Goats

Chris and Idun, Rosemary and Skadi

We got goats! Two nubian doe-kids who we hope will chow down on the ubiquitous "Himalayan" Blackberry, and maybe provide us with milk next year if we decided to take them to a buck this winter. They are incredibly adorable and follow us tenaciously, eating when we stop and calling if we move away (especially if we go in different directions, something they have little tolerance for). The first few days and nights were very stressful though because the kids had just been weaned, and they cried ceaselessly when we left them alone. In fact they lost their voices, and take it from me, a hoarse nubian screaming in distress is one of the most pitiful and heart-wrenching sounds I've heard. Now they're getting used to spending time alone, though they haven't yet gotten their normal voices back fully. Salutations to our neighbors who put up with them, and to bobcat and bear who haven't troubled them, though I'm sure they had a peak through the bushes...

Now we can experiment to see if goats can effectively control the blackberry!