Alys

 

Meet Alys. She is the beginning of our very own fiber flock. That’s right, we are adding Angora goats to our heard. Alys is 9 years old, so she is an older girl, but is coming to us bred, so next fall, I will get to try my hand with kid mohair! I’m very excited. She has dropped twins three times out of her six pregnancies, so we have a good chance of getting two new arrivals in spring. Angora bucks come into rut later than some goats because of the heat of their fleece, so it will be a little bit longer before she joins our farm.

Very friendly, she warmed up quickly when I visited, especially when I shared a fortune cookie. Although, the pumpkin really captured her attention. Her fleece will be coarser because of her age, but it gives me a chance to learn without fear of spoiling a fine fleece, and her color is still very pretty. Angora goats are sheared twice a year, so I don’t have to wait long to try spinning the results.

This are her kids from this year, I was introduced to them as proof of what she has in her. Aren’t the curly bangs cute? I will also be bringing home Pansy when we pick up Alys, but she was more shy and I didn’t get any pictures. She is 2 years old, and cream colored. She has a few more clips of ultra fine fleece, so I’m looking forward to seeing the results. Hopefully I will be able to win her over quickly.

 

 

Kids

A few more pictures of the kids of our herd. I love how universal King of the Hill is, Miss Mess and the youngest three babies instinctively all play on the milk stand, occasionally head butting and pushing to gain the high ground. No feelings are hurt, and everyone just clambers back up.

I don’t think there is anything more curious than a friendly goat. They immediately want to know what you and anything you bring into the field is made of. Did you know goats don’t have upper front teeth? I only learned after bottle feeding for a season. It makes it easier to let them suckle your fingers, but we have all learned the hard way not to let them pull your fingers too far back, because those back teeth are made for grinding, and that hurts.

This is Charlotte, she is Miss Mess’s best playmate, the bravest and biggest of this summer’s babies. She is one of our bottle fed kids, and is still not happy to have been weaned. She is one of the first voices you hear when coming out of the door, and certainly the loudest.

Darla has only recently been moved into the playschool pen, since we turned our buck Shemp in with the older ladies. So she is not used to us being in and around as much as the younger babies, but is naturally friendly and quickly warmed up even to Miss Mess. She loves greeting the cars when we drive up, and always calls hi.

My buddy Hugo. The only one of our first set of triplets to make it, he is still a little runty. (Hugo is short for Humongous, since he was so tiny at first.) He is the sweetest boy, content to be cuddled and loved on, although he is starting to get too big to easily do so. His mama is Lucy, our oldest and most personality-filled goat, she is a milk goat but way too stubborn to be milked. He was my induction to the not so pleasant side of farm life, as I helped with the wethering process.  However, he doesn’t hold a grudge, and didn’t hesitate to climb on up to be held and eat my hair. I think he will have just as much character as his mama, but with an easier going disposition. I’m glad he is staying on for now as a companion animal, its hard not to get attached, and makes it even harder than normal.

Emily is Charlotte’s twin and the middle goat int he top picture, but is a little more skiddish than he sister and I don’t have a great recent picture of her. Minnie is also in this back field, but high-tails it to opposite end when we come in. We have our older girls in the big pen, and Ill see if I can’t get out there soon to do the introductions.

Grazing

A small slice of our herd. Miss Mess walked by the field holding a basket (helping me look for dye plants) and everyone came running. These three are usually first in line for food. Hugo is in the lead, but probably looking for attention more than food, Lucy prefers goldfish if given a choice, and Charlotte is still not happy about being weaned. Charlotte and her twin Emily are our bottle fed babies and at 8 weeks are being cut back to just one bottle a day. Emily doesn’t seem to mind, but Charlotte is very outspoken about her displeasure.