The Goat Adventure

We love our goats, but Holy Smokes, this has not been an easy, or inexpensive, hobby. Let me explain. One day, many moons ago, I was watching our farm hand cut some high weeds on our property. This is a laborious project, entailing bending in half so you can swing the blade of your machete parallel and close to the ground to cut off the weeds at their base. Now, remember that this is usually being done in the sun, and for hours at a time. It looked hard, so I tried it. About ten minutes later, I was bathed in sweat, had two blisters forming, and my back was aching. It was then that I had the “brilliant” idea of purchasing goats. What a great idea, I thought; we can take care of the pasture AND make goat cheese every morning in one fell swoop.

A few years down the line, I must admit perhaps the use of a machete, while laborious, would have been cheaper and easier. To date, the goats have eaten my favorite flowers; my favorite shorts, the neighbor’s plantains, and have required a half-time farm hand to pasture them daily. This is some very expensive cheese!

Despite all these misadventures, I must admit that we all love them dearly, as they are entertaining (we call it Watching Goat TV). In addition, the milk is loaded with nutrients, low lactose so it is easy to digest, and makes delicious cheese. Not only that, the little buggers do eat some weeds… at least when they feel like it. In general, they prefer my flowers!