Nubian Goat Adventures

Eric, our son, Joel and I drove to N.H. today to pick up two Nubian goat kids. I had spoken with a woman who breeds them and had arranged to get them young enough so that we could bottle-feed them. The drive went well; her house was in a beautiful spot. When we arrived she gave us a tour and there were so many goats! She must have had over twenty kids and at least thirty adults. The two that we ended up getting are adorable. One is black and white and looks like a cow and the other is your stereotypical reddish-brown and white Nubian. Eric decided to call the black and white one 'Nate' and we named the other one 'Rhubarb' because of his reddish color. We have two bottles that we will use and will feed them three times a day for about three months. I really wanted to hand raise them because I want them to be very friendly so that they can interact with the kids when they visit the farm. We have had great luck with this in the past and I can't wait to see how these guys grow!Update 2016: As previously mentioned, we are migrating old entries from our first website over to this one. Looking at this entry in particular, I can't help but think of the good and bad realities that came to be after we acquired those too lovely goats.Everyone who has pets understands that one day, the journey together will end. In some cases, it happens sooner than anticipated. That was the case with our beloved Rhubarb. As a rule, we hate to get too far into the (very real) negative/hard side of running a farm with so many animals but for the sake of our educational roots it is important to acknowledge the various realities that come with it. Several months after Nate and Rhubarb moved in with us on the farm, poor Rhubarb passed away extremely unexpectedly. This happens with babies sometimes- and we believe he had some kind of genetic disposition that did not allow him to grow properly. It was with a heavy heart that we accepted this loss- and did all in our power to continue to honor his life. As it grew colder, we noticed he never developed his "winter coat". Despite every effort to ensure he was warm, and well nurtured- he did not make it. After many discussions with our farm vet, the general conclusion was that it was beyond our control. It was a hard pill to swallow- because our family is known to go the extra mile for every animal any and every time it is warranted. To be without any power is never a good feeling and with each new baby that we welcome here on the farm, I always.. always remember Rhubarb. It helps us make the most of every moment we spend with every animal because you simply never know.It should also be noted, that 13 years after we wrote this post- we had to say goodbye to arguably one of the most popular goats we've ever had on the farm- Nate. He was the happiest most friendly "human" animal- who was always ready to greet the next group of visitors (and always anticipating some hay from them!). He lived a very long and exciting life with his best friends Pepper, Sophie and Riley. Every loss is hard but Nate was especially difficult. He will always be remembered and honored.The good always outweighs the bad but the loss of a great friend is never easy. We're just happy that we can say we gave Nate the happiest life a goat could have.