Hooray for healthy (finally) Goaties!!!

Here we have our beautiful older goaties, Shimmer (right) and Magpie (left). They arrived here at our farm two years ago in horrible condition, absolutely crawling with bugs, very under weight and their age was not working 'for' them.... Their owner of 8 years was told that their fiber was no good any more (??) and she just dumped them. They are now 11, before they got to us, Shimmer was left on her own to fight pneumonia in the middle of winter, she did make it (no thanks to any outside intervention) but did lose her right ear to frost bite. A sad sad story HOWEVER, we sheared them last week and we are so happy to say they are now at the most healthy we think they can be!!!! Hooray! Two years it took but they are definitely worth every second....

A lot of fussing went into getting them healthy, they are fortunate to have their front teeth, which helps them maintain weight easier, Shimmer is the one I wish would gain just a few more pounds before winter but with her arthritis, it would probably be just as fine for her to stay a little on the light side. Magpie looks like a more middle age goat now, she is quite perky and happy!

The have a special Goat Condo and pasture they share with our Vincent Van Goat and Bella La Goatie-- who are also very old goats. This way, we can feed them special feed, keep hay in front of them and keep them dosed up with special supplements of MSM, Glocosomine and Chondroiten. We also add a little touch of Bute paste (pain reliever) for them when the weather is cooler and we see them getting stiff and sore. We are lucky to have these sweet goats and also the pastures and housing to keep our groups of critters in the best situation for them to be happy and healthy! They are our blessing!

Hope you are all enjoying lots of fiber art, spinning and fall weather--this is our favorite time of year-- great sheep weather! Watch for our update this weekend featuring our new 'Franken Yarn'! More soon!