Little Adventures of Freya - playful little goat!
By this time of year we have at least 10 – 20 baby goats and mammas usually have more than one, so one baby is generally not alone. Not this year! We have just one! Freya - aka, Lil’ Frey.
She has been a delight! At first, I was concerned for her since they like companionship, but Poe filled that position wonderfully.
Poe is a cat that loves the babies. He truly gets excited about them. Running in circles under my feet as I carry the little ones to the heat lamp. He promptly started cleaning her and cuddling. She was never alone or cold.
She grew, and Poe didn’t enjoy being bounced on very much, so their time together lessened to cuddles at night. That was fine with Lil’ Frey since she was a busy little goat discovering life! She got to move into a bigger pen because it was evident that the small pen with playtime ONLY at chore time would not suit anymore!
This bigger pen is attached to the main goat pen which has access to the pastures as well as many adult goats to bounce on! Generally I leave them in the pen for at least a day so they can adjust to the different surroundings. No need for that this time! She found her way even though I didn’t know there was one! Such fun! She is much more independent than others her age have been in the past. As I am writing this, she is 18 days old. Born March 5th. So far nothing has intimidated her! She knows her name, answers me, comes when I call and she is an escape artist!
One day I couldn’t see her in the pasture with the others so I went to the barn to check. I finally found her in the boy’s pasture! She was happy, and happy to see me! Talked to me the whole way to the barn and was even happier to have her milk!
She has mastered getting up and over in order to escape, so this morning chores took a bit longer since I had to “raise the standards” so she will stay in (hopefully)! Every time I thought I had won, she proved me wrong! I would hear the tell-tale little noises of baby goat hooves where they shouldn’t be! She would greet me so happy and proud. I almost felt bad about goat proofing her escape spots!
This morning she accompanied me to feed the boys. It is dark at that time and of course muddy. No problem for her! She said hi to her new buddies and tramped through the mud back to the barn with me! As a side note, goats do not like to get their feet wet if it can be avoided. I guess no-one told her that.