I can’t resist posting a few of these photos. Throwing two herds together into one pasture for a night is bound to raise some excitement, and our goats spent a good deal of time sparring with Herb’s. Finn was trilled to clack horns with Bacchus and Woodstock, Herb’s only horned goats. Bacchus proved a bit much for Finn and the fight was soon over, but Woodstock and Finn were quite well matched and the duel dragged out long enough for me to take far too many pictures.
Saturday night was a real treat. There were only a few items not purchased in the store which had to be auctioned. Several of these items ended up fetching more at action than their original asking price! I ended up with the entire left-over stash of homemade goat cookies that Cuzco was so fond of. Afterwards, John Mionczynski told the fascinating story of how he got into goat packing and showed us his first packsaddle which he fashioned himself from a couple of barn boards and a shovel handle. He also brought several other examples of early packsaddles and panniers and treated us to “goat songs” he composed on his old Swiss squeezebox. I brought Cuzco to the campfire so he could enjoy the music with us. Phil also jumped in on his fiddle and it was quite a treat.
All things must come to an end and it would have been sad to pack up on Sunday morning except for the fact that Phil and I were looking forward to a visit with Herb (aka Charlie Horse) on our way home. He had been unable to attend the Rendy, but we arranged to stay with him Sunday night as we traveled through Salt Lake City. Herb has a bunch of goats, some of whom we met at the 2013 Rendy. But before we left, Phil had a fight with a tavern puzzle… er, tangled strap tie.
Herb has a great goat shed that the goats can climb on top of. Check out the triple-goat action here!
Bacchus was the clear king of the shed roof…
…and he viciously defended it against all invaders both real and perceived.
A few of us decided to drive over to Lake Henry for a swim on Saturday and I brought the goats. Cuzco, of course, swam at the 2013 Rendy, but I wanted to introduce the younger boys. The water was perfect–a very nice temperature and an easy, gradual slope with a solid sand and gravel bottom. Finn and Snickers balked at first, but they figured it out rather quickly and were soon following us into the water and swimming without hesitation.
Sputnik was a different story. He bawled at the top of his lungs the minute the water hit his chest, and he didn’t stop even when it went over his head. The result was that he ended up with facefulls of water which got into his mouth and nose and caused him to splutter and scream some more. The silly goat was so busy yelling that he wouldn’t kick his legs and promptly sank when the water got deep. I had to buoy him along until he settled down enough to figure out that if he just kicked his legs instead of bawling about the unfairness of life, he could float just fine.
“Come on Sputnik!” He went fairly willingly to this point.
Finn and Snickers handled the water sensibly, and Finn even got to enjoying it I think.
Finn follows Phil everywhere.
A close-up of Sputnik’s panic-stricken face as he floundered in the deep water. I was holding him afloat at this point.
We took a short video of Sputnik’s (very loud) ordeal. He was convinced I was deliberately drowning him, but I promise I wasn’t! In fact, I was the only reason he stayed above water for the first few minutes!
Sputnik’s bottom aside, I loved this mountain with its terraced slopes. Apparently the snow would build up and then melt all at once and flood the plain below every spring, so terraces were dug in the mountainside in the early 1900’s to slow down the water flow.
I can’t remember whose goat this was, but he looked very classy with the saw perched on top!
Look at that grin on Cuzco’s face!
We didn’t have many logs to clear, so when I finally broke out the chainsaw to remove one it was a major event.
Cuzco was thrilled to have the all-important job of carrying the chainsaw, but when we turned back toward home I decided that there was no need for the old fellow to wear himself out–not when there were several much younger goats on the hike who were perfectly capable of taking his load. So we gave the chainsaw to Romeo to take back to the trailhead. He did an excellent job. Cuzco still wore his pack so he wouldn’t feel snubbed, but he carried it mostly empty. I love the toothy grin on that goat on the right!
I can’t resist ending without a picture of Cuzco striking a regal pose. He had every right to be proud of himself that day. He carried a respectable load on a hot day over rough terrain and never lagged or complained even though he’d spent two days previous riding in a trailer. What a good boy!
Phil and I loaded up the goat trailer and spent a few days last weekend in Idaho at the North American Packgoat Rendezvous. What a great trip! We took Cuzco, Finn, Snickers, and Sputnik with us. The weather was incredible and the location was perfect for camping with goats.
However, the trip was not without some adventure. The first thing that happened was that we discovered the running lights on our trailer were not working. We had to stop off at a trailer repair shop to get them looked at and the goats had to be unloaded and tied out of the way.
