So way back in August I went and saw some animals. They were owned by a lady that worked at the post office in town. She was moving away to PEI and was looking for homes for her creatures. She had sold me some alpaca yarn a few weeks ago, and we got to talking about alpacas and goats and all manner of smaller livestock. She mentioned she had some LaMancha goats and some Saanen mix goats that she was looking for homes for. She said I should come out and see them. Since I was interested in doing my own milk, and I don't have room for a cow at this time, I said I would. So I drove out with my husband and took a look. The LaMancha's weirded me out a bit, since they are bred to not have ears, and they looked odd. There was one mom, and two little ones, a doeling an a whether. I was not interested in males, so I declined the LaManchas. The Saanen mix mom had two doelings and her personality was pretty laid back. I liked that. I decided to take them.
We also wandered about the farm, while Joan tried to convince me I needed hair sheep too (she knew I made things out of yarn). I said I was not interested in sheep, since I don't like them. But I may be interested in the alpacas if they did not have homes. Joan said someone might want them and she would let me know. So a few weeks pass and in September I get a phone call saying that I am now the proud owner of three goats and two alpacas, and that I can come get them any time.
Time passes. Things happen. It is now January and they have only arrived last week.
They are all girls. One of the alpacas is peach coloured so I called her Peach. She is not a happy girl. She has spit at me twice already. The other alpaca is dark brown. Her name is Mocha. She is a little skittish, but has friendly eyes. The mom goat is all white with the 'traditional' goat beard. She has been dehorned, not by me, but by someone else. Her name is Mama G. One of the doelings is also all white and she is called Caspar. The other doeling is black and white, which is not traditional Saanen colour, so there is a mix going on somewhere. Her name is Trouble. I started calling her Little Shit, because she likes to cause problems, but I figured I shouldn't be yelling that out loud, so I changed her name to something more PC. So far I am really enjoying them...except for Peach. We have a rocky relationship. I am waiting for the vet to come out, to see if she has something medically wrong, or if she is just crabby. They all have quite the personalities. Mama G is afraid of nothing and likes to make sure I am not hiding food in my hands. The little ones like the tires we put in there for them and they like trying to climb on Peach and Mocha.
This spring Peach and Mocha go for shearing and their roving will be spun into yarn. If anyone wants any, let me know!
