# How long have you been raising goats?



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Just thought this would be fun.

Ok .... I will be honest I was curious about a couple people and was going to ask personally but then decided to ask everyone because it is just fun. (ok ditzy blonde here lol).

I will start.

I have had goats for at last 11 years. We started with "mutt" dairy goats and I fell in love. April of 2006 I switched to the mini breeds and fell in love all over again.


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## Muddy Creek Farm (Oct 5, 2007)

A year in November :wink:


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## debpnigerians (Oct 20, 2007)

Our first goat was a Toggenburg buckling from the flea market - I can honestly say being in goats is all my DH's fault, cause I TOLD him not to buy Cinnamon and he did anyway. So everything that's happened since is ALL HIS FAULT  !!! Anyway, that was in 2001. We had crossbreds, then Boers, and in 2003 at the Ft. Worth Stock Show I saw a pen full of Nigerian Dwarf bottle babies....one look and I was toast. Now all we have are Nigerians, with the notable exception of my beloved and decidedly wacky grade LaMancha, the infamous Nutty-Meg, and her two half-Nigerian daughters.
(It's a good thing I'd owned enough goats to know that Nutty-Meg is somewhat unique....I'd have been scared to death at the thought of an ENTIRE BREED like her!!!! :lol: )


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## bigoakfarm (Oct 6, 2007)

I'm so ashamed to say it but we've had goats off and on for about 14 yrs now and I only ever used them to keep the odd horse company here and there until 2002. Those first goats were brush goats and I didn't even know there was such a thing as a registered or purebred goat until we got into the NDs.  Ack! I'm an idiot. 

We've been raising reg. dairy goats for 4 or 5 yrs now. We've had NDs, LaManchas and Mini Manchas too but now we're settled on the NDs and Alpines. The Alpines are still new to me and they're turning out to be my favorite. (shhh! don't tell the few NDs we still have -they're like family!)


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## fritzie (Oct 6, 2007)

i got my first goat in 2002. i was diagnosied with fibromyalgia & depreesion so my hubby went out & got me a little goat so i would have to get up out of bed to take care of him. he was a little nigi/pygmy cross. then i went to a goat show & that was it. i feel in love with the alpines & have had them ever since. i have had saanans & lamancha's but always end up with just my alpines.


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## DW Farms (Oct 5, 2007)

Lets see, I was 9 when we got our first goats, that was 11 years ago. My first goat was a lamancha wether, he was such a cool pet. We just let him wonder around the place with the dogs.

Adam


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## Dover Farms (Oct 16, 2007)

We got our first grade Nubian doe in 2001. Her name was Maggie or aka "Mad Maggie"! :lol: Then in 2002 we got our first registered doe. Her name is Millie and she is my first goat and is still here and will be until the day she dies!  Had our first unregistered babies in the spring of 2003. Still have the doe from that and her name is Brigitte and she, too, will stay here until the day she dies.  Then just last year we really got into showing at open shows other than my 4-H show and my Co. open show. Also last fall...we brought home 2 Kiko crosses, a buck and a doe, from MO! Now we have 14 goats. 2 are for sale and 1 going to the freezer in a couple of months. If kidding goes as planned....we'll be keeping/getting 4 doelings, selling a 2 yo first freshener Nubian and a 2nd freshening 2 yo Kiko doe. So hopefully by next fall we'll only have 13....12 does and 1 buck!  But you know how goats are! :roll: :lol:


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## cute kids (Oct 5, 2007)

about nineteen years ago my five year old daughter and i stopped at a small local fair and visited the petting part. there were these tiny little pygmy kids......we did have an empty dog crate in the back of the car,...so small, so cute, mom.......we had maabaa for ten years, great little wether (named him maabaa cause he bawled for the four hr trip home--the owner banded him before we left!!!). he really was a doat, for he spent his time with the dogs. total pet. i came home one day to find he had butted open the back door and was standing on the dining room table eating a bouquet of flowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
didn't live in a place where i could have a goat again until june, when i moved here and the first thing i did, before the house was even re-habbed, was buy goats.   
i so appreciate gw and goat spot because even though we had maabaa so long, i knew next to NOTHING about goats; he was never sick; didn't even need hoof trimming!! now i have a cabinet with ten thousand potions and all kinds of supplies and equipment and am scared to death something will happen to these guys. so much easier back in the maabaa days!!!!!!!!!!!! i look to you here to save me....and MY GOATEES....from ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## fcnubian (Oct 23, 2007)

7-8 years for the pygmys...
Since Mar of 06 for the purebred nubians.


