i am splitting wood,  they are growing heavier coats.  No Use to try for artsy pics.  they see a camera, they crowd around.  even if they are "out".  this is what it looks like:

002f

003f

this, through the reinforced lifestock fencing.  now the addition of cattle panel.  there are 26.  Still.  it seems that they might have become my responsibility.   Daughter has gone back to school while still working.   If it goes as it looks like it might, she feels she is stuck in New Mexico for at least 2 years.  and back in school, she can finish a Masters in that time.  And so.  hmmmm.  i am glad but right now that translates to my finding someplaces for those 10 little buck goats born in the summer.  half are already neutered, half to go.  One looks like he will escape the Loss, maybe 2.  but the rest….where can they go?  a little while ago i got the "bible" of goat keeping written by a man in the UK…everyone agrees on this.  and i looked for the chapter, or at least part on neutering goats…here we call them wethers…and couldn't find it.  looked and looked.  finally somewhere in the chapter on breeding…a couple sentences referred to as "culling".  the born bucks are "culled" at birth or eaten.  since these are dairy goats, it would be the first.  so…i have some soul searching to do.  Ordinarily, there would not be so many.  but still,  "any" is some.  How to think?  i have missed this milking.  i will need to rebreed soon to have milking does in the spring which i would like to do.  but this emphasizes that i need to come to some kind of terms with it all.  Not easy.  What i am doing is asking pretty much Every One i see if they know anyone who might want a couple goats for "companions" or weed eating????  i ask strangers in the grocery store, people at the gas station, and Post Office.  Today i posted flyers at both feed stores.  Tomorrow will put an ad in the local paper.  Hope that daughter will post on Craig's List.  we'll see. 

And i made this diagram:

Img092f
all that is highlighted in blue is Goat Territory now.  it is still divided by the house and the now very reduced house yard that will be used almost exclusively for growing food.  the rest has been reconfigured for the goats.  And so it goes.  I spend time with them.  Learn more every day about how they experience things.  i Love them.  Many of them love me in their goatly way.  I can't imagine what it would be like to live without goats, now.  and it has only been 5 months.  i am thinking it will only become more. 

 

 

 

 

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28 responses to “~goats~ first autumn”

  1. Deb G Avatar

    I love your diagram. It shows how encompassing the goats are. Still wish I had more room, room for goats, room for sheep.

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  2. Nancy Avatar

    A very nice map of a very full life. Hard choices. I’m thinking of you and your decisions.

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  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    You, dear Grace are carrying one heavy load. In all respects, this is difficult, and painfully beautiful too.
    I don’t know if any of these will be useful for your needs, they are rescue or sanctuary places in New Mexico–I looked at each one, and am sending them on to you in case they might–
    http://www.prairiewoodranch.com/
    http://www.adoptapet.com/adoption_rescue/76071.html
    and this is a full page of NM animal shelters (several no kill but I didn’t look on each to find if goats were there)–
    https://www.google.com/search?client=gmail&rls=gm&q=goat%20sanctuary%20New%20Mexico%3F#hl=en&client=gmail&rls=gm&q=new+mexico+animal+shelter&revid=1377555531&sa=X&psj=1&ei=SNt8UPTmMNKx0AHcgoDQDQ&ved=0CHQQ1QIoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=c58df6b7168e110b&bpcl=35277026&biw=994&bih=648
    Of course, if “culling” is the decision that must be made, you will have not difficulty finding buyers. You have my heart felt support whatever your decision is.

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  4. ali Avatar

    whatever you do, it will be the right thing–maybe not the easy thing, but then that’s life. I loved having goats–your pictures and tales bring them home to me again.

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  5. nemo-ignorat Avatar

    This is one of the reasons I don’t keep dairy animals. To get the milk, you will have to breed. And when you breed you will have to kill.
    Since the dawn of domestication mankind bred to kill and eat at least some of the animals. Usually those with no function for the whole herd.
    I’m a vegetarian and an active protector of endangered domesticated species. But actually, there is no way I can be both. This is the contradiction in all rational living and thinking vegetarians. As cold as it may sound, but to protect a species which was created (by us) for one or more specific functions means that the individuals of this species have to fullfill their function in full. Sometimes this means to be killed and eaten. Otherwise there is no reason for the whole species to be kept alive. Mankind created those species and we have responsibility for them. If I ask for a wholesome genetic variety in lifestock (something we are about to loose which is as dangerous as loosing the bees) we, as caring humans, have to use the livestock in full. It is one of the hard decisions a farmer has to make. And it is part of a natural cycle as well. And there is nothing wrong with it. If you are gentle and caring and you honor the life you take it is a good way.
    I’m not talking out of the blue. I killed my first hen when I was 6 and shortly afterwards my first rabbit. I grew up in a rural village-like suburb where even non-farmer children where welcomed farm hands and were taught everything they needed to live. I can’t do it anymore. Which I why I stick to carrots and apples.
    I’ve heard Michael Pollan mention a permaculture farmer in one of the TED talks and I think this could be an interesting concept for you too. http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view.html
    I tried sugar coating the wording but failed.
    I don’t envy your decision and feel with you.

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  6. jude Avatar

    I would take a few if I were close by. It is like managing life. No easy thing.

