Meet Nutmeg and Cinnamon

They're American Oberhasli does. They're sisters, and they're six years old.

I bought them from my neighbor in February, after our oldest Alpine doe (Daisy, she was 11 and my best girl) died. I just needed to fill Daisy's spot in the herd because it seemed to be so empty without her. Plus, I've always thought Oberhaslis were beautiful goats. Our neighbor wasn't going to keep these girls, and I was glad to pick them up. They both look like Daisy in the face, and seeing them out there reminds me of her. They were, like my Daisy, SO skinny when we got them. Their feet were overgrown and they were wormy and they were.... lost. The image below is of Cinnamon, the day we brought her home... she's hiding...

And right now, let me say this: I can never be a serious breeder of dairy goats. I'm not snobby enough or cold enough to look at these girls as just livestock. I can't cull (kill) does that aren't perfect. I just can't. Goats have personalities. They feel true affection for us. They can be so annoying! And also funny and tremendously loving. I love having them and can't imagine my life without them. Our goats are not pets: we do expect our girls to earn their keep by having kids and producing milk. At the same time, we also don't see them as commodities to discard if they don't measure up. I figure that after a lifetime of providing milk for our family and having babies for us to either keep or sell, that a doe has earned a spot in our home while she is alive.

I also love a good rescue, which is what these girls were. I have never seen feet so badly overgrown, and four months after these girls arrived here, I'm still trying to straighten them out. In the beginning, every step for them was painful... now they can run. They were so very skinny, with protruding hip bones and prominent ribs. Now they're filling out nicely, although they aren't as sassy as the other girls (give me a while, and they will be!) We wormed them and gave them B-12 and just spent time with them. They acted like they'd been mistreated- shying away if we raised our hands, etc. It has taken them a while to trust us, but even in the beginning they seemed so starved for affection, and they'd lick our hands and faces, as if they were saying, "Thank you".
Two days after we got them home, Nutmeg gave birth to a single buck kid. He's a Nuberhasli (half Nubian, half Oberhasli). We named him Elroy. It was awful watching her try to give birth while struggling with painful feet. We've been milking her and her udder is ruined (like Daisy's was... you can't keep dairy goats and not milk them- it does bad things to their udders.) She started barely giving a quart a day but has slowly worked up to around three. It's not great production, but remember, she was super super skinny and is still not in top condition. I'm sure that when she freshens next year after a pregnancy with good nutrition, we'll see her production go up. Cinnamon hasn't freshened, and we aren't sure if she's pregnant or not. Probably not (although there is always a possibility.) She is just as sweet as her sister is, though. I'm looking forward to milking her next year, as well. We will be breeding them to our Nigerian dwarf buck, Trouper, for mini-Oberhasli babies.

I noticed when we bought them that they both had ear tattoos. We were able to track down their breeder and first owners with the tattoo sequence. The people who bought them from the breeder have been so nice, even emailing us copies of their registrations. Nutmeg and Cinnamon are really TSJ Gold Tic-Tac and Tootsie Roll. They were at a commercial dairy in Arkansas until '07, and we don't know what happened to them between then and when we bought them. I know that my neighbor bought them as part of a herd dispersal sale and felt bad for them with their feet and all- they difinitely weren't treated like the dairy animals that they are. I don't know if we can track down their papers or not- it would be great to be able to do that, but I'm just glad to know where they came from and some of their pedigree. There is good milk behind them, and good milk behind our buck, so we are crossing our fingers for nice miking daughters from both of them.Regardless, they both have a place here with us for the rest of their lives. And they definitely have a place in our hearts.