How We Came to Own a Buck and a Wether

Meeting New Friends

Even though Kelsey started 4H in 2019, life didn’t allow for us to actually own any goats until 2024. While waiting for the stars to align, Kelsey was still able to participate in dairy goat activities. A lovely lady named Sherry owns a local farm and is a big supporter of youth in 4H and has owned and shown goats for several years (along with other livestock). We attended several goat clinics at her farm that she hosted with another 4H youth. We learned quite a bit at these clinics, and we gained some friends in the goat world along the way! Including Sherry and her husband, we talked a lot about our plans in getting goats during the time spent at their farm.

Our initial plans after doing some research, was to have only does (girls) and figure out different solutions for getting them bred when the time came. We had a building plan and most of the materials for the goat pen not long after deciding to show goats for 4H. But we were still waiting for those stars to get moving in the right direction. We also knew we were going to own Nigerian Dwarf goats. They are the smallest of the ADGA recognized breeds and we love the various colors and patterns Nigerians can have. Also, you can do a lot with a quarter of an acre, but there are still limits. We also want to make sure any animals we own have plenty of space to use.

A Great Opportunity

Kelsey made a good impression on Sherry with her work ethic and willingness to learn (also, I believe there was a mention of “it’s about time she had a goat.” 😉 ). So much so that Sherry decided to help us get our first goat! It was a beautiful little buck (boy) named Jingle Bells. Kelsey was over the moon excited when she found out and honestly so was I. First, we were so grateful to Sherry for going out of her way to help us when we were still new to each other. Second, after several years of planning to have goats and not really knowing how to get there, it was such a relief and exciting to be able to finally start our goat adventure.

It didn’t stop there; we have learned so much from Sherry and she continues to help us and is a great friend! We have learned a lot from several of our new friends we have met through her as well. Kelsey has grown up quite a bit this year. Sherry allowed Kelsey to work on her farm to pay for Jingle Bells and has included her in many fun things!

Meeting Our New Buck

Let’s talk about Jingle Bells! We went to meet Jingle Bells and his twin brother Schweddy Bells on New Year’s Day, when they were about a month old. Baby goats are adorable, and it was so much fun to watch them play! We had a great time meeting them and we were all in love with Jingle and couldn’t wait until we could bring him home. But it was going to be another few weeks before he was ready to come to our homestead.

In the meantime, we still didn’t have an area set up for goats! Our back yard was fenced in, but we didn’t have a shelter or anything for containing them. We had the wood for the goat pen, and we had some welded wire fence on hand but that wasn’t going to cut it, even temporarily. We had planned to buy more welded wire and some t-posts to make a temporary space for them. However, Sherry had a better idea which was much simpler and more practical. We borrowed a dog kennel and an IBC tote from her. A few days before we went to pick up Jingle, Sherry’s husband brought it all over and we set up the temporary goat pen!

Another thing that was on the agenda was finding Jingle a friend. Goats are herd animals and become very stressed if they are alone. Sherry found us a cute little buck that would become a wether(neutered) when he was old enough, since we didn’t need two bucks. His name is Glacier, and he was a pretty sweet little goat until he got a bit older.

Bringing the Boys Home

A neat thing about Glacier and Jingle is they were from different farms but had the same birthday, December 9, 2023! We also picked them up on the same day, February 10, 2024. We all loaded into the car with a dog crate in the back of our SUV. Glacier’s farm was about four hours away, but his owner had business closer to us and was able to meet about an hour away. We picked Glacier up first and then headed to pick up Jingle Bells.

Bringing Jingle Bells and Glacier home was the easy part. Once they were settled in, we quickly started learning the daily rhythms of goat care. From feeding routines to playtime, we were all so fascinated with these little goats. All of us have spent a lot of time loving on and playing with them. Glacier had to be bottle fed for about four weeks after we brought him home. Both boys loved to just sit on our laps and be petted and snuggled. While we all adjusted to this new situation (both the goats and the humans) we knew there was more adventure to come.

What’s Next?

Our plan from the start was to only have does, however, one of the things you learn pretty quickly while running a homestead is that plans change and that’s okay. When opportunities come up, like finding a well-bred buck at an affordable price, you make new plans and adapt. Now that we had a buck and a wether, our next stop in our goat adventure was finding does to add to our goat herd. Between Sherry and our other new goat world friends, we had a few exciting options, and we couldn’t wait to see how it all played out.