Sunday, June 2, 2013

Meet Miss Quinn

Today was an exciting day on the farm! We brought home a beautiful, sweet baby female goat we named Quinn. Just look at those long eyelashes and big bright eyes!


Dustin and I have searched  a while now for a female goat to join our males Ricky and Bobby. I wanted a goat that was purebred, and young so I could take the time to socialize her with people and our other animals to help ensure that she would turn out as friendly and well tempered as Ricky and Bobby are. (They were 5 and 6 weeks old respectively when we got them.)


It seemed like every female Nubian we would find was a mixed breed, was already several years old, a few hours drive from us, or way out of our price range. (Registered purebred Nubians from known bloodlines can run several hundred dollars and up!)                                                                                                                                                                                                                      


Miss Quinn here however was just what I had been looking for and we got her at a bargain from a family about twenty minutes away! She was born March 28, 2013 (just a few days over two months old) and is a female purebred unregistered Nubian.


Our goal, and the reason why we chose to raise Nubian goats in particular has been to eventually get to the point where we have a couple of females where we can get fresh goat milk daily, and make products from the excess milk. Nubians are known for being excellent milk producers and good meat goats (even though we're not eating them). Quinn's mom and older female siblings were giving 3/4 to a whole gallon of milk per day according to her previous owner. That's amazing for me to think that much milk can come from one goat! Their milk is also said to have a higher butterfat content and is more nutritious and flavorful than even whole cow's milk. I am excited to hopefully be at a point next year where we can try our hand at making cheese, lotions, soaps, etc with our excess milk!


When we first unloaded her from the truck and put her in the barn stall with Ricky and Bobby, they ran right up to see what kind of critter mom and dad had brought home this time. (Last time it was Napoleon the pig!) I really could not ask for goats any better behaved (when it comes to meeting new animals) than Ricky and Bobby. They sniffed her gently, then just went about their business as if they weren't all too impressed. The rooster, (as you can see in the pic below) seemed much more interested.


We bought Quinn her own feed bucket and placed it in a corner of the barn away from the boys, and I really expected them to be aggressive at feeding time (they can be really pushy with each other over dinner!) but before I could get feed put in her bowl, she ran over to theirs and Bobby just moved to the side to let her have some. What a gentleman! He's the one who has shown the most interest in her as the day went on, and seems to have taken her under his wing. So far she has seemed to fit right in on the farm, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her personality and watching her grow!


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