FiFi Mae

FiFi Mae lived just off Central Pike in Mt. Juliet for the first three months of her life. Advertised on Craigslist as a Nigerian Dwarf/Fainter cross who stiffens but doesn't faint, she seemed like a good addition to our herd. When I met her she showed no signs of stiffening, and since she'd been here I've seen no such signs.

Adjusting to the herd wasn't easy. When she first came off the truck, she bleated plaintively and received answering calls from the established herd. After enduring a scrape of her horns to my face and suffering the impact of the wooden crate in which she was transported when it bounced onto my foot, I let her into the pasture through the closest gate--even though it's the trickiest to open.

The herd greeted her well, and I was pleased, but the puppies saw her as a fine new toy to chase. I kept them diverted while she settled in and dinner was served almost straightaway. Dinner posed problems because it meant being closed into a stall with one part of the herd or another. I had planned to place her in the nursery/infirmary portion of the Dwarfs' stall, but wasn't eager to carry her struggling mass that soon. However, the fainters, or my "big girls" as I call them, chased her mercilessly around their stall--tag-teaming her so that the little brown goat had almost no respite. So I caught her, but the logistics of opening doors with hungry goats underfoot and a wriggling armload of FiFi Mae had me setting her down in with the Dwarfs--who proved to be only a hair more hospitable than the fainters had been.

With the little goat panting every chance she had to rest, I determined she had to spend the night apart, and moved her into the other portion of the "little girls'" stall. Then I removed the insulation barrier thad had kept the infirmary and nursery separate, and piled hay up against the wire panel divider. This encouraged the little girls to stay near FiFi Mae without badgering her. After supervising for some minutes I left the herd for the night.

In the morning FiFi Mae was reunited with the herd. Little Raymond was glad to have a playmate closer to his size. The puppies were too excited to be sensible, so I gave them a time out in the very stall where she'd spent the night. Barred from the pasture by the wire grate, they were able to watch the pasture without entering. Throughout the day I saw her existing placidly among the herd much of the time, while still suffering hazing at the whims of any of the others.

Now, just two days later, she seems to be holding her own. As I look out from my study window, I often find her close to Raymond and usually appearing calm. Her newness has worn off for the puppies, thank goodness, and she's free to exist with little harrassment from the herd.