Hi, my name is Lindsay, and I'm a goat-aholic...

Well, we did it again.  A week and a half ago we bought two more goats.  Not just any goats, and no more babies.  We bought Nubian/Alpine cross bred does.  For those of you that don't know goat speak - we bought pregnant milk-breed girls.  Tianna is due at the end of March, Snow White (or Big Mama as I like to call her), is due the beginning of April.  This all started when a friend of mine found out that her son had developed a cow's milk allergy.  Me, being the generous goat owner that I am (and a closet goat-aholic), offered to get a dairy goat and provide her with fresh goat's milk weekly if her son wasn't allergic to goat's milk (which is hypo-allergenic, so I wasn't worried about that fact).  And amazingly enough, she agreed.  And 2 other friends wanted in on the goat's milk action, so here we are.  2 more goats.  And, we had Cinderella bred to the same buck, so we'll hopefully have lots and lots of goat's milk in just a few more weeks!
So here's our herd now:
Cinderella - one of the originals.  She and her sister began the obsession.  We still miss sweet Belle, but we're happy that the new goats have befriended her so quickly and I think they'll be great playmates when they aren't pregnant (because, really, who wants to frolic when you're most likely pregnant with twins??).  We think she's a Nubian/Kiko cross based on goat-people's opinions.  Whatever she is, she thinks she's a human and loves nothing more than to just talk to us all day.  She's due at the end of June/early July.

Ariel - our replacement for Belle.  Since Nubians (our preferred breed) don't have babies all year long, we had to get a Boer goat, but she is a cutie!  She's about 3 1/2 months old now and loves being the baby.  Boer's can have a pretty mean/stubborn temperment, but being around all these friendly, loving goats and people has made her so sweet!  She never get in any kind of hurry and always politely waits her turn for anything.

Snow White - Our biggest and oldest goat.  She's a Nubian cross.  She's 2 years old, and a 2nd time mommy.  She is big and likes to be first, but she's never mean.  She's got the most gorgeous black coat with white and brown details.  She knows she's the perfect height to be petted, so you'll often find her just standing right by your side patiently.  She's due at the beginning of April

Tianna - Miss Congeniality.  She's talkative, sweet, and lets you know just how much she loves you.  Her ears remind me of a donkey's ears because they stick straight out!  It also reminds me of a bassett hound sticking it's head out of a car window.  Anyways, her coat is a beautiful brown with hints of black.  She's a Nubian/Alpine cross and comes from a great line of milkers.  She's only a couple months older than Cinderella.  She's going to be our milking workhorse.  The best guesstimate we're getting is that by her 3rd freshening (coming into milk), she will probably give 1 1/2 gallons a day.  I hope she lives up to the hype, but even if she doesn't we sure like having her around.  She's due the end of March.

So now you've met the herd.  We'll have anywhere from 3-7 more before the summer is over with babies.  We've decided to only keep two of the kids this year and sell the rest, although I'm sure that will be heartbreaking for me to part with their babies.
In anticipation of all this milking, Daddy and I spent the long weekend building our goat stand.  We're very happy with the way it turned out.

So that's the herd.  We love living out here and we sure do love our goats!  And if you're wondering who does all the goat naming around here, that is R's official duty on the farm.  And you can tell what she's really into at the moment...  And, yes, we know that Snow White is black, but Jasmine was out, and she can't pronounce Pocahontas.  Hehe!