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## Fainters (Oct 10, 2007)

I started out with 2 pygmy goats about 13 years ago. A year later I stumbled across 3 fainting does and added them to my herd. I found them to be so much more docile (less fighting, less smell, didn't jump fences) and also much easier to doctor because they would fall down when you went to do something to them. I found a fainting buck and that was the start of my myotonics. I still have 1 of my original does. She is 12 and still gives me the best kids every year. In the last couple of years I got interested in Nigerians becasue of their colors. Then I found some Boers and basically I just love goats of all kinds and colors. Now I am thinking that I would like to start showing and possibly make soap and cheese.

http://www.freewebs.com/scapegoatranch/


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Here I go ramblin. I honestly don't know how I got to liking goats. I mean, it wasn't an impulse or anything, but ever since I was little I've always liked goats. Then in 2004 I asked my mom if we could get some goats for milk. She said I had to do my research before I could by anything. I did my research(still don't know anything till you get the goats though :wink: ) My brother also jumped in the wagon. In April of 2005 my brother David got his first 10 boer does and 1 boer buck. A week later I bought my first 2 goats, Mary and Martha, a pair of unregistered goats. Mary is dairy and Martha is Boer.
We learned a lot our first year, like not buying goats unless you knew where they came from. The guy that David bought his goats from screwed him(sorry if I can't say that word but he did) We thought the goats were going to be coming from a nearby town, they guy did not tell us they were coming from MO. His goats were sick all the time, and it was a crash course in goats 101 for us. We learned, the goats got better and we got smarter.
In July of 2005 my mom had fallen in love with the LaMancha breed from the Fias Co Farm site. I researched the breed and decided that it would be the perfect breed for us. I found a good breeder close by and we purchased our first 3 LaManchas, an American doeling(Caramel), an experimental first freshener(Molly), and a purebred buck(Falcon)
The next kidding season(our first) was interesting. Another crash course which proves you don't know anything until you experience it for yourself. Our first kidding was triplets, and our first kidding also ended up as our first bottle baby too, Daisy. That followed by learning by ourselves what to do when the baby is stuck, caring for all those kids etc. We made is through and we're still here
We bought 2 more LaMancha does(Kadi and Gabby) for Daisy's milk and in May we added 2 Oberhasli doe kids(Muriel and Joni) 2 Alpines(Sprite(sold) and Kitty) and 2 Saanens(Proxy and Val)
We are set these animals(except Sprite) are still around and are the foundation for our dairy herd. My brother still has 9 of the 10 original does(one died due to unknown causes) and his original buck. We have added a couple more bucks and does but we are happy where we are now and plan on expanded within the herd. We have learned a lot and come a long way and there's still much more to learn.
We have a good meat business, and the dairy business is starting to take off. My mom and I hope to become a licensed cheese dairy and sell at farmers markets. Even if we don't do that, we have the goats and 'the life' and we are enjoying it


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

Geez.... I feel so totally out of my league here, yet lucky to have all of you experienced people to turn to should I have a problem. I haven't even had mine a year yet. We've had horses for several years but quite honestly, they intimidate the heck out of me (they're mainly my hubbies hobby). After getting bucked off, stepped on, kicked, bitten and otherwise scared to death several times, I decided I wanted an animal (s) I could handle on my own. One of the local papers ran a huge article on a pygora farm last winter and I was hooked before I even saw one in person. 

My first 4 pygoras arrived on May 18th of 2007. Another wether came the first of October. I would get many more if I could afford it. I have yet to experience my first serious illness (hopefully won't for a long time either), or my fiber harvest, or our first kidding (not until at least spring of '09), not even our first winter yet. I've read tons of stuff, but experience is the best teacher....


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## redneck_acres (Oct 18, 2007)

I have had my own herd of goats for about the last 4 years-but I have been around goats off and on for the majority of my life. My folks had a herd of reg. LaManchas when I was atleast 5 or 6 years old until I was 12 or so and then they sold out of them so my mom could go back to work. Then just a couple years later they bought a couple goats just to have some goats on the place and then decided they wanted more goats and got into raising the Saanens. They acctually put in some tickets for a Saanen buck at our local goat show and won it so figured they ought to get some does to . They had a choice between to brothers and picked the right brother-his kids are looking aweasome and placed pretty good at their first National show.


