I'm BACK!

Yes, it HAS been a while! Just letting you all know that I will be adding new updates after our 2013 kids arrive... our senior does Lilly and Oreo, will be kidding soon! Lilly is due March 18, and Oreo on April 21. Jack is again the sire of both sets. The Ladies are getting HUGE and we are wondering if quads are again in the future... stay tuned for updates-and find out! :-)

My Contact E-Mail

For those who wish to contact me for any reason, please use this e-mail:

caprine.crazy@gmail.com                 Thanks for reading!!!         ~Karin

2011; A Year of Changes

So, we have come to the end of the year 2011... many good things, plus a few challenges along the way. The goats took all of it in stride. Buddy was born- Mario was sold- a beautiful new paddock area that Grandpa built, and the very serious situation the goats' illness put them in... may 2012 bring many more wonderful surprises, joys and herd improvements!

All five goats, have thankfully now recovered from their bacterial illness and are back to enjoying "being goats". Buddy is in a beautiful new (and larger) pen, with our buck Jack- and having a wonderful time there with him. Buddy, not yet fully grown but very big and stocky (the "Boer" in him), is such a LOVEBUG... never misses the chance to greet me at the gate when I stop by to see the herd. I cannot be in the same pen with him, as he still thinks he's a kid, and will jump up on me and try to get into my lap as he did when I bottle-fed him... such a HAM :o) Buddy is now the "Alpha Goat" (the dominant), and Jack will constantly follow Buddy around, and stays wherever Buddy is.

The Ladies- Oreo, Lily and Sweetie Pie, are all noticeably fatter around their middle... so I think it is safe to assume that all three are "infanticipating"! All going well, they should each "kid" end of March/early April. They all greet me at the fence, and insist on getting petted- even pushing each other out of the way (AND head-butting as well). They are SO MUCH better than dogs, in every way. They take commands as any dog would, give and take love, play openly, talk to you, display affection... PLUS give you something really USEFUL in return (milk, for example)... what other pet can do all of these things??

Springtime will also (hopefully) allow us to bring new bloodlines into the herd, by obtaining very young female kids (registered Nubian doelings) from farms in the nearby area... our kids, will be sold to other farms, for the same reason. We are slowly building the goat herd we dreamed of- for milking, AND showing.  Big plans for 2012!

How Quickly Things Change...

It has been an interesting 6-8 weeks since the last update!  Buddy (the kid) continues to grow, and is nearly as large as the others now. He is still a "little stinker" though- playing pranks on us and causing generalized mischief within the herd :o))) Still has a mind of his own and refuses to budge from his viewpoint... He continues to raise havoc with the hay bales, searching out the best pieces of alfalfa fluff for himself... Jack now has a much nicer living quarters than before~ hubby has built a very large divided stall area with ample ground on which to walk around- and plan his moves once the Ladies join him there... :o) It is time to breed our three does. The Ladies are all doing well.  None of the goats is enjoying the Fall/Winter change to all the soaking rains we have had recently... combined with the gusty winds- it can make for some interesting living conditions!

All five goats are having a bit of a tough time right now.  They have all shown signs of illness- listless, "off their feed", and have lost their playful nature. After hubby submitted stool samples to our vet, it was discovered that they have two illnesses going on at the moment- they have intestinal worms (not surprising, as the goats live outside.  Cats and dogs get intestinal parasites frequently as well from being outside).  They also have a coccidia-type systemic bacterial infection.  The vet has prescribed a de-wormer for all of them, as well as an antibiotic- so, they should all be feeling a lot better very soon! 

This, of course, now means that Sweetie Pie's milk is no longer fit for human consumption- so, no more goat's milk or goat cheese again until Spring- when the new batch of kids will be born!!! Oh what a wonderful time of celebration that will be... more little goat kids to love, spoil and laugh over their antics... we can hardly wait!

The Only Thing Constant, is Change...

Here is an update on our goat family, and I sincerely hope you will not be disappointed with us for too long...
We have to make room for two more milking does in our caprine herd. With six goats (half being male), we needed to re-home two goats... Mario was one of them. BUT not to worry! He went to a wonderful nearby couple who is getting into raising goats and needed a companion for the one they had (remember- goats are herd animals)... so, despite Mario's absence now, we are happy that he will continue to have a wonderful life.
Jack, our new registered buck, will be bred to Lily and Oreo for kidding in April or May. This will get them milking and we can then sell the kids when they are old enough to wean. DH has "forbidden" me from interacting with the kids after their birth (for obvious reasons- this is how Buddy became our permanent "pet" goat)...
Have to say, that poor Oreo was missing her twin brother for quite a few days (of course), we heard her call out to him- which broke our hearts... but, this story also has a happy ending in that she has "adopted" our little 6 month-old prankster kid, Buddy, as her new brother! Those two are now inseparable, and she keeps an eye on him just as she did with Mario.
The second goat we need to rehome, will probably be Sweetie-Pie. Right now, she is our only milking doe (Buddy's mom), so we will probably sell her to the same couple who bought Mario, sometime in the early spring.
Now, about our Buddy :o) He has become such a "tween-ager", and has the behavior that goes along with that stage! He has a mind of his own and is verrrrry stubborn... immediately heads to our blueberry patch when allowed out to graze... our poor blueberry bushes have been trimmed so far down now that I wonder IF they will come back next Spring :o) The other day, while DH's back was turned, he completely decimated TWO bales of alfalfa hay rummaging through for the best morsels for himself... he is quite a handful! He still "jousts" with our grandkids when they come over, and his aerial displays of "ballet" are truly entertaining to watch!

