personalities
Yesterday I did the milking from start to finish by myself for the first time. It was hectic, but overall it went pretty smoothly. I'm making some slow progress on learning the goats' names. The strongest personalities obviously make the strongest impressions. So far I can recognize...
Barbaresco: The alpha goat. She's not the oldest, and she's not very aggressive, but she's big, and she's always the first one through the door for milking. E's fiance calls her "Scratchy-face" because she always wants to rub her forehead against things.
Fay: Small, brown, with a roman nose, which is discriminated against in Alpine goats (there are a few different breeds here, so I'm not clear on whether Fay actually is an Alpine or not). E says she bites, but she hasn't bitten me yet. She's a year old and didn't have a kid, so she's not milking.
Meara: Creaky old lady (seven years old, I think) who gets to do whatever she wants. C thinks that she might have had a stroke, because she seems sort of lopsided. She always comes in last for milking.
Jellyroll and Petit Madeline: The youngest two kids. They are both pure white, and they were the only kids left with their mothers (usually the kids are separated from the moms at birth to get them more used to being with humans). It is adorable to see these two butting heads. They still have soft baby hair.
Toast and Tortilla: The oldest two kids. They are mostly black, but they each have a white patch on their side. Tortilla has one black dot in the patch, and Toast has many. These two were living with the other kids in a separate pen, but they were getting pretty big and were giving E a hard time when she brought in the food and water. So we just moved them in with the mamas, and they've been getting hazed for the past few days. I assume that this is just a normal process by which kids learn the pecking order, but it's kind of pathetic to see these two sticking so close together, maaaaing at us to rescue them. When we took the mama goats for a walk the other day, Toast and Tortilla stuck close to my legs. It was pretty sweet, even if I kept tripping over them.
Peaseblossom: Light brown, kind of shy. E calls her the autistic goat (she says that she seems very sensitive to loud noises and lights going on and off). The first several times that I helped milk, Peaseblossom would see me in the milking parlor and refuse to come in. Last night, she saw me as she was coming up the ramp, and came to a halt for several seconds, but eventually decided to come in.
Josephine: Looks grey at a distance, but she's actually black with some white hairs mixed in. Very pretty. She has a roman nose too; I think she's Nubian. She's a year old and had a kid, so she's still learning to be a good milker. She can be kind of jumpy, although she's getting better. Jellyroll is her kid and it's amazing to see how hard she butts her mama's udders while nursing.
Paloma: Looks the same as Josephine only she's all black. Petit Madeline is her kid.
Barbaresco: The alpha goat. She's not the oldest, and she's not very aggressive, but she's big, and she's always the first one through the door for milking. E's fiance calls her "Scratchy-face" because she always wants to rub her forehead against things.
Fay: Small, brown, with a roman nose, which is discriminated against in Alpine goats (there are a few different breeds here, so I'm not clear on whether Fay actually is an Alpine or not). E says she bites, but she hasn't bitten me yet. She's a year old and didn't have a kid, so she's not milking.
Meara: Creaky old lady (seven years old, I think) who gets to do whatever she wants. C thinks that she might have had a stroke, because she seems sort of lopsided. She always comes in last for milking.
Jellyroll and Petit Madeline: The youngest two kids. They are both pure white, and they were the only kids left with their mothers (usually the kids are separated from the moms at birth to get them more used to being with humans). It is adorable to see these two butting heads. They still have soft baby hair.
Toast and Tortilla: The oldest two kids. They are mostly black, but they each have a white patch on their side. Tortilla has one black dot in the patch, and Toast has many. These two were living with the other kids in a separate pen, but they were getting pretty big and were giving E a hard time when she brought in the food and water. So we just moved them in with the mamas, and they've been getting hazed for the past few days. I assume that this is just a normal process by which kids learn the pecking order, but it's kind of pathetic to see these two sticking so close together, maaaaing at us to rescue them. When we took the mama goats for a walk the other day, Toast and Tortilla stuck close to my legs. It was pretty sweet, even if I kept tripping over them.
Peaseblossom: Light brown, kind of shy. E calls her the autistic goat (she says that she seems very sensitive to loud noises and lights going on and off). The first several times that I helped milk, Peaseblossom would see me in the milking parlor and refuse to come in. Last night, she saw me as she was coming up the ramp, and came to a halt for several seconds, but eventually decided to come in.
Josephine: Looks grey at a distance, but she's actually black with some white hairs mixed in. Very pretty. She has a roman nose too; I think she's Nubian. She's a year old and had a kid, so she's still learning to be a good milker. She can be kind of jumpy, although she's getting better. Jellyroll is her kid and it's amazing to see how hard she butts her mama's udders while nursing.
Paloma: Looks the same as Josephine only she's all black. Petit Madeline is her kid.
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