Goats!!

We have been involved in 4 H for about 10 years now.  One of our very first animal projects was poultry.  Chickens are fairly inexpensive, easy for young children to take care of, and provide a regular benefit to the household by providing eggs (and meat in some cases.)  We have continued on with the poultry project as the younger children became old enough to take on an animal project.  We have done a few different types of birds and have even hatched some of our own chicks.  We have 27 chickens.

We also have done rabbits for many years.  We started out with one New Zealand rabbit (who lived a good long life!) and have had other rabbits over the years.  We bred our rabbits a few years ago and had some sweet baby rabbits.  Right now we have one New Zealand, a mini rex, a mini lop, and a cross between a New Zealand and a Half Lop.

For several years, the children have asked if we could show goats, but I kept saying no. I did not want a project that I would have to be heavily involved in.  I also wasn't sure about the financial investment.  And I know nothing about goats!  But, they really wanted to give it a try, so I said yes this year we would get some goats.

It almost didn't happen.  I did not start looking for the goats early enough and had a hard time finding some.  And then we ended up at the hospital for almost a week with Chelsea and the baby and could not get the goat pen completed.  But, I was able to find 2 goats and we got the pen built in around 12 hours from start to finish.  So the goat project was a go.

The pen we built is 20x20 with 6 foot high fencing and a 4x6 shelter.  We were told one of the most important things about having goats was to build a good strong pen they can't escape from.  My amazing and talented husband designed and built a sturdy, and strong pen.  Hopefully they will not be able to escape!

The goats are around 4 months old and are females.  Christian and Alex will be showing them this year.  Lily wanted to show a goat too, but I told her maybe next year if all goes well this year.  Lily and Emmie will be showing chickens and rabbits this year. The boys named their goats Jessie and Bessie.  Jessie is a little bigger then Bessie and Bessie is a bit skittish.  Hopefully she will get used to being around people soon.  Christian will be showing Jessie and Alex will be showing Bessie.

I did not get to go pick up the goats but the children said they did pretty well on the hour drive home in the back of the van.

Jessie

Bessie

We got them unloaded and in the pen right before it started pouring down rain.

Let the goat adventure begin!