Saturday, September 20

Saturday Daily Dose of Cute: Goat Chowder (Not A Recipe)


This bottle baby drinks more than milk.

You know it's going to be an interesting visit to a new friend's farm when you climb out of the driver's seat of your car and a baby Boer goat jumps in.

After I'd scooped him up and deposited him back on the ground (a small amount of cuddling may have been involved in the process), Chowder ("the grandkids named him") proceeded to nuzzle my leg and nibble daintily on my knee, duck under electric fence wires so he could follow us as we walked around the fields, play with some rocks, and look so darn adorable I must have squealed "He's so cute!" about 300 times.

At one point while we were sitting around talking about everything from Kubota tractors to the best way to deal with seed ticks (duct tape!) and enjoying the sweeping views of the surrounding countryside, Chowder began heading determinedly toward the small patio table next to us.

I grabbed up my camera case assuming he was about to eat it (because you always hear that goats eat everything), but was quickly informed that what Chowder was really going after was my soda. He was then given a small drink.

This amusing little guy, who is slated to become a "teaser goat" to help bring the does in heat during breeding season ("He'll still have all his equipment, he'll just be shooting blanks") didn't come home with me that day, but somebody else did. More about our newest four-footed member of the farm hopefully
soon. Hint: It's not a goat. Update: Meet her here!

© FarmgirlFare.com, the soda slurping foodie farm blog where despite my saying repeatedly over the years that I would never, ever have goats, there are probably going to be a few of these brush and bramble eaters in our near farm future. No dairy goats, though.

"We're trying to reduce your workload, not increase it," Joe reminded me when I said something about homemade goat cheese. "There's no way you want to have to milk a goat twice a day, every single day." And despite the dreamy cheese idea, he's absolutely right—although he's the one who's pushing for the goats. "But no nannies—and no babies!"

19 comments:

  1. AHA - finally bringing you into the goat fold! I love my caprines - they are the best browsers on stuff no other livestock will eat (briars and vines are the tastiest to them). Handsome little boer goat you have pictured - our little herd is Heinz 57 - nubians, spanish, boer and apparently one pygmy who was supposed to be a wether but apparently still had some potent ammo. Soooo - you brought home something else - mebbe a calf?? a camel??or even --- hmmm - some guinea hens to kill snakes?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi LindaSue,
    LOL, a camel? I suppose it probably wouldn't surprise some people (like Joe and my mother), considering some of the other creatures I've brought home.

    And good guess on the guineas! That's not the right answer, but I'm pushing for some of them, too. I was visiting another friend the other day and admiring her new little flock of them. She, too, mentioned that they kill snakes (not that I'm a big fan of killing snakes for no reason, though we did see a rather good sized Copperhead at the hayfield gate just the other day).

    They also make fantastic guard animals, noisily alerting you to any little strange thing on the farm. But the main reason I want them is because they love to eat ticks - and unfortunately we have about a zillion ticks around here! Now that our beagle Robin is mostly retired, having some loose birds around might actually work (the chickens are in coops for their own safety - okay, and ours). We'd still have to contend with the ravenous, murdering coyotes, but locking the guineas up at night would help. That's what my friend was telling us she's doing after losing last year's entire flock to raccoons in two nights.

    As for the impending goats, we're thinking of trying to find some Spanish goats, as we've heard they're extra hardy. We like tough and hardy around here - which is why we now have donkeys instead of horses. Of course cute goes a long way, too. ; )

    Speaking of critters, I'd better head outside and check on some of ours. Now you know why I don't always have time to reply individually to comments - I just go on and on! ; )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Teaser goat! I love it! I'm going to use that as an insult sometime...

    And poor guineas. No defenses at all. :^(

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness I can't wait to find out what your new four legged critter is. I get to live vicariously through you because each year at our fair I could linger for hours in the agricultrual building. Between goats, sheep, pigs, cows, ducklings and bunnies I can barely get enough.

    Please don't make us wait too long to find out what it is and what it's name is.

    And regarding the cola - I guess goats drink everything as well as eat everything.