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  7. saskia Avatar

    you are truly surrounded by goats!
    tough decisions for you; you’ve read Leirre Keith, doesn’t make it any easier I guess;
    whatever you decide and do, I support you

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  8. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    and i second saskia. having raised these wonderful critters for a number of years, your writing brings back all the challenges and joys of “what to do now” every time a birth, checking for those two little orbs we’d rather not see. ah, now what? of course neutering reduced the problem of “inappropriate” breeding but ah, the pain of it as well. but then..
    we moved from a farm to a city, after finding good homes for the herd, funny thing that. the challenge hasn’t gone away, it’s still there with others facing it. sympathetic compassion here for your choices. knowing your heart is in the right place, thinking there may not be a “wrong” choice.

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  9. dee Avatar

    my cousin on Long Island dreams of starting a goat farm, but she’s here, and years off from that… Like Jude, I would take a couple if you were nearer… what a tough pickle, and what a LOT of company you have!

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  10. dee Avatar

    On a lighter note, just found this photo and had to share:
    https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/580984_10151067583485658_970099905_n.jpg
    sent you a piece of shibori indigo from my vat this summer… when I saw a face in one of the corners, I thought: “I have to send this to Grace!”

    Like

  11. elizabeth fortes Avatar
    elizabeth fortes

    Hi Dee! I “knew” Grace would enjoy that picture and I’m so glad you’ve posted it. I don’t go on Facebook but someone showed it to me…..Great!
    Hi Grace!
    You are amazing! I believe you do love the goats…otherwise…it would be different! It would not be as full of life energy and wonderment! And there wouldn’t be such a “contagion” of enthusiasm! i love them too! Much love, as always. e.
    PS: It is so quiet an still, here in the Arctic…not to mention how cold it is, outside this dark hotel room…

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  12. grace Avatar

    room for things. well…i would now have some good
    experience to share…..

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  13. grace Avatar

    it was interesting to make that map. it’s interesting to
    look at it now.

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  14. grace Avatar

    michelle…in know Prairie Wood. actually i know pretty
    much the N Mex goat world at least in the Rio Grande
    area. daughter was involved in all that for 3 years.
    this is a dilemma of the moment, but will be continuous
    except on a smaller scale on~going.
    each area in the state can get saturated with “pet goats”.
    oh, sigh.

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  15. grace Avatar

    right is such an ify term. what is right.
    eeee.

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  16. grace Avatar

    Ulrika..yes…i’d seen that sometime before and it was
    good and GOOD to watch again. everything you say here
    is absolutely correct and i value it so much and thank
    you for saying it. (sugar coating is not something i
    need or love. Blunt is good)
    These are questions of the moment, but if i intend to
    continue with the goats, they will require some
    ongoing intent and understanding of it All. i need
    really, to ask self WHY i am doing it. WHAT is my
    Intention.
    thanks and thanks again for your words

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  17. grace Avatar

    well…distance isn’t a problem. we bought TenZen from
    a woman in Boston. Flew him here. goats fly all over
    the country, believe it or not.

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  18. grace Avatar
  19. grace Avatar

    i think the challenge never goes away

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  20. grace Avatar

    i love the pic…LOVE LOVE it. thank you, dee………
    and i wait for your cloth…, what an Honor~…………

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  21. grace Avatar

    oh…elizabeth…you are such a MYSTERY to me. in this
    dark hotel room in the Arctic????????????
    oooo…..
    i send you goat breath….

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  22. ali Avatar

    good point–right you are (tongue in cheek) : )

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  23. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Heart aches for you–for them–and aching heart is not useful.

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  24. KaiteM. Avatar

    grace i’ve carried you with me all day and what i’m thinking you don’t want to hear or read. Just let me say these few things – NO One wants boy goats because they grow up and start to to stink, and fight and head butt and destroy stuff. Before they get any older speak to a local butcher if there is one and let him take them. Then next year, if there is another breeding season on your once lovely place of quiet solitude and stitching, cull the boys at birth, before you name them and photograph them.
    How many goats did your daughter bring you only a few short months ago? Now you have 26. In another year you will be over-run. It is way too much for you. My worst fears for you have almost materialised already.

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  25. Linda Avatar

    what a dilemma .. quite different from “mom, he followed me home, can i keep him?” it’s amazing to me what moms take on.
    i used to say that my daughter wore clothes for three months and then i wore it for 10 years..
    i think the company of the goats must be wonderful, but know it gets hard with so many.. i am thinking of you.

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  26. grace Avatar

    i was waiting for you. i knew you’d “come”.
    the key word here is “almost”. i learn quick. can face
    realities and yes. it is clear that it can all run amuck.
    so..ok. and knowing when to quit or when to continue…
    and how to do either wisely.
    but still. If we are so inclined, i think it is critical to participate as fully as we can in sociopolitical change to whatever degree is possible. If the Planet is to survive us it will be because we begin to view ourselves as something other than Consumers of Gross National Product, and begin to once again live sanely. What keeps
    me thinking is that this whole angst of mine would not even arise if i lived in many other parts of the world.
    So, not to go on and on here…it is all so perfectly stated in that Lierre Keith book on food, justice and sustainability. there is no need to rephrase in my own terms. But i DO have to define PURPOSE for myself. and still, in this moment, those goats = Purpose.
    again…THANK YOU for showing up…much Love to you…

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  27. grace Avatar

    yes…and again, i am good with NO company at all. it
    really is about participating in Change. and i need to
    do that.

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  28. grace Avatar

    had you not moved to city, would you have continued
    with the goats? and which kind of goats did you have?
    did you milk?

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