Welcome to Your New Home, Girls

Our Goat Transport:  Dakota's Van.  (He was very kind to let us drive these girls 400 miles in his vehicle.  And yes, we know, we need to get a small trailer for "such a time as this"!!)

     Emma was thinking about adding some goats to the ranch and so we started talking about where we could get some.  I thought the oberhasli breed was a very pretty breed and she wanted milking goats.  Perfect.  We both knew right away who we should talk to.  

     Our friends from Chicago, the Kuntz family, had the breed that we were looking for so I sent an email to Mr. Kuntz and asked him if they had any baby goats that we could possibly buy from him.  We had been to their home a few times before and always talked with Mr. Kuntz at the DuPage County Fair so we were familiar with his goats.  And we knew how much he loved them and how well he cared for them.

      A few years ago, we went over to his home with a few of our kids and the Smock Family, and Mr. Kuntz showed us how he made mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese.  And during our "class" we sampled fresh goats milk and kefir and he showed us his cheese that he had aging in the basement.  Yummy!!
It was so much fun, I can not begin to tell you!!  

    We knew what kind of milk these goats produced and that's what we wanted to try and duplicate.

     When I sent the email to Mr. Kuntz, we received a response almost right away.  Mr. Kuntz and his wife were just talking about what they were going to do with their "herd" because Mr. Kuntz was being relocated to another state because of his job and he wasn't going to be able to keep his goats.  Getting rid of the goats that had been a part of their family for many years was not something that  was going to be an easy thing to do.

     So, after doing a little bit of "negotiating" we came to an agreement and closed it with a dozen doughnuts, and here we are today.  I have to say that we were quite ecstatic and a little bit nervous all at the same time.  The Kuntz family was so very generous with this "deal" and the only thing we can say is, "Thank You"!!

       Before loading up the goats to take them home with us, Mr. Kuntz showed us the proper way to trim their hooves, give shots if we need to, and we talked about all the other "stuff" that came with the goats.  Oh, the day when we can drink some fresh milk and kefir and make some tasty cheese won't be here soon enough!!  

     Now we have the added "pressure" of taking care of these goats.  The Kuntz family really wanted the goats to go to a family that would take as much care with them as they did and we want to honor that the best that we can.  And so far, they seem very healthy and happy to be here with us on our ranch.

Thanks again, Kuntz Family!!

 

Esther is not quiet sure if she's liking these traveling companions or not.

"Are we almost there yet"?

Just out of the van.

Looking and smelling around, trying to figure out where they are.

Meet, Cassia,

Curry,

and, Saffron.

"Hum, what can I eat"?

Still browsing.

Just walking around.

This is their new home?  Well, hopefully someday.

     When we walked the goats out to their new home, we thought they would just love it so much that they would want to stay there, but little did we know that they liked to be around us more then they liked their new home.  

Actually, we tried to hook up the solar fencer to the electric fence and it didn't produce a strong enough jolt.  The goats just walked over the fence and came over to us.  So we walked them back and put them back in the fence and then they just walked over the fence again.  We did this a few times and realized that this was not going to work.  So until we can figure out the solar fencer and get them to stay where we put them,  they will be in the fence with the electric fencer near the house in the back yard.

Sandy

August 2014