    ReplyDelete
  5. BTW - y'all goats do NOT eat everything - that is one of those odd rumors. They like some things - for those foolish enough to allow them to roam freely they will develop a taste for windshield wipers, the rubber trim pieces down the sides of cars or trucks and anything with salt or sugar on it (not all personal experience - we had a great mentor who had already made all the mistakes for us!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Now that has got to be a first. A baby goat drinking my favorite soda! You should send your photo to the DP company and see what they have to say about it! Chowder is just so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your animals are TOO CUTE FOR WORDS!!

    Fellow animal lover...

    ReplyDelete
  8. If you want homemade cheese you can always milk your sheep. We do! I got an Udderly E-Z milker (which really is!) and I milk our ewes after weaning. The milk freezes exceptionally well and I just bring a gallon or two to my sister and she makes cheese over the weekend. She's made everything from blue cheese, camembert, manchego, yogurt (sheep's milk yogurt is the BEST), feta, etc. Like you don't have enough to do already! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Did you get a pig? A little baby piglet?

    Oh, did I tell you that I finally found a heart shaped rock? My family thinks I'm nuts but I am so excited.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, Susan~ That Chowder is too cute! As you know, I too 'farm' vicariously through you and I absolutely love all of these animals. I learn so much(!) about them from you and from all of your Reader's Comments. I mean who know there were so many different species of goats???

    Goat cheese sounds great, but as Joe asked, "do you really need more work?" (but it does sound yummy doesn't it???)

    We're all looking forward to what new creature has joined the fold - don't wait too long for the reveal - we're dying to know!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the markings on Boer goats! And he's a cutie! How can he be "intact but shoot blanks?" That is something I might have to corner my husband and ask. I've never heard of that before!

    Four legged - a calf? For milk when she grows up? Nah, Joe said no milking every day! (But if you got a goat, keep the kids with her and you could milk when YOU want!)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the show off of goats. we used to have a banch overlooking the goat pen when I was a child so that we could sit a watch them show off.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just love your site - I'm crazy about animals and there are some great recipes too. Heather

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ohhh! OOHHHHH!!! GOATIES!!!! I [HEART] GOATIES!!!!

    Here's hoping you DO soon have goats on your farm. Ohh, how I want goats of my own. Can't wait to hear who the new four-legged friend is!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Of course, that is too cute! And the soda part? Wow, he's got a sweet tooth -- what a cutie! :D

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for finding my blog so I could find you. I'm forwarding this on to my best friend who has recently acquired a few nigerian dwarf goats.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh you big tease. I LOVE goats. And this one, well, he's very lovable. All the better that he likes soda. He's weird and cute.

    ReplyDelete
  18. No idea if Connie will read this, but...

    "How can he be "intact but shoot blanks?" That is something I might have to corner my husband and ask. I've never heard of that before"

    I'm not all together positive--being a city gal myself--but I'd guess the little squirt will get a vasectomy done.

    Castration/neutering is the removal of the testes, which is where the testosterone is made. Removing them prevents little male critters from developing the 'bad habits' that older male critters have. (in the case of our pet cats and dogs, it'd be aggression, marking behavior (inappropriate urination), leg humping, roaming (to find a mate), etc....) Likewise, for farm animals, I assume they no longer get the urge to mate, and are less aggressive in general.

    A vasectomy is a small surgery where the tubes connecting the testes to the, er, penis are severed. The result being the testes are still there, producing testosterone, and sperm... but when the little critter ejaculates (bet you'd never see those three words together) there won't be any sperm in the ejaculate, as there's no way for the sperm to get from the testes to the penis.

    At least in humans, sperm only makes up a very tiny portion of the ejaculate, the rest being other fluids which are there primarily to facilitate the sperm's journey :)

    hope this helps :D

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Susan,
    I want to know more about the seed ticks and duct tape mentioned. We fight seed ticks year round at my parents place in the country. It is a battle to keep them off of you and get them off of you. I enjoy reading your blog. Your pictures are great and Missouri is beautiful year round. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!