Facing the reality of taking on too much

We really enjoy keeping the pygmy goats and learning about their care. One of our original goals was to experience goat keeping in a manageable way and, given their size, this approach has been ideal for us.

Goats aren’t particularly difficult to keep but they do have distinctly different requirements from our pigs. We’d previously not had any livestock that needed such regularly care – for example, hoof trimming every 5-6 weeks!

However, more recently it became clear that there just wasn’t enough time for everything we’ve taken on. This was particularly troubling when considering the different breeding animals that would be needing proper attention and I wasn’t happy that we could do everything to a good enough level

pygmy goats happy to take food when offered
pygmy goats happy to take food when offered

When considering that we would have had pigs farrowing at around the same time as our first experiences with goat kidding, I just wasn’t comfortable that I could devote enough time and attention to everything

Sadly the decision has been taken that the pygmy goats have to go but, as luck would have it, the breeder who supplied them was happy to take them back so they could continue specific bloodlines.

Pygmy goats waiting to be collected by their new owners
Waiting to be collected by their new owners