oops, I did it again

[tojo66]

Well.... Archie needed a friend. And she looked lonely, too. So she came home with me. The goat lady sitting beside me at the auction assured me she would be a full size goat someday. But the Amish boy who helped me load her said she came off of his farm, is about a year old, and bred. Anybody want to give me an educated guess as to breed/age? I love this game lol!! Sorry about picture quality-there was a baby goat chewing on my shirt while I was taking these. Also I'm not sure if I'm putting the link in right so maybe there won't be any pix- I'll get it figured out one of these days!

[nehimama]

Well, darnit. I wanted to see what followed you home!

[tojo66]

Sorry, I can't figure out what I've done wrong. I open the image in Picasa, copy the URL from the address bar, click on insert image, paste the URL, and all I get is the little image icons. ???

[Backfourty,MI.]

I upload my photos to photobucket then copy the img code & paste it here in the reply box. Not sure about Picasa & I am not very computor savy so I'm not much help but I was really looking forward to seeing what followed you home too!

[tojo66]

[Blue Run Farm]

Aww, she's just an itty bitty lil thing! No idea here on breed, I am pretty inexperienced myself, but it sounds to me like she needed you. Hope you are keeping her quarantined while you pull blood for testing and all that.

My vet informed me years ago that I am not allowed to go to livestock auctions anymore. That was after I went to look at a "12 year old" Belgian mare, who was "16 years old" when I got there. I told my hubby she was 20 if she was a day, I felt so bad for her we had to bring her home. Got her home, had the vet out and she was closer to 25-30. But she was severely underweight, scared out of her mind, and for all that her eyes were rolling around in her head she never got out of hand or tried to hurt the people that clearly terrified her at the auction. By the time we were done with the vet, we found out she was covered in lice, ringworm, 300 pounds underweight, and just for fun(!) she was also in foal. Sometimes I hate people! Amazingly, once we got her healthy (though sadly she lost the foal), she was one of the best horses we ever had. I had her for 6 years and had to put her down when she was over 30 and started going rapidly downhill. I still miss my Phoebe girl.

Sorry for rambling there, I started thinking about auctions and it made me think of my old girl. She was amazing. I miss her oh so quiet nicker when I went out to feed and the way she would follow me around, then cut me off to present her belly for scratching. She had me trained well by the end, I felt so bad for her previous life that she got away with things the other horses never did and she knew she was spoiled here

[Rechellef]

She looks like a Nubian mix of some sort - I am no expert, but perhaps she is small because she is mixed with Nigerian? Her growth could also have been stunted by poor parasite control or lack thereof. I would buy a goat from a breeder next time and not the auction.

[BethW]

I'm no expert either, but I'm thinking some kind of Nigerian/Nubian mix. My rational brain says a breeder is a better choice, but I'm so glad you saved her

And Blue Run, that's a sad story with a wonderful end.

A horse and a goat who ended up with happy stories despite the odds!

[tojo66]

I realize a breeder is the best way to go but so far finding one has been a real challenge. The Indiana Dairy Goat Association website doesn't have a list of breeders. I haven't seen a goat farm during all my years of backroad driving in this county. Google can't find a goat breeder within 100 miles. I've haunted the 3 towns on Craigslist that are within 200 miles of me. And the people I talked to at the auction (buyers and sellers) had traveled several hours to get there. If there are breeders close by, I can't find them. I'm also having a hard time finding a goat vet. So I do the best I can.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Great story Blue Run farm, really touched my heart & thank goodness for nice people like you & tojo66!

I'm guessing Nubian/Nigerian mix as well, she looks like she's going to be a beautiful girl & I'm sure you'll have her in tip top shape in no time!

I coming to Shipshewana, Indiana Monday morning & I think I have 1 Nigerian doeling left that isn't sold yet, unless the gal coming tomarrow to pick her 2 up that she put a deposit on doesn't buy her that is. She sent me an email & said she might take her too.

[tojo66]

Good luck with your doeling, Backfourty. We have decided to only have 2 goats until we figure out what the heck we are doing! I looked up Shipshewana, it is about 5.5 hours north of me. And Blue Run Farm-good for you for taking care of that poor horse. I have a very similar story about a Beagle who cuddles up with me every night. Glad I didn't meet his previous owner face-to-face. And yes, I know he had one because he showed up at the shelter with a tag on. He was in such bad shape the owner was afraid to admit he belonged to him. GRRRR