Hi y'all, I'm new around here, and to Nigerian Dwarf goats. My husband and I have been wanting to get a couple for a few years now, and are finally in the position to give a couple a good home. We have them for dairy purposes, so we want to do the best we can to take really good care of them and be successful goat parents.
We have been homesteading for about 4-5 years now, and recently were priveleged to move to a more rural setting with 1 full acre (we were homesteading .18 of an acre in town for a while). We have chickens, rabbits, goats, dogs, and cats, and are working toward having a working farmstead where we can produce all of our own milk, produce, and eggs. We're holding off on the meat because our hearts are too soft right now, ha ha.
Our two Nigerians are 12 days old and 3 months old. We are bottle feeding the baby, and free feed the 3 month old alfalfa and minerals (we offer those to the baby as well). I have questions about what is the best way to feed these guys, which I'll ask in another thread.
I've attached a couple of photos of our girls: Willow (12 days, black) and Naomi (3 months, tan).
Happy to be here and nice to meet you all!
Replies
Thank you, Rachel!
Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres said:
Welcome!!
Hi Deborah, thanks for the congrats! I am so excited about these two sweet little creatures, they are so much fun to watch and interact with. Secretly, I'm hoping that we'll be able to raise our own meat in the future. As for now, my husband is more reluctant than I am, but the reality is that he was more reluctant to homestead than I was a few years ago and look where we are now! :D
Welcome and congratulations on your first two goats! I understand about holding off on the meat. When we started homesteading, we'd been vegetarians for 14 years. Now we only eat the meat that we produce ourselves. It was an interesting transition, but it didn't happen overnight.
Thanks so much for the warm welcome, Julieanne!
You are so right about starting slowly. There is SO much to learn about ANY farm animal, and now that I've added the two doelings, I've got 16 animals that I'm slowly learning how to properly feed, house, and care for. It can be overwhelming, but I know that if I can stay tuned and and keep learning, I'll be fine.
I hope to learn a lot here, and in turn, be able to contribute once I get comfortable. :)
Thanks agan!
Hi Kristi! Welcome. Your goats are absolutely darling.
I have just two goats myself, a doe that is hopefully pregnant and a wether. If all goes well with my doe and her kidding, I might add another doe. I think it pays to start slowly when you're new to something, so I'm sure you'll be glad you just have the two for awhile.
This site and it's administrator are a wealth of great information. I'm sure you'll get the information you need to be successful.