How We Started (Share Your Story!)

I like to think that my personal saga started before I was born. My grandmother owned Nubians (one named Fannybird) and a Saanen (named Buttermilk) before I ever existed. Then my mother owned LaManchas when I was a wee little kid, and one of those jumped on my back one day as I was stooped over on our concrete porch. I was knocked out, but received no permanent damage...other than GOAT BRAIN.

I got my first two goats as a young teen (13 or 14 I think?). They were a petting zoo mutt, Tonto, and a Nubian, Star. They were sweet, but basically a disaster. Long story short, Star died and I gave Tonto back to his previous owner. It was one of the hardest things ever to give him up, but I knew that it was for the best for him and us.

I was able to start over in 2008, and am now the happy goatherd of several Nigerians and a MiniMancha. I thankfully learned a lot from my prior mistakes and researched a ton before getting my new herd. I knew about CAE and CL by this point and made sure to buy clean animals. I didn't know about Johnes yet, but thankfully it's not that common around here and my herd has since tested negative for it as well. I learned about ineffective de-wormers and proper goat diet. I still don't know everything, but I always preach to anyone who asks to research and to buy clean tested animals. It makes all the difference to do this rather than just buy the first thing you see!

Of course, with my first does, I was still green and made a lot of mistakes. I bought does that were completely wild and with no milking history. Not the best choice for a hopeful dairy herd! It took a while for the idea that I needed to buy from a milking herd in order to have decent milkers to sink in, but at least I finally got there. I still don't know how some of my does are going to milk now (some were so wild that my first attempts at milking failed miserably), but I am slowly building up my herd. We'll get there.

I also have chickens now, and will be raising my own meat in the future as well. Every day I'm a little closer to actually having a fully functional homestead. And I never stop learning.

These are my newest babies, twin does just born here May 9th. Their mother was my first doe and was totally wild. When we tried to milk her, my mom was helping and Brownie sliced open her hand with her sharp hooves. I'm amazed at how much Brownie has changed since 2008. She actually licked me of her own volition today, and not because I had food! I'm confident I'll finally be able to milk her this go-around. I'm glad I never gave up on her. I knew there was a normal, sane goat in there somewhere. And these kids are ridiculously friendly! Their names are Oreo (black and white) and Cookie (brown and white). Cookie is for sale and will be available when weaned, hint hint.

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Tiramar Nigerians - Facebook
Mid-South Homestead Education - MHE Facebook

@Wonderland, adorable kids!!!

We always told our children that after they were grown and settled that dad and I were moving to a farm. It was a family joke based on us loving animals. Never thought we would really do it...and actually, we didn't move to a farm. But we did move rural with acreage and you can't raise horses and cows without grass...our land is all woods. So, goats!!

Thanks, GoatGirl!

I think this would be a nice sticky. New people could add to it as they come. It's been a really fun read.

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Tiramar Nigerians - Facebook
Mid-South Homestead Education - MHE Facebook

How can you make a thread sticky?

I did not want goats, period. We had goats when I was a kid and the milk tasted terrible. I thought that was normal.
Fast forward 50 years. We had bought acreage here and had a pen pal that I wanted to visit first thing. she told us to inquire at such and such house. as she really lived wayyyy out.
We come to this house and I ask about my friends location. An old man is stroking a long beard, looks me over and says, you must be Tabitha. He took us there on his tractor, our car would not have made it. Then he invited us back in and offered us a glass of goat milk,. I declined as politely as I could, but he insisted. I sniffed at it, and he got irritated, are you gonna look at it or are you gonna drink it. I thought, well I guess I can force it down to not offend the old geezer. To my huge surprise it tasted neutral, not at all what I expected. then we met his Saanen goat and she was a pet. DH fell in love and wanted Saanens from then on. The rest is history.