What did you do today?

[Taffy]

Wow, Charlie Horse! I am green with envy of where you live! The landscape its gorgeous! I may need to buy a 2nd home in that area!

[Nanno]

Lovely pictures! You should start a thread in the "Tales from the Trail" section so they don't get buried here.

[Nanno]

We just got back from a week in Florida with Phil's family. It was a wonderful vacation, and it inspired me to put up the new banner Charlie Horse made during the winter! I've been itching to put it up there ever since he finished it, but it made me think too longingly of warmer weather. Unfortunately we did not have packgoats to carry our things to the beach on this trip. There was one day we really could have used them, what with all the towels, toys, beach chairs, and umbrella. The parking lot felt like it was about a mile from the shore. Yep, a couple of packgoats would have come in real handy that day.

[Taffy]

I LOVE this latest banner Charlie Horse created!  It's so FUN!  Thanks, Charlie Horse!

I can just see your goats racing the waves and rolling in the sand!  

[Saltlick]

This is probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways, if nothing else to help talk me out of it! A guy I know has a huge, big boned, gorgeous Alpine buckling. I would buy him, but the problem is he hasn't been handled and is terrified of people. My gut says leave him, he's too wild and you don't have enough time. My heart says he's huge and pretty and will be eaten if I don't buy him (along with the other good looking bucklings). Any of you out there ever tamed an untouchable? Or is it really just too much work?

[Nanno]

How old is he? And realistically, how much time do you have? He's going to be a project for sure, and there's a very good possibility that he may never come round. On the other hand, some goats (depending on their personality) come round very well with a little personal attention. We've tamed a couple of "untouchables" but it took quite a long time for them to really become comfortable around us. Ours were small, dehorned does so they weren't too hard to deal with once caught (catching them in the first place was the bigger issue!). Does this big guy have horns? Horns will make him more difficult to deal with when he gets frightened because you'll have to always be on your guard against accidentally getting smacked or hooked when he moves suddenly. Best of luck with your decision!

[Saltlick]

How old is he? And realistically, how much time do you have? He's going to be a project for sure, and there's a very good possibility that he may never come round. On the other hand, some goats (depending on their personality) come round very well with a little personal attention. We've tamed a couple of "untouchables" but it took quite a long time for them to really become comfortable around us. Ours were small, dehorned does so they weren't too hard to deal with once caught (catching them in the first place was the bigger issue!). Does this big guy have horns? Horns will make him more difficult to deal with when he gets frightened because you'll have to always be on your guard against accidentally getting smacked or hooked when he moves suddenly. Best of luck with your decision!

He's six weeks old and not dehorned. I cornered him and grabbed him but of courses he kept trying to get away. Realistically I don't have much time... I'm often away for two weeks at a time for work... darn...

[Saltlick]

Amazing!!

[Nanno]

Six weeks old is nothing! Plenty of time for a goat that young to be gentled. However, being gone for two-week stretches at a time is not very helpful. In my opinion they need daily (or near-daily) interaction to make that bond. Who looks after your critters when you're off working? Could that person take a few minutes each day to pet the little guy and give him a few treats? That's all it should take really. He's not old enough even to be weaned. He needs milk for 6-8 more weeks to get a good start. Is the owner planning to keep him with his mother until weaning, or is he trying to get rid of him now? If you could manage to get him on a bottle then bonding will be easy. There's nothing like twice-a-day bottle feeding to make the little ones fall madly in love with you.

[Saltlick]

He's going to stay on the mom until he's weaned. I don't think my friend feeding them has the time or energy... so probably not going to go for it. Oh well.