My Old Goat -- Myrah

Ten years ago I decided to fulfill a dream of having a goat and drinking goat milk an making goat cheese. We made a big goat shed with a slanted flat roof and fenced in an area about 25 feet by 35 feet. We shopped around and found that a bunch of families in our valley had Nubian goats. Their milk is supposed to be really good for cheese because of the high milk fat content. (They are also adorable with their droopy ears.) We bought one and named her Myrah. She was supposed to be a high quality milk goat.


Then, because goats are so social, we got a second cheaper goat to be her companion. We named the second one Tisha. (I had wanted to get a boy goat like the one I had had as a child so I could breed the goats each year for the milk, but everyone insisted that I shouldn't get a buck--so I didn't.)



This is Tisha and Myrah in their pen.





When Myrah was grown up enough to breed, we put Myrah into the back seat of our van. (She probably weighed about 150 pounds and it was a difficult and not pleasant method of transporting an adult goat, but I didn't seem to have any other options. We took her out to visit the buck of another heard. Five months later, Myrah had twin boys that were mostly black with a little white.

I milked her one time and only one time. Between her kicking and making things difficult, my lack of knowledge about how to do it, and the milk tasted so terrible that it wasn't worth the difficulty of trying to milk her. (My daughter Anna has suggested that the milk tasted terrible because I went right out and milked and drank without waiting for the colosterum to be gone.)

I often regretted that the milking never worked out and have wanted to try again. However, my life got busy, and it was way too difficult to get her to a buck, and the memory of how bad the milk tasted, kept me from trying again. We did have a most wonderful pet that we enjoyed very much over the years.


Here, some of my children are petting, feeding, and playing with Myrah.


Here, Esther is playing with her.

































































Myrah is as gentle as her size allows her to be. (She might accidentally step on your foot.)











However, a year ago Tisha died unexpectedly. (The goats were both nine years old. at that time.) Most of my children have moved away during the same ten years. Now Myrah is in her pen all alone most of the time.

When I let her out of her pen, she won't go anywhere except right at my side no matter where I go.
I know I have to get another goat to keep her company.

And with the thoughts of getting another young goat also comes the strong desire to try milking again. So I have decided to try again! It is kidding season right now. I have been looking all over the valley and the neighboring valley for a Nubian goat, but all the families that had them ten years ago have moved away.
I have found a really nice lady with a wonderful alpine goat. I have made arrangements to buy a baby girl from her (if a girl is born.) She sounds like a wonderful goat! I am happy to get a goat friend for Myrah and am very excited about trying milking again. This alpine sounds like she will give lots of good milk. My only disappointment is that it has not worked out for me to get another Nubian like Myrah. Even if I had, I probably would not like her as much as I have liked Myrah.