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Initially,
we were like the majority of others, we just
wanted "a goat". We had a small
acreage in Puyallup, WA - perfect for our 2
horses and that ONE goat that we wanted. The big
day came in December of 1988...a co-worker told
me that her local feed store was going to have
baby Pygmy Goats on display over the weekend and
that we needed to just take a look at them. That
Saturday, my husband and I went to the feed
store to "look", and there he was -
the most adorable spotted 6 week old wether you
could imagine. We fell in love instantaneously!
So...off we went with baby GUS in our arms. BUT,
it was Christmas tree day, so with baby goat in
tow, we stopped at a tree farm in which we
paraded Gus all over the place on a leash. We
found our tree and home we went. OOPS! We need a
HOUSE for this goat! No...we hadn't thought
about that...We did have an old woodshed off of
our shop, so with Gus CHAINED in the garage, we
went to work on the wood shed. MANY hours later
we finished it. We moved Gus into that big old
shed - all by himself - in the dead of winter -
with a heat lamp and his own 50lb bag of cracked
corn (yes, thats right! The "breeder"
told us he should have a bag of cracked corn in
front of him at all times). 10 days later, we
realized that poor Gus REALLY needed a companion
so we went back to the breeder's farm on a quest
for a second goat. There were about a dozen grey
agouti babies in the pen - all of them VERY
WILD. Some does, some wethers... we didn't
really care. We told her we would take whichever
one she could catch. She "caught" one
- a doe kid. We paid our $35 and took her home.
We named her Gertie....
The story could go on and on...
In a nutshell though...
We had the two goats for a couple of years then
thought it might be fun to have babies - JUST
ONCE. We found a local breeder who was willing
to do the deed for us. We picked a spotted buck
that looked just like Gus! (smile). 5 months
later we had triplet doe kids - all of them
agouti, and to our disappointment, NONE of them
had white spots!!
Next...lets try a show - "Just
Once"...
The big Puyallup Fair was just around the
corner. Scary as it was, we entered our
motley crew. We knew absolutely NOTHING about
showing but took a chance. I will never forget
that show - and that judge - Tom Hallquest. He
"made our day" by giving us a 3rd
place ribbon in a class of 16 wethers. That
judge made a very scary thing, a positive
experience, which in the end had a huge impact
on our desire to do, yet another show...and get
more involved with the goats.
Then what...
Well, about a year later, we decided we needed a
registered doe. This time we bought from a
reputable breeder. We bred that doe, kept
kids...you know how it goes!
Today, 20 years later, we have a herd of about
25 registered Pygmy Goats. We have had much
success in the show ring, as well as having
excellent kidding experiences the majority of
the time, and we pride ourselves in having a
very healthy, happy and friendly herd
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