Goat Family Update: September 2011

I realized that I haven't given you a recent update on our favorite goats... all are doing well! As you remember, we recently added "Jack" to our herd (the Nubian buck we're breeding to the Ladies this fall). He is a monster of a goat- but the sweetest, most gentle guy... his tail goes a'waggin' whenever he's approached (especially with APPLES in hand) and, though he smells STRONGLY of "rut", is wonderful to visit and be around :o) He is going to be bred to Lily and to Oreo.
Sorry for a bit of unpleasant news however... in order to upgrade our dairy goat herd and keep the supply of milk going, we need to add two registered does to our herd. This means that two goats need to be re-homed... unfortunately, that means Sweetie-Pie, and Mario. We don't want to separate them, so will hold out until someone will adopt them both. Sweetie gives us great milk- but, being a Boer goat, is not a very prolific milker :o( this is why we keep Nubians. We already have a goat farm in mind to adopt from- and maybe even work out a trade.
"Little" Buddy, now 5 months old, is about half his full grown stature. He is a little STINKER though!!! FULL of mischief... he is our 7 y/o DGD's "KID brother" (get it??) and they joust happily whenever they're together. He is always into EVERYTHING (to include the hay supply for the others) and happily breaks away from the pen to run off, and "prune" our wonderful blueberry bushes of all their leaves/fruit. He is still a baby- and as such, still LOVES to jump up on me, and land in my lap (ooooooffffff!!!)
Lily is the sweetheart of the herd- well, she and Oreo! They never leave my side when I visit. They demand attention- and if I give attention to anyone but to Lily, Lily will let it be known that this is NOT acceptable- and will bite me hard on the arm! Going so far as to nudge my hands away from the others LOL LOL
Whenever I am stressed about anything, all it takes is a little "caprine (goat) therapy", and I'm good to go. Did I mention to you how MUCH I love my goats????? <3

Caprine Family Update/August 2011

I thought I would give you all a bit of an update on our goat family! All 6 are doing great- but Lily (the matriarch)is having issues with delusions of self-importance. Lily will NOT tolerate attention being given to any of the others. All is fine, if she is the only goat being petted, spoken to and loved. She rewards with little kisses and looks of adoration. Buddy, our sweet little 4 month old kid, is very active and loves attention- so he will try to insert himself into my arms. I begin to love/pet him- and all of a sudden Lily bites me HARD on the arm!! She won't release until I stop. If I keep it up, she bites again and head-butts the little guy out of the way, often knocking him to the ground. Oreo is another one who is an attention hog. Same situation from Lily, if Oreo gets attention. Poor Oreo just takes it all in stride... and is content to get whatever lovin' she can get with Mom around. Mario and Sweetie-Pie, are not so much social butterflies, but will still get knocked out of the way if Lily's airspace is violated. Buddy is learning that "rearing-up" and running head-first into the others will gain him a small amount of "respect". Blackjack ("Jack") is in his own pen right next to the other goats so he can see/be with them... but, as with Lily, he will let it be known that not paying attention to him makes him VERY vocal, and calls to anyone around to pay him attention. He's a BIG guy, but despite his size (and very strong rut-odor) he is VERY gentle and loving, and thrives on attention. The Ladies KNOW this. So... they decide to strut back and forth in front of Jack's pen... rubbing their bodies along the fence rails... showing themselves off and then walking away... what's a male goat to DO??

BUDDY- oh, he is so fun, and FUNNY!!! :o) The grandkids LOVE to play with him. They treat him like a kid brother (no pun intended), but he acts just like a dog. He follows them everywhere, runs races with them, "play-fight" with him and make him 'charge' them. Now, Buddy is a very smart little goat and knows how to help himself to our valuable plants. When "alone", he wanders over to our blueberry bushes and helps himself to the fruits and all the leaves he can eat and is very efficient at 'denuding' the plant before the children can get him away... Buddy is also a climber and will get on top of stacks of wood, dirt mounds, and even charges up our 14 steps to our deck to get at all of my container flowers... I have since learned to lock the gate latch when he is in "roam" mode.