Our herd of goats is honestly the most ridiculous, yet epic thing I could have ever imagined bringing to the farm. Growing up in the local farming community, I knew mostly of crop farming. My extended family farms thousands of acres of row crop each year. They run some cattle, but everything is mostly crop.
I remember have 2 chickens as a kid. We didn’t keep them long, but we had them. At some point, my uncle had pigs. They smelled horrible when you drove by their pen. I remember a bottle calf or two hanging out in the Abel barn. And chickens, calves and pigs at the Noll farm too. But really – that was it for animals.
So bringing goats to our farm was genuinely something new all together. Aaron really won me over with the idea that they would do work for us. Their one and only job is to clean out the underbrush in the Goat Trails. The wander this roughly 2-acre wood line to clean up the brush, weeds and – well, anything – so that we can at some point actually use this area for recreation.
While they came here with a distinct job to do – they’ve quickly become one of the most entertaining things to watch. A quick shout will have the entire herd bounding toward you from across the wood line. They baa and bellow through the trees until they see you. Then, they cry louder hoping you’ve brought a snack.
They’re a riot of shoving and wrestling. They’re loud. They stink. And, in the same breath, they’re also kind of cute and awesome.
The personality is almost too much to be contained by this one pen. Plus, the promise of baby goats this winter seems like there will simply be too much cuteness to handle. Until then, though, they’re doing just fine keeping us all entertained from over the fence.