No really, I LOVE them.  "I love goats" is not something I ever imagined I would say, but it's true.  I have always been a horse fanatic.  Seriously, there was a time when I lived, breathed, dreamed, and smelled horses 24/7.  I still do to a point, but my real, adult life forces me to do responsible things that take up more time - like work - to make money - to buy farm stuff with.  So I don't get to ride or play with my horses nearly as much as I used to, but I still love them.

Goats on the other hand were always an animal that I liked - I thought they were cute, like pretty much all animals - but I couldn't say I LOVED them.  Now, however, I'm afraid I am becoming (or maybe I already am) a crazy goat lady.  The current herd is small: two does, the buck I share with my friend Charaty, and whatever kids happen to be temporarily spending the summer with us (before leaving for freezer camp in the fall).  I am currently on the hunt for a third doe and that will probably complete my herd until I have a bigger pasture.  Despite what my mother says about them (she swears they terrorize her), my goats are friendly, relatively well behaved (as well behaved as a goat can be anyway), and they fulfill their purpose.  When you are limited by funds, space, time, etc. you must learn to farm with a purpose, and doing so means that everything on the farm must serve a purpose in order to stay (we don't have to talk about the dogs or cats right now...).  Molly makes milk and babies, Lilly makes babies and a little milk and serves as an excellent babysitter, and Blue makes Molly and Lilly have babies.  We use the milk for all sorts of things (drinking, cooking, soap, kefir, and even butter!), and the babies grow up to be nutritious, milk and grass fed, meat.

Why am blubbering about my goats you ask?  Well see, I was sitting here enjoying a nice cold glass of raw goat milk.  The milk is awesome.  If you have never tasted fresh goat milk, you have been deprived my friend.  It has a rich, creamy, sweet flavor that is satisfying and filling.  I have been known to drink a glass or two of milk, instead of food, as a snack, because it satisfies hunger and is a quick energy boost when I'm feeling sluggish.  It's fabulous stuff I tell ya!  State law currently dictates that raw milk can only be consumed if you own all or part of the animal from which the milk came.  This means that your options are limited to purchasing part ownership of a goat and paying a boarding fee (called a goat-share), or owning (and milking) your own goats.  I have the space, and I find it to be more cost effective to do the latter, and wouldn't dream of turning back.  I don't like pasteurized milk anymore.  Before I knew what raw milk tasted like, I loved store-bought milk.  Now, I can't drink the stuff - it tastes awful to me.  With only one dairy doe currently, there is a period of time each year (usually just two months) during which I have no fresh milk and am forced to buy just enough at the store to use in our coffee.  I hate it.  It's gross.  (But I like black coffee even less)  Which is why I plan to add a second doe to our herd, so that I can rotate pregnancies and have awesome milk year round.

So yes, I admit to being a crazy goat lady.  But it's worth it!

I had to intervene with a new litter of rabbits yesterday.  The doe is a first time mom and had no idea what to do.  It's really not all that uncommon in rabbits (and some other animals as well), for a first time mother to panic.  When the weather is warm and pleasant, usually the doe can just be left alone and she will figure things out on her own.  Sometimes, however, one has to intervene.
This doe built a lovely nest of hay on Saturday, in preparation for her litter.  We were not sure that she was even pregnant however, so when she ate her nest of hay Saturday evening, we just assumed it was a false pregnancy (again, not all that rare).  All was well Sunday morning, but sometime during the day she went into labor.  She had a nest box, which was empty since she ate the hay, and she did have her babies inside the box, rather than on the wire outside which is so common with first-timers who have no prepared nest.  But the poor girl had no idea what to do with the fur she pulled and, rather than line the nest box with it, she scattered it.  So, it looked like an explosion of rabbit fur all over her cage.  And to top it off, it was damp and cool all day, so with no hay and no fur to keep them warm, the poor kits barely stood a chance.  And, as is also common when a new mother freaks out, she didn't know what else to do with them so she began to cannibalize them.
Keep in mind, this all happened in a short amount of time, when no one was around to notice the chaos.  Thankfully however, before she could do much more damage, my mom (who owns her) arrived to check on her.  One kit had already died from being too cold, but the others were still alive at that point.  Two more died soon after, also from getting too cold.  I warmed the rest of them up with a heating pad and, as I was checking them over, discovered the bite marks the doe had inflicted.  At that point, knowing that this inexperienced doe was too panicked to properly care for them, I called a friend who also keeps rabbits.  She had a doe with a 1-day old litter who I was hoping we could convince to foster the survivors.
The good news is, now one day later, the five kits we gave to the foster-mom are doing well so far.  The fostering doe is feeding them and her own kits, and she is an experienced doe so she knows how to care for them.  We will still have to watch for a few more days before we know if all five of them are likely to survive, but everything looks good so far.