It was a fun weekend at the Colorado State Fair. Phil and I took Nubbin and Petunia for the milking competition. I have high hopes that Petunia can get her milk star this year since she’s been in lactation for so long (440 days or so at this point), but we’ll see. Naturally the girls give less milk the moment they get to fair.

The most important event of the day was of course the costume class. As usual, Phil and I were the only adults competing. We did a group costume this time. I was Cinderedna, Phil was Prince Capricornicus, Nubbin was the Fairy Goat-Mother, and Petunia was a pumkin. There’s nothing quite like shuffling through shavings and goat poo in high heels and a floor-length gown!

The highlight of the fair was when we saw the couple who bought Snickers, Sledge, and Hammer. The boys are doing very well and their new owners adore them. They’ve already taken the boys out hiking several times, including a pretty long hike with several water crossings, and they have nothing but good things to say about their new hiking companions. The boys follow them everywhere and come running for loves (especially Sledge). They agree with us that goats are therapeutic. They’ve hiked more miles now with the goats than they have in ages. They’re even talking about taking them on a trip to Utah this fall. It thrills me to no end that the boys are happy and thriving with people who love them.

Today was bittersweet, for three of our beautiful packgoat prospects went to a new home. It is exhilarating to finally come full circle and sell our first goats when all we’ve done to this point is buy and breed. But it was also sad to say goodbye. I’ll miss the playful, romping babies, Sledge and Hammer. Tigerlily misses them too, and Jezebel spent all afternoon softly crying for them because she’s not sure what she’s going to do now that her kid has no playmates. Nubbin is taking it in stride.

I’m going to especially miss Snickers. He’s been sweet, gentle, and easy-going since he first came into this world, and he may well be the best prospect among our three 2014 boys because of his good and willing attitude. I am going to miss his gentle eyes and unassuming nature. I am so happy that Phil and I took him hiking with us yesterday. We had no idea it would be the last time, and we got some fun pictures.

I know this is Colorado, but no, we’re not sharing a joint! I put a cookie in my lips to see if he would “kiss” me. Yes, he certainly did!

The nice couple who bought the goats originally only called about Sledge and Hammer, and they were thinking they would only buy one. But they fell in love with all three and couldn’t decide between them, so they bought the lot. I wish the new owners all the best as they start their new adventures in goat packing! And maybe we’ll even see our boys on the trail in the coming years since the couple lives on the other side of our own mountain range.

We had a lovely campfire a few weeks ago, and Cuzco joined us as usual.

Afterwards Phil brought out the fiddle, and as always, Cuzco parked himself front and center for the music.

Finn and Snickers eventually came over to check out the music too.

Phil wandered out into the meadow and played for the entire herd.

Meet Pluto!

He’s named in honor of the recent first close-up photographs of the most distant member of our Solar System. He’s a little forlorn right now and I keep hearing him cry and howl, but hopefully he’ll settle in soon.

Pluto was curious about the goats at first, but the moment he went to greet them they all went into panic mode and it was contagious. Now the goats and puppy are terrified of each other. The goats magnetized into a tightly-packed goat block any time Pluto crept out from beneath the horse trailer he hid under all day. This is about as close as any of the goats came to saying “Hi”.

Pluto is an Anatolian Shepherd, and we got him because we’re not sure what our dear Daisy’s future holds. She has had mystery health problems since April and three different vets haven’t figured out what’s wrong. The trouble seems to be in her hips and back, but there is no actual joint problem anyone can find. We’ve had x-rays taken and we had her on anti-inflammatory pain killers at first, thinking maybe she’d been trampled by one of the horses. But she got worse so we went back to the vet. The lameness moved from leg to leg so we thought perhaps we were dealing with a tick-borne illness and put her on a four-week course of antibiotics back in May. It helped a lot and she was almost back to normal until late June when she went lame again. We put her on a different type of antibiotic for two weeks with no effect, and now we’re back to the one that seemed to help the first time. She’s been back on this one for one week and so far she’s still getting progressively worse, so I’m not confident we’re going to beat this thing. She’ll be getting blood work done this week and I hope we can figure this out and make her better, but Phil and I decided that if this is the end of the line for Daisy, we’d better get a pup ASAP so she can start training it while she’s still able.

So far she’s doing a good job. She’s polite with Pluto (I think she secretly loves him) but she’s trying to maintain a cool detachment until he knows who’s boss around this place. She can’t fool me! Still, she’s doing a good job as disciplinarian. Pluto tried to eat from her food bucket and Daisy snapped and snarled at him. After one meal, I couldn’t even feed him from her dish after I put her out of the pen. I had to get him his own fresh bowl from the kitchen because he’s terrified even to clean the bottom of The Big Dog’s bucket. I’m very pleased that the pup is inspiring Daisy to finish her food. I’ve had a hard time getting her to eat enough recently because she doesn’t feel good and she’s dropping weight badly. With Pluto hovering near her food bowl, Daisy is determinedly forcing down every morsel.

Phil and I were invited to set up and judge the annual Pueblo County 4-H packgoat show, so yesterday we packed up a bunch of obstacles and four of the boys and headed to the State Fairgrounds.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts and miscommunication between two of the show administrators, the show basically got called off. I was not aware of any of this “behind the scenes” rigamarole, so Phil and I set up a really nice obstacle course and waited while no one showed up! So we took the boys and practiced the obstacles ourselves. Pac-Man was stubborn about this narrow bridge at first, but he eventually got into the spirit of things.

A few people did trickle over after a while, and one boy brought his young market Boer, but the competition was a bust. So we had fun with the Goat-O-Rama boys instead!

