Meet the New Kids!

April 29, 2021 hannah miller

On April 2nd we welcomed 2 new goat kids to the farm. These boys (officially termed “bucklings”) came from the Herb Hill Farm in Pepperell (same as Eleanor… they all have the same dad), and were two weeks old on arrival. They are LaMancha’s, a breed of goats known for their little stubby ears.

We tried out all different names for them, but I finally decided on Buddy and Bronco. We started to pick up on their individual personality traits right away, and have enjoyed getting to know them and experience their youthful antics over the past month.

Buddy is the sensitive and affectionate guy. He’s only three days younger than Bronco, but much smaller. He also seems to have a very low goat-IQ, and is always doing silly things that make us laugh. Most notably, he doesn’t quite have the right technique down for sucking on a nipple, so he takes much longer to drink a bottle of milk than Bronco.

Bronco is the macho man. He’s always full of energy and rearing to go. He particularly enjoys chewing on people’s hair.

As with all new goats that join a herd (regardless of if they were born here or not), the older goats were quick to establish their dominance and put the new kids in their place at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Eleanor, being the baby of the herd until now, had the biggest adjustment issues. She’d often rear up on her hind legs, ears pointed straight in the air (the cutest sight), ready to headbutt the babies with all her might. After a few weeks together though, they’ve all gotten used to each other and now the three of them play silly little goat games together.

We tend to have nicknames for the various groups of animals on our farm. The egg layers are called “doodles,” the meat birds are known as “fat boys,” and the beef cows are know as both the “beasties” or the “beefers.” You get the idea. Life’s too monotonous to not have fun names for our critters.

Last years batch of goat kids were called the Bubsteins (coined because we’d bring them their bubbas, or bottles, twice daily). Naturally we needed a different moniker for these guys, not only to differentiate them from previous kids, but also to set them apart from Eleanor. So we’ve taken to calling these two “the Littles.”

So it is that the Littles have settled into their new home at Maplebrook Farm as well as into our hearts.

Meet Eleanor the Goat!

February 10, 2021 hannah miller

Eleanor is a one month old Alpine/Nubian goat that joined our farm on Thursday, February 4th, 2021.

Eleanor was born at The Herb Hill Farm in Pepperell as a triplet. Her mother couldn’t keep up feeding three kids, so she was the primary bottle baby. Over the past week she’s settled right in to her new home at Maplebrook Farm.

For now, Eleanor lives in my house, as she doesn’t have a buddy to keep her company and the older goats are very jealous of her and like to beat up on her.

She gets fed a bottle of goat’s milk (I saved surplus from my own dairy goats last year, which has worked out perfectly) three times per day but has a big appetite for every thing else she can get her mouth on. She is the stereotypical goat that literally eats everything (including my truck registration).

Nobody gets to live for free on the farm, so of course we put Eleanor to work right away, and found that she came with quite the impressive resume.

So far she has overseen the construction of the new farm stand (employee moral is her specialty)…

She does quality control on egg cleaning, and specializes in inspection of cartons and labels…

She jumped right into the goat hike lineup…

And occasionally she can be seen greeting customers at the farm stand.

Eleanor doesn’t like being left alone, so for now she goes everywhere I go. She even helps out at Cooper’s Hilltop Farm on the nights that I milk cows (although she prefers playing in/eating the pile of shredded newspaper).

At the end of a long day Eleanor likes to come home and get into all kinds of mischief in the house. Her favorite room is the bathroom, where she just recently discovered the magic of toilet paper.

Eleanor is so sweet, smart, and inquisitive. She is the perfect addition to our farm and I look forward to sharing her with more of you in the months ahead.

Photos: Day 1 of the First Goat Kids of 2020

March 27, 2020 hannah miller

Breakfast with goats did not go as planned yesterday. After Beauty finished her morning ration, she made a beeline up the driveway at a shockingly fast rate for a pregnant goat. Goats are herd animals by nature, and thus I rarely see them go anywhere by themselves. I figured she was heading for the field across the street, as it has early green grass- one of the goats’ very favorite treats in spring.
I got the rest of the goats settled back in the barn before chasing Beauty down. I couldn’t find her anywhere- not in the usual spot across the street, not in the grassy island by the farm stand, nor rummaging through feed bins in the barn.

I finally made my way to the beehives to look for her in the higher pastures, and sure enough she was already half way up the hill at that point. This is when I knew we had an impending labor on our hands. I called out to her, and she gave me a weak “maaa” in return before continuing on her way.

It was the most beautiful March day one could hope for in New England. Blue skies, bright sun, and temps in the 50’s. So I let her go on her way, knowing that she knew exactly what she needed in that moment.

I followed her to a pine tree where she scratched at the earth (nesting) to make a suitable spot to welcome babies to this world. I went home to eat lunch and gather supplies and returned 45 minutes later to 2 new tiny goats! She had a girl and a boy, both of whom were born healthy, active, and ready to suckle minutes after coming from the womb. Because Beauty’s kids are all named after Disney Princesses, these two will are named Ariel and Charming. Ariel is the darker colored one, and Charming is mostly white with streaks of black.

The moments of that day were magical, aw-inspiring, and so humbling. If you ever feel the need to experience the bare essential beauty of the world, watch an animal give birth. They stay calm, listen to their bodies, and get the job done with little fanfare.

I imagine that a gallery of cute baby goat pictures is exactly what we all need in our lives right now, so enjoy these snapshots of the very first hours of baby goat life.