Crazy Crazy Me!

Do you remember this cute little guy? My neighbor's offered him to me. I said yes.
And then I had to figure out how to tell Rich who doesn't care that much for goats that we were going to have a goat.

Sven was born on the 16th.

Here he was 4 days later when he met Charlie.

And here he is on the 28th. It was warm enough to take him outside with a harness on.
Sven will be coming home...down the driveway to our place once he has been weaned and the weather turns. [We have another frigid polar thing going on this week!]

Sven has grown in two weeks!

He is a Lamancha, which is the funny looking tiny eared goat. His one job will be to eat weeds along the fence-line and clean up areas of nettles which goats love along with another weeds.

But I thought what could a whethered goat be good for? I've had goats before but really just raised them to milk them. After the kids no longer liked the milk, I sold the ones I had.
That was many years ago.

I like to hike. So for whatever reason, I looked up 'hiking with goats' and found out that full grown goats can be trained to be hiking pals that carry packs! How fun would that be to go on a hike and have Sven carry my water and lunch along with a tripod?

The training is pretty straight forward. Bottle fed goats just like Sven are the best candidates as they form a bond with their human handlers.

Yep. I go and bottle feed Sven whenever I can.

Yesterday we did some 'training'. I wanted to see if he'd come to me without me trying to ask him too.

After a bit of exploring the snow [see the harness? He knows he is going out with me when I bring that out now!]

So I waited.

And...I sat in the snow bank....

And Sven came to me and ...

snuggled? He closed his eyes while I petted him and loved him up.

Here is some reasoning to have a goat carry a pack for you. While hiking you have company and someone to talk to --- yes, Charlie also! Two, if you are hiking and pass another hiker it will cause a conversation.
Goats are easier to work with than a mule or horse and a lot smaller!

Sven won't be able to fully pack any significant weight until he is 3 yrs old. But the experience of trying to train him would be a very fun thing.
After all, I have tons of trails in my woods and surrounding area that he can hike with me.

He is a perfect candidate for this sort of training. He was rejected by mom, and has been bottle fed by humans. He has no idea that he is a goat.

This will be fun!

I have figured out where we will have to put the Sven Pen, now I just need my Kenosha Gang to help me make it work as soon as the weather gets decent!

Stay tuned for more stupid and crazy ideas from the mule/goat/dog lady.