Bad Attitude Farm & Forge LLC

Raising goats is nothing like I thought it would be.  Unlike the “Bad Attitude” that popular lore says they have, we have found them to be very loving and gentle creatures.  Because we have spent much time concerned about the development of our animal’s personalities, I think there is more of nurture than of nature to these creature’s reputations.  When they are loved, they turn out loving.  When they are not loved there is probably a lot of truth in their reputation.

Meet Gertie (right) and Schmied left).  Schmeid, our boy, has his horns because I just couldn’t bare to have them removed.  He also has his testicles, which is why we have kept him with Gertie from the time he was born.  They are our only breeding pair.  Schmeid is our only Billy and the other girls are all too closely related to him.  So when the others are ready, they go to another goat farm for a romantic evening.

That, by the way, was a joke.  There is usually almost nothing romantic about goats having sex.  Sometimes, it is violent.  Well, so I am told.  I am also told my Billy will be violent and dangerous when he is in rut.  Not only dangerous to people, but dangerous to his mates and anyone else in the herd.  He is the gentlest thing on the farm other than our one lamb.  Now I don’t turn my back on him.  Those horns are sharp and he does push with them now and then, but he is a sweet heart and not only to myself.  He is almost a perfect gentleman with Gertie.  Yes, they are breeding but there is little if any force involved.

I think Schmeid and Gertie are vastly different from what we were told to expect in books because we didn’t raise them by the book.  I bottle fed Schmeid right from the womb.  His mother wasn’t much interested in him.  Gertie had a still born baby her first year, a result of breeding too early.  She mourned so hard, that we cried.

We tried to get her to let Schmeid nurse on her, but she wasn’t at all interested.  So I milked her, being sure to see that Schmeid got the colostrum.  Later, Schmeid and I shared the milk I got from Gertie.  I think that drinking her milk might have put her scent on Schmeid and I.  Today, I am usually the only one to milk her.  Although Schmeid never nursed on her, I believe they bonded because of Gertie’s still birth.  Her baby was gone and Schmeid had been born just a few days earlier.

If we put one out in a pasture but not the other, both complain loudly.  It is the same complaining that Schmeid’s mother (Birdie) does when we separate her from her other baby.  Then there is the complaining that takes place when I am working out doors and they can see me.  Sometimes it crosses the line between feeling loved and feeling annoyed, but it is worth it.