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

i got my first goats about ten years ago. All i had ever wanted wasa horse, parents wouldn't let me. The place where i took riding lessons had goats. they needed someone to show for them so i said i would do it. I enjoyed it a lot. I had lamanchas for a few years. The they brought home this little alpine doe named harmony in 2000 i was hooked. Harmony would come to be my pet goat, i showed her and she did well. but she followed me around like a puppy. The alpines are definatly my favorite breed now. i have had others but the alpines always rule over all. 
Thinking about getting a nigerian buck to start a mini alpine line as well.

beth


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Hmmm...let me see....I was raised on goats milk and fresh eggs...turkey, chicken goose and duck to be exact. My mom always had grade Toggs and Nubians and a couple Alpines throughout my child hood. I personally decided on mini's because of those "big" goats! I've had mine for 7 years...started out with Bootsie...then My Dolly ...Skippy...babies...then more babies then Tilly,Hank ...babies..babies...babies..babies then Binky., Chief and Angel....love them all as if they were my own babies.


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## PACE (Oct 8, 2007)

I got Pace and Shanti a little over a year ago (last August). I had been wanting another kind of pet for some time and stumbled across goats. I researched them for a few months, got in contact with a breeder, and that was that! She sent me pictures of Pace and Shanti when they were only a few hours old... and I chose them then, the day they were born. I picked the little guys up when they were three months old- so tiny!!! Then this spring I decided I needed a big goat, one I could train to pull a cart and just love on. I asked his breeder to pick me out the friendliest, cutest big guy there was. I officially decided on Melino when he was three weeks old. On the last day of school he came, was brought down from Maine. And I just loved him instantly! Now my little herd is complete. I don't think I'll be getting any more goats while I live here.


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

Three years ago I impulsively bought two does- it's been non-stop education since then. 
Having so many years of horses, I thought goats would be easy. They're not- they take up more time than the horses and I wouldn't have it any other way.
There is no other word for it- goats are charmers.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

When the children were young we had a few...a couple of scrubs then some Nubians. I was in love but didn't know a thing back then...give some shot sq once a year, trim feet. Dump pepto down them if they eat something poisenous.
When we had to move that was the end until after children grew up & flew the nest. I was getting tired of my graveyard shift job & read an artlcle about meat goats and started dreaming, researching, planning.
But as someone pointed out, text book larnin ain't hands on!
Bought a few bred % Boer yrlngs and a more mature Nubian. She gives me countless hrs of joy & pain when she has to stand on my foot! And is always willing to help with chores.
We will have our third season come Feb. 
One of the tings I have learned that when planning for owning & maintaining goats, double even triple your estimated start up cost!! And the time you will spend out there laughing & crying, hanging out, being pestered, loved on, ignored, inadvertantly bruised and above all, outsmarted just when you think you have a handle on them!! :shock:


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## getchagoat (Julie) (Oct 5, 2007)

We've been messing with goats for almost 3 years. We just got back our first little pygmy doe and she is still just as cute and hornery.  We got the goats to put with our horses and eat down the weeds. Then we decided to grow into a herd. We absolutely love the antics and the babies. And we have our favorite pets as well.


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## sungoats (Oct 7, 2007)

OK... Here's the saga of my life with goats!

About 8 years ago I was out with my sheep and a neighbor who I had never met from across the street (from the developement of brand new $500,000 homes) came over with a goat on a belt he was using as a leash. He said, "I think THIS belongs to you. It was eating my garden." I told him I didn't own any goats. He looked at my sheep and said, "What are THESE?". In my very best "patience is a virtue" tone of voice, I replied, These are sheep, that is a goat". :roll: His face took on a somewhat vacant expression and he and replied, "Oh.". He said he was going to set her loose so I said I would take her and try to find her owner. He said "OK" and practically bolted back across the street. I think he was afraid I'd change my mind. :lol: 

I put notices in 3 local newspapers and got 5 responses. Two people volunteered to adopt her and three people had lost goats recently, but not that one. I never realized there were so many stray goats roaming around! 

Anyway, I ended up keeping "Saganhoff". She was very old with some broken teeth, but very funny with an incredible sense of humor and soon became the "queen goat" in the midst of the lowly (she thought) sheep.

That fall we brought a ram in to breed to the sheep. He was about 300 lbs of mean and we had to separate Soggy from the flock. She spent her days looking very lonely and unhappy as she watched the sheep from across the paddock. She needed a friend!

A friend of mine worked for a vet who had been throwing hay over a fence to some horses on a farm she passed every day on her way to work. The farmer was very old and could not care for his animals any longer, and one day the vet found that one of the horses had died. She asked the farmer is she could take his animals and he said yes. He had several very skinny horses, an old sheep dog and some goats. He had the goats chained to farm equipment that he would move around periodically. We decided that one of those goats would make a fine new friend for Soggy.  

