Welcome to Canaan Hills!

The hardest part of writing anything is getting started. Once I write the first sentence, I can ramble on for hours. And I HATE writing the first post on a blog. Who are we, what are we doing, and why do you care?

We have just gotten our first herd of goats, so we have no idea what we are doing, and I'm not sure why you care. You'll have to tell me that. I hope to entertain you, let you learn from our mistakes, and maybe even inspire you to step out and try something different.

Some things to expect: 1. I will make frequent references to God and my life as a Christian. Hopefully I can encourage you along the way, maybe help you to see God if you don't already, or at least allow my light to shine. 2. I seem to do a lot of stupid things, like smacking myself in the face with a tree, as I did today (it takes talent, don't be jealous), and I am bound to make lots of mistakes with the goats. Please read several posts to see how I fix my mistakes before trying anything I might report on.

Ok, if you're here, you're probably here for the goats, so let's get to them. We currently have five. One LaMancha, one Nubian/Boer cross, and three Pygmies. I've heard they multiply like rabbits, so who knows how many we'll have next week.

A few weeks ago we decided to try our hand with dairy goats. I had found a Nubian doe in milk that I called to reserve, but I was too late. About ten minutes later, my phone rang. It was a friend from church calling to see if we wanted a free goat. Umm, yeah! The crazy thing is that she had no idea we were wanting goats! Her sister was giving away her pet goat, and my friend thought of me. That goat was Molly, a pygmy. We hadn't planned on having pygmies, but it's hard to turn down free.

She is pretty shy, and has been pouting since the rest of the goats invaded her space. Our hopes are to breed her to a Nigerian dwarf. Not sure yet if I'll try to milk her after she kids, or just let her be a mommy for the first kid.

Molly

Lucy came next. She is our LaMancha, (they are the weird looking ones without visible ears) and boy, what a personality! She is like an ADHD Jack Russell on crack. And that's when she's sleeping. Don't believe me?

See? She can't even sleep like a normal animal. I think she was scratching her head on the fence and dozed off.

She thinks I should share my coffee.

Yes, Lucy, we're talking about you.

Lucy quickly let Molly know who is queen around Canaan Hills Farm.

So after these two got settled in, I went to the Verizon store and brought home two more goats. 

No, really, I did. Why do I get the feeling you don't believe me?

See, what happened was...(don't you hate when people start off like that? Let's start over). 

Last weekend, we had a full day planned. Working on fencing, cooking for a family cookout that evening, and in the midst of all that, I had to go get my replacement phone programmed. I pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car, and I was walking across the parking lot I noticed a large dog carrier in the back of a truck. Seeing movement, I veered that way to see the dog in the back. Dogs are like magnets to me. I like other people's cats, but I love dogs! Sorry, back to the story. As I got closer, I could see horns in the carrier. 

Hmm, that's probably not a dog, I deduced. (I'm smart like that.) 

Just call me Sherlock. For in fact, there was not a dog in the carrier, but two pygmy kids! Two adorable, almost identical siblings. After sniffing out the owner, we exchanged phone numbers and I made a quick run back to the house to get the trailer for my two new babies. Yes, more pygmies. But they were so cute, and very well priced. My husband just shook his head when I brought them home. 

 Gracie

George

I mean, seriously, could you say no to them? George is a wether (a castrated male) and Gracie is a doeling, both 8 months old. We'll also breed Gracie to a Nigerian Dwarf. 

We interrupt this post for a PSA from Captain Obvious: If you are cross breeding goats, or any other animal, make sure the male is not a larger breed than the female. Don't make her try to deliver a kid that will be too big for her to safely birth. Now back to your regular programming...

Ok, so that's four. We had gone from one goat to four in a week's time. We had planned to give these time to settle in (ok, to give me time to settle into a routine with them), but then the hubby went back to Craigslist.

Next thing I know, we are on our way to get two Nubians.(the so adorable floppy ears ones) Yes, we have a problem, but we admit it. First step, right? But when we get there, one of the two has a lame foot. Foot rot, the farmer said, which comes from too soggy ground. That would have been helpful to know when we were discussing the goats on the phone. Grrrr. We were disappointed that he wasn't upfront about it, but we were nice about it and politely declined that doe. Obviously. Other than the fact that we are newbies to this and wouldn't want to start off with a goat we needed to doctor and possibly make it worse, we didn't want to pay out money for a goat that may or may not have a temporary problem. 

Priscilla, the Nubian/Boer cross

Priscilla is three years old, and due to kid in January. This will be her second time bred, she had just one kid the first time.

And that's our herd. For now. 

We also have around 50 chickens, a couple of beehives and a tiny little spoiled Feist named Rosie. We have some human kids too! Only one of the four human kids is still at home, but the others are in and out helping with the farm. More about them later!