New Arrivals

No, I know what you're thinking. Not Muffin babies. Muffin did "nuffin" today. Sigh.

BUT, the great excitement of today overshadowed any lack of activity from Muffin. Today we got our VERY FIRST buck!!!! Wooo hooooo! And a handsome guy he is too! Today we visited Black Cat Creek Farm in Lone Rock, Iowa, and purchased a Nigerian dwarf buck who is 2 years old. He has a truly beautiful set of horns, a rich black and chestnut brown color with some lighter patches, and a reasonably gentle disposition, which is great for a buck. He does smell like a buck, but then...he IS a buck, so what else would you expect?! Right now, he is in with our Nubian girls. We are hopeful that they might find him pleasing and vice versa, such that we might have some mini Nubian kids in the spring. He is named Ramses, which is a fine royal name with an Egyptian flair.

In addition, we also purchased a delightful young Nigerian dwarf doeling. She is a very sweet and gentle little goat, and she has a delightful coloring. She looks similar to Opal in some ways, but more caramel colored, and she has an interesting marking in white on her side (hieroglyphics, perhaps?!). We decided that she needed an appropriately Egyptian sounding name because we hope that when she is old enough to be bred (next fall) that she might enjoy spending some time with Ramses. So, her name is Lotus. A beautiful flower, for a beautiful goat.
Black Cat Creek Farm also breeds llamas, and they had some gorgeous llamas there today that were simply breathtaking. I wanted to take them all home with me! No, not to worry, we did not get any new llamas today. Just goats!
So our new goats seemed to settle in very well today, and the Nubians took to Ramses without incident. Xander tried a little head butting but Ramses would have none of it. On the other hand, the mini girls and Buford, the mini wether, decided that the arrival of Lotus was reason for everybody to do some boisterous goat play, and there was head butting between nearly everybody in the pen! Lotus stayed on the outskirts and tended to look at all the other goats as if they had lost their minds, which perhaps they had.

Here's Puffin, the dancing goat! I think she was actually preparing for a head butt with Lotus but she didn't follow through. Such a show off! Buford is clearly impressed.
Stay tuned for their further adventures. I'm sure we will be watching their personalities grow and seeing how they fit in with their respective herds. Eventually, Ramses can be introduced to the rest of the mini girls, but not until they are a bit older. I'm sure that won't stop him from rubbing noses through the fence line.