 2009 |

Author: Survival Nut

The Men Who Stare and Goats (and Feed Them, and Water Them, Too!)

Anyway you write it, we’re now (sort of) in the goat business. We started with chickens. Small enough, not much trouble, easy to take care of, and they produce eggs and meat. Not a bad deal.

“Leveled up” in the farming venue to ducks, geese and guineas. Still not too much trouble. Then along came the goats. The first one was Snickers. We didn’t name him; he came with a name. He had been de-horned so he couldn’t do too much damage. He was good with the kids (which I liked), but the previous owners called him “Houdini” because he could always escape any enclosure.

We thought we’d cured him of his wandering when we got him. Sure! The first month that we had him we had to chase him down and bring him back at least a dozen times. He wanted to go ‘home,’ which he believed to be elsewhere. After he figured out that ‘our ranch was his ranch,’ he decided to roam all over the yard. He enjoyed antagonizing the dog, eating the grass (we didn’t mind; it saved on mowing), and knocking things over. We finally got the pasture fence fixed up enough so that he could no longer get over or under it.

Then, during the brutal Michigan winter last year, we lost him. He was old, and we knew that he would die some day, but it was still sad to find him frozen in the pasture one winter morning. Just before he died we had been given two small goats, were also good with the kids. So, we were still in the goat business. The problem is, I had never raised goats before. Chickens, ducks, and geese are small and not much trouble. I’m not so sure about goats.

Goats need a little more tending. Now we’ve got four. Thankfully, these girls are friendly with the kids. The ladies have horns, so I’m a bit wary. So far they’ve been good and have not given us any trouble. I keep thinking I really should read up on how to raise goats, or at least how to properly take care of them. Maybe this winter when the snow is knee deep and I have some time,I’ll go outside and become one of “the men who stare at goats.”