Friday was a fun day. We had about three miles of trail to look over and remove obstacles. We got to a beautiful overlook where we stopped for a short break. Cuzco was a champ! He carried the chainsaw in one pannier which was balanced with gas, oil, and me and Phil’s lunch and water in the other pannier. He carried around 35 lbs. that day and he never missed a beat. He was proud as punch to have such an important job.
Cuzco’s Rambo shot o’ the day.
Phil found a golf ball on the mountaintop which he practiced twirling on this finger.
Phil tried to get Finn to pose and look noble for the camera, but this goat was on the move and didn’t want to be restrained for anything!
My younger crew was loud during certain parts of this hike–especially Sputnik. Then he would set the others off. My “Three Stooges” kept getting excited and running ahead to join other people and goats, but then they would lose where we were and start bawling their heads off. It didn’t help that Phil and I walked separately most of the time, so the boys were perplexed about who to follow. It’s NOT ok for the herd to get separated like that! Cuzco, on the other hand, was totally chill. He’s old and wise and he knows we’ll all find each other eventually.
It was a lovely trail, but there was a lot of up and down and very little shade for most of it. The views, however, were spectacular. The best part of this hike was taking time to talk with the other hikers and getting know them better as we went along.
Cuzco is most definitely looking forward to the North American Packgoat Association Rendezvous this year! I was preparing to load the trailer with gear, and the moment I opened the door Cuzco jumped in and stood there with an eager look on his face that said plain as day, “I see I have a private apartment this time. Close up! I’m ready to leave immediately!” 
Seeing the picture of Ruthanne milking Petunia reminded me to post something that has been forefront in my mind for some time, and that is God’s abundance. Not just His grace or mercy or provision, but His overwhelming abundance.
Petunia will have been in milk for 52 weeks next Tuesday. We had six people in the house enjoying her milk every day for a week while Phil’s family was here. Yet this single goat who gets milked only once a day provided plenty for all with enough left over for me even to collect cream from some of the milk. In the weeks before the family arrived, Phil and I had been enjoying all the milk we could drink, plus providing milk to a local man with health problems that prevent him from tolerating most food or drink and no dairy aside from goat milk. Even with all that I had enough milk to save several tubs of cream in the freezer so that we made three batches of ice cream, a batch of whipped cream, and two batches of cream biscuits while the family was here! The skim milk from my cream collection has been going to feed my neighbor’s pigs and now an orphaned calf (supplemented with calf formula to add fat, of course).
But this is all from ONE goat! ONE goat who gets milked ONCE a day and whose udder I thought I might lose to mastitis last year. The udder healed and is completely normal and milks evenly on both sides. God does not just provide for us–He blesses us with greater abundance than we could ever have imagined or hoped for.
I finally have a moment to post photos from when Phil’s family visited us at the end of May. We had a great time and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the goats. The babies were an especially big hit, and it was obvious that our visitors were a major source of entertainment for Sledge and Hammer too.
The boys developed a particular taste for hats during this visit.
Tigerlily wasn’t so sure about all these strangers, but she was forced to put up with a lot of fussing and petting because of course everyone wanted to hold her.
Uncle Steve was especially fond of the two rascals. He spent much time sitting on a rock or laying in the meadow and letting them climb all over him like a jungle gym and nibble his hat, his shirt, his arm hair… Uncle Steve is always a big hit with kids!
Ruthanne concentrated very hard and got some milk out.
…we paid $25 cash and came home with a new best friend.
I still say it’s the best $25 we’ve ever spent. 
In all the excitement of new babies, we can’t forget the older goats!
Pac-Man is always amusing us with his rolling and scratching antics. Half the time he looks like a colicky horse the way he paws, rolls, twists, and stretches out on the ground. Today he was plowing his head into the grass.
“What? I’m gorgeous!”
Finn is also gorgeous, and he’s the first goat I’ve seen since Cuzco who is completely aware of his own looks.
Delilah lets me know what she really thinks about all this picture-taking!
And we wrap up with a picture of our two big boys grazing serenely together in a vivid green pasture. Incredibly, these two have been getting along lately. I don’t know if Cuzco is getting too tired to fight, or if he’s grooming Pac-Man to be the new herd king, or if Pac-Man has simply matured enough to be allowed into the upper echelon, but they have actually been sharing a shed recently and hanging out together more. It’s also possible that this is a strategic move on both Cuzco’s and Pac-Man’s part since it protects both of them from the more aggressive Finn. Finn is constantly harassing and challenging Pac-Man, but he’s not yet bold enough to go after Cuzco. On the other hand, I know (and Cuzco probably knows) that if Finn actually did challenge him seriously, the old fella would have a hard time winning at this point. Perhaps the big boys have formed their own alliance to keep Finn in his place a little longer.