I had brought them partly for the experience and partly so that anyone could compete who may not have had a goat of their own to show. We gave everyone a goat to play with and Phil and I gave out tips and pointers as the kids guided their charges through the obstacles.

The most difficult obstacle on the course was probably also the most practical, and one our own goats were not trained for. This was the “Rainstorm on the trail” simulation where you got to demonstrate your goat’s calmness and ground tying ability. The only goat in my herd who knows “Woah” well is Cuzco, and he wasn’t with us yesterday. Pac-Man sort of knows the command when he feels like it, but yesterday he wasn’t in the mood. No one else even remotely stood there, so we got a lot of laughs and had to do a few round-ups.

We also set up a “Stepping Stump” obstacle which Pac-Man flatly refused even to try (“I’m much too big for this!”), but all the younger boys loved it. Finn had THREE handlers at one point! He felt like a lucky, lucky boy to have so many girls paying attention to him all at once!

My favorite obstacle and the visual centerpiece of the course was the “Campfire”–a tantalizing gauntlet “booby trapped” with all kinds of scrumptious goodies that goats were not allowed to touch!

So even though the “show” never materialized, we still had a great time with our goats and with the few kids that did show up. Kids and goats alike had a blast, and I was even able to get contact info for a few folks who may be interested in helping me get up a packgoat club in our area.

Here is the full list of obstacles in case anyone ever wants ideas for their own packgoat show:

1. Jump – It was low at one end and high at the other. Bonus points for a goat who can jump the high end.

2. Rainstorm on the trail – Trot your goat from the jump to the far cone (demonstrates obedience to halter commands and willingness to follow quickly). Drop the rope on the ground (kid could step on it to hold goat in place if necessary), and put on the raincoat and open the umbrella (goat should not spook). Demonstrate ground tying by walking around the two cones the goat is “parked” between. Goat should not move. Remove raincoat and close umbrella.

3. Narrow bridge – This was a board 12 feet long and 12 inches wide set between two straw bales. A support in the middle kept it from sagging or breaking in the middle. Handler could walk on the bridge or beside it, but the goat had to cross the whole thing.

4. Water crossing – Kiddie paddle pool half full of water with a stump in the middle. The goat could step in the water or or use the stump to cross or a combination of both. I put some arena dirt in the bottom of the pool to give traction for goats who stepped into the water.

5. Campsite – Chairs and camp table arranged around a “campfire” with various tasty food items scattered on the chairs and table. Goat had to walk in a circle between the chairs and the campfire without snatching anything or bumping into chairs or campfire wood.

6. Stepping stumps – Four stumps spaced about 18″ apart in a zig-zag pattern. Goat should hop from one to the next without touching the ground.

Well, he learned to pack kids, that is! On July 4th Phil and I spent the day at my parents’ house where a lot of other friends and relatives were gathered for the holiday. We had Finn and Pac-Man with us that day and while my mom saddled up her pony for the kids to ride, I saddled up Pac-Man. We didn’t do it very long… Pac-Man is only two years old, and the saddle doesn’t fit him very well. He’s much too round for a normal tree and has no withers, so the kids had to balance well to keep the saddle from rolling. Still, we had a great time, and my nephew, Robert, was thrilled to get to ride a goat! Pac-Man was a sweet boy and seemed to enjoy the experience.

My niece, Lily. I don’t think she’s having quite enough fun. Do you?

Robert is ready–he’s got those feet in the stirrups and the bike helmet on! Look at the pony, Honey, in the background: “Hey, you’re supposed to be riding ME! I’m the horse! Goats aren’t good for anything except eating weeds! Get over here!”

We took Finn, Snickers, Sledge, and Hammer for a hike up the Greenhorn Trail today. This was Sledge and Hammer’s first time out. They cried at first, as babies tend to do when you pull them away from mommy, but they seemed to enjoy themselves and quieted down by the end. Finn and Snickers provided a good example of how packgoats should behave on the trail, although we had to teach a few lessons about not cutting past people. Finn was especially determined to get past me so he could follow Phil, so I swatted him in the nose with my hat every time he would try to sneak past. It was pretty effective, but not always, as you can see from this picture.

Phil with Finn and his boys. They sure do look a lot like their papa!

The little guys really liked this big rock.

Sledge discovered that the best part about hiking is the wide variety of delicious foliage.

Hammer eluded the camera for almost the entire hike. When I finally did get a shot, this is what he gave me:

Snickers is a good, good boy on these hikes. He simply loves getting out and doing stuff with us, and he has no qualms about crossing creeks, logs, bridges, stepping stones, or anything. I get the feeling that even if we met a bear, he would stop and look at it briefly before calmly walking behind Phil or I. He doesn’t act like a bold, adventuresome goat, but he seems unflappable.

Snickers’ glamour shot:

And he blends in nicely with the scenery as long as we’re walking along a rocky creek bed.

Finn boldly goes wherever Phil goes, and although he’s out of the shot, Snickers casually strolled across this rather unstable log bridge as well. It consisted of a lot of small, wiggly, sagging logs sort of loosely bundled together, and it was pretty high over the creek. I wasn’t sure it was safe for the goats to cross (Cuzco would have walked through the creek at this point), but they made it.

Except Sledge and Hammer. This proved a bit much for them and after walking on it myself, I’m glad they went no further than this before turning back. The spaces between the logs were pretty large in spots and the water was deep and swift enough that the babies might have been swept away had they fallen.

We also met this cool bug on the trail. It liked Phil’s leg apparently. Phil liked the bug, but he wasn’t sure he wanted it crawling on him. I kept telling Phil not to move so I could get more photos while the bug kept ticklishly crawling dangerously higher. I did not let the bug go up into Phil’s shorts, but that probably would have been the most entertaining part of the hike if I had.