When we went to see them, the vet thought we would take one of the new baby twins that had been born the day after she got them. Instead, we chose a very old girl that we knew no one else would want. From that time, Sagenhoff and Hagendazs were best buddies!!!

They lived with us for four years and passed away quietly within months of each other. We still hold them in our hearts.

A couple of years went by and we still missed them, so a year and a half ago we felt it was time for another goat. We got our little "Dixie" and in May her little daughter, "Daisy" was born. We don't think we ever want to be goatless again!!! 

(Thank you Soggy and Hoggy!!!)


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## alyssa_romine (Oct 5, 2007)

When I was about 10, we had about 6 pygmy goats. My dad sold them and got me a horse. Then last May, I got a pygmy/myotonic buck and a myotonic/pygmy doe. In June, I got my first registered myotonic buck. So I have had goats for 1 yr and a half.


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## Crissa (Oct 7, 2007)

I got Lyric on May 19th 2007, so I haven't had mine all that long! Most of you already know why I got into them, but for those of you who don't know...I was getting into breeding market sheep and I thought hey, if I have any orphans I may not have time to feed them so I should look at getting a dairy goat as a surrogate mother. I then did a search and found goatweb and asked around about breeds and care and if anyone had any for sale. I fell in love with the nubians and their ears, colors, and personalities. (at least from what I heard.) So I started looking for Nubian does. I had a couple of people contact me and I contacted some people and they had some for sale, but a couple were registered (but not in my price range at the time.) and a couple weren't pure nubians (not that I was being extremely picky but I wanted to see if I could find a purebred unregistered one for a good price.) And then Candace, (one of the mods of goatweb who lives in Kansas.) contacts me and says she had one that was not able to be registered that she had for sale. So she sends me some pics and I'm in love. So on May 19th, 2007 she was going to a sale in Perkins, OK and that's where I got Lyric!  Now I'm hooked! 

And a couple of months later my lamb died (Aries, he was Lyric's companion.) and Lyric was acting depressed so I started looking for another unregistered nubian (actually I didn't care the breed at the time I just wanted Lyric to be happy.) that I could afford. I did a search for someone in Oklahoma and saw a little add on a farm website of some sort (can't remember what site.) and found Shekinah Springs Farm and contacted the breeder (FarmGirl18) and she had some beautiful doelings for sale along with wethers, and I asked everyone on Goatweb (which was running at the time) which one they thought was the best, even though I had my top three picked out. And Heidi was the favorite! So we went and picked her up one day and Lyric seemed to be much happier (until she realized she had to share me! :roll: ) Now I'm hoping to get a registered doeling in the Spring. I'm having so much fun with these little critters! I can't wait to start breeding and seeing all those little kids jumping around!


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## ilroost (Oct 7, 2007)

well lets see, it has been 4 yrs now that i rescued a pygmy buckling in texas.I was moving a family that had a single goat and they were going to take it to a friend of theirs so he could butcher it if i didnt take it. So home he went with me in my semi truck all the way to Il. . i had to stop at rest areas and walk him on a leash.You wouldnt believe the looks i got. He is still with me along with 18 others now.


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## ksacres (Oct 30, 2007)

13 years in La Manchas and 10 years in Nubians. For three of those years, we did not do any breeding (college and general laziness LOL) Wow does time fly or what! :shock: We have only had our own bucks for about 5 of those years, other years we took them to be bred.


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## Lindacol (Nov 5, 2007)

*How long I've been raising goats*

A very long time Seriously I started in toggenburgs in 1960 and have had them ever since.. My sister had alpines in 4H and my brother had a couple of saanens but they did not keep the goats after 4H. My sisters boys had toggs & saanens while in 4H. My children had toggs, alpines and saanens. The alpines have been a part of the herd for close to 20 yrs now. They are technically my son's but I manage them along with my toggs.

Linda Colquitt


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

Guess that I am the newest so far :0)

I got my first goats in mid August 2007 - I had not even been at my new house a month. I started with a buck, a wether, and two does. Now I have 9 goats! "

"They are only here to eat the weeds hunny I swear!" "Oh, the llamas, you ask...they are only for protecting the goats, hunny!!!" "Oh hunny, I don't know what you are talking about that the original four have multiplied so quickly?!?!?!? as I had NOTHING to do with that" "Yes hunny, I know that they do not birth and grow to adults in 2 days..." 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

And so started Sunset Lake Ranch~

I was a veterinary nurse for the last 7 years in small animal clinics with a hint of large animal. I never realized how much I could fall in love with goats. I have always wanted my own horses (I trained and wrangled in high school) but goats - yah right.

Well, I have had my heart stolen - and never again will I be with out my goaties!!!!


