TBT: Totes Ma Goats!

My sisters and I with our first goats, Jack and Gus.

I talk a lot about how much I love cows, which I do truly enjoy their company, but they were not the only four legged creatures that I spent a lot of time with as a child and young adult. I also enjoyed spending a lot of my time showing and breeding goats. My mom had always wanted goats, but my grandfather had told her, it was him or the goats, so she never got one. About two years after his passing when I was nine, we had a speaker come talk to our 4-H club about goats. My sister and I, being the go-getter little girls we were, of coursed wanted to show all the livestock species we could, we easily convinced our parents to let us get goats. They were cheaper and safer than cattle and my mom had always wanted them, so it wasn't too hard. Jack and Gus (after the Cinderella mice) were our first goats. They were the friendliest and most loving creatures. We were immediately hooked and have been raising goats ever since.

Over the years we have had some amazing and colorful creatures. The black beauty in the picture above in Yaoz. Before I even picked out Yaoz, I googled Y names (this was the year that every one of my 4-H animals had to start with a Y.) The name Yaoz popped up and it said it meant "he will be mighty." Little did I know this would be the perfect name for him. He ended up weighing 106 pounds at the county fair, almost over weight. Actually at the state fair, he could not weigh more than 108 lbs. So just like the beauty pageant contestants, he went on a running workout to turn his fat to muscle, we ran at least two miles a day. He weighed 103 at the state fair. I was so proud of this amazing guy. He also had the personality of a king.

This next picture was my last goat that I showed in 4-H. His name was Mufasa. Often while running I would say come on Mufasa, muuuuve fasta! (playing fun at his name.) But he was a little bundle of joy and would dance with me like he was doing in the picture above.

Goats have taught me so much about keeping a positive attitude about everything. They are so happy most of the time. But they also taught me that some times its ok to be dramatic, maybe don't ball like a baby like they do, but do not be afraid to show your emotions. And finally, they taught me that you can't get a rocking body by sitting on the couch being lazy, you have to get out there jump those hurdles and run those miles because skinny and fat goats don't win, muscular ones do.