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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

It's Here!!!

I am fairly hopping up and down right now! My secret is here!!

Truth be told, I got a new goat today!!! :D

But not just any goat... Oh no... I got a Guernsey Nubian cross doeling! Whoohoo!

Please meet: Kiwi


Now, to unravel the riddle I gave y'all.


I said it was something I've had for years, but have never had before.


And it's true! I've had goats for years, but this is my first time to have a goat with Guernsey blood. For those of you who aren't so goat savvy, Guernseys are a very rare breed here in the USA, and there are only about 200 in the entire Nation. And I just got a half blood!! When an animal is 7/8 Guernsey (4 generations basically), they can be registered as "British Guernseys", and are considered as close to the real deal as you can get.


Guernseys are the color of ripe wheat, and are standard sized at about 120 lbs. They're excellent milkers, and have a butterfat % of 4 to 7! Nubians have 4% butterfat; Nigerians have 6% to 10%. So Guernsey milk is sweet


Next I said that she was coming from  a distance I had been to, but could not go to now.


I first saw Kiwi on Craigslist, back in the beginning of August. The problem though, was that she was 5 hours north of me, in Washington. I've been up in that area before, and I remembered just how loooooong the drive was. There was no way we could possibly make the drive up there again just to pick a goat up. At first, I was going to pay a professional livestock hauler to bring her down to me, but that was going to cost $200! Oy! Then, by happenstance, one of the ladies who came to my goat workshop, was also from the same town up in WA. She wouldn't hear of me spending that much to bring a little goat down, so she brought Kiwi herself, today, and only charged me $60. Gotta' love friends in high places!


Riddle #3: It's been coveted by more than just myself.


Kiwi had the special honor of being a show goat for a little girl, and accompanied her all the way up to State Fair. The pair did well, bringing back blues, reserve champions, and I think even a grand champion. At the end, the little girl asked to buy Kiwi. I felt so bad... Taking some little girl's beloved goat!


Riddle #4, "Considering all things, places such as New Zealand, Africa, England, and the USA come to mind with this purchase.


Hehe... Her name 'Kiwi', makes me think of NZ. She's part Nubian, which denotes African/middle eastern origin, The Guernsey side is English, but she lives here in the USA! I know.. Either I'm really sneaky, or I'm just flat out terrible at thinking up riddles. ;)


Kiwi is an absolute sweetheart! I was not prepared for how cute she would be, either!


I mean, come on, how can you not like something that has ears like this!?




The other goats are all ignoring her for the most part. Heidi is giving me "the look", for allowing a newcomer into the herd. 


 I think Kiwi is going to do really well, here at Goat Song...


5 comments:

Miranda said...

oh! she is gorgeous! what a beautiful color, and lovely fur, and cute ears!

Autumn said...

Kiwi is so cute, I'm seriously making a high pitched noise over here. Those ears are so silly! I love her golden color, it reminds me of the sunset!

Ernie B said...

I should have guessed that your surprise would have been another goat...what else??? hehe. I'm jealous, she's beautiful!! Truly, a gorgeous goat and I'm glad things worked out for you. By the way, I read Mad Sheep on recommendation of a certain Goat Song.....interesting book, eh?

~

Goat Song said...

Thanks for the comments, guys! :D

Ernie B., what did you think of the book, overall? It's definitely an interesting read. Makes a body think...

Ernie B said...

Ha! Understatement. It definitely made this body think. :)
Well I got mad when I first read it....it's basically impossible not to get mad. You know what calmed me down? Psalm 37. Read the first seven verses most specifically and think about them. You may come up with some surprising conclusions, like I did, that go against the grain of natural human reactions and thinking systems.

:)