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## GregH (Oct 31, 2007)

I'm another new goat owner. I have had goats for about 2 weeks now. We have 1 pygmy, 1 Nubian wether, and 2 MiniNubian bucks. I hope to get some MiniNubian does in a few months.


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## mystic's_mom (Oct 5, 2007)

Hmmm...lets see...I think it's been atleast 17 years now??? I think I got my first Nubian when I was about 10 years old. I started with those. Then a few years later started with Pygmies...I have not lost my love for Pygmies since my first sight of them when my mom brought home two bucklings for resale...I got my first two does that fall.


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## lesserweevil (Oct 5, 2007)

Spring 2005!

So... coming up to 3 years this spring


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

2yrs.in April.I begged andbegged and my dad finally said yes one but when we went there I bought two purebred pygmys and the next day I went out and saw three!The one doe had kidded .(the other was only 8wks. old)Ever since I'm abcessed.


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## sunshineandtulip (Nov 6, 2007)

*Well it started about 5 yrs ago my mom started looking into meat goats. So she got 2 little goats from the sale barn. A little Boer buck and a NUbian Doe. We learned on them!LOL Polly and Simon were really ummm tolerant of us. They lost hair and had worms and sore mouth. BUT Survived our education! So the next year she added more Boers and a Saanan and a Sable(one mean girl!) we ended up with 30. In the mean time she bought me 2 little Nubian girls for my birthday(Sunshine and Tulip). They are now 3 years old. I did have to sell Tulip and that was sooooo hard. But I have since added and subtracted a few and I now have 14 all together. We did end up losing Polly last year we didn't know what was wrong and come to find out it was nothing more then parasites and the fact that she had 4 babies in her belly at the time. A stupid reason to lose one but we learned and we do have one of her girls. Our Dottie is a sassy tri colored spotted Boer/Nubian cross who had twins her first time around.... Okay You just wanted how long we had been in goats not everything that has happened Since we got them!!! LOL So personally I have had goats for 4 years now with 1 year of previous experience......*


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## Double Tree Farm (Nov 8, 2007)

Hi, newbie to the Goat Spot here. 
Have to say I love to read the stories of how all came into owning goats. 
We have had goats for close to 15 years. Our very first was a cross breed wether and like some of you, we bought for a companion for the horses. The horses are no longer a part of the farm, though the goats remained and have taken over our hearts and farm.


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## GSFarm (Oct 6, 2007)

We started out with 5 auction goats. We had an easy time with them. I couldn't kill them even if I wanted to. I only wormed them once in about 5 months and they never had a problem. We next added some mini toggs and a mini alpine that were all later sold. I fell in love with the mini breeds and never looked back. We had a very hard "learning time" once we got into registered goats and some got over that and now we have been raising Nigerians for about 2 years now and I'm still loving it!


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## PACE (Oct 8, 2007)

Welcome to the GoatSpot Double Tree Farm! :wave:


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## Double Tree Farm (Nov 8, 2007)

:wave: Thank you for the welcome Emily  Nice to be here.


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## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

We started in the early spring of 2005. We bought two "pygmy mix" does for brush control. Well one was bred and I got hooked quickly on the breeding aspect of goats. So we got a buck. Spring 2006 brought our first registered Nigerians and that snow balled from there. We eventually switched over to all registered goats. We've dabbled a little in other breeds since last year, but have found our true love lies with Nigerian Dwarfs.


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## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

We started in the early spring of 2005. We bought two "pygmy mix" does for brush control. Well one was bred and I got hooked quickly on the breeding aspect of goats. So we got a buck. Spring 2006 brought our first registered Nigerians and that snow balled from there. We eventually switched over to all registered goats. We've dabbled a little in other breeds since last year, but have found our true love lies with Nigerian Dwarfs.


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## mthalpines (Nov 9, 2007)

I have had goats for 18 years. Can't believe that it's been that long though


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## goat fever (Oct 18, 2007)

I have owned goats for a little over a year. I can't believe it has been a year already. My neighbor rescued 4 goats from a sad situation and I bought two of them. Then of course her goats started having babies and my son bought a little nubian/cross doe from her and we have three goats. He loves his little girl as much as I love my wethers. We are planning on breeding her in 2008 and hope to have babies in October or November. I am always amazed at how my goats can lift my spirits when I have had a bad day. Andy, Amos and Rose have been the best thing that has happened to our family all year. Well my husband might say that, he would say the best thing that has happened to him this year is his Boxer Zipper. Either way we have been blessed with animals this year who have stolen our hearts and make us smile. What more can a person ask for.


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