Welcome Marcie

Marcie came to us yesterday from C&M Valley Farm in Readyville, Tennessee. The owner, Melissa, was so kind and helpful we would have liked to be able to give her more business, but with the station wagon (and a nearly-empty wallet) Marcie was all we could manage that day. What a treat this new Saanen/Nubian cross doe is already! Although her milk production has fallen off because it's autumn and because her previous owner took a milking hiatus for some days, one milking with this statuesque gal produces more than we get in a week from our little Nigerian Dwarf gals. And she has such a sweet personality, we couldn't be happier.

Of course we love our little Nigerian Dwarfs and the Tennessee Fainters, but much of their personality comes through in aggression. Not Marcie. Yes, she was skittish that first night she moved here. The photos show her moving into a box stall that she now shares with alpacas Goldie Rose and Lili. I must have spent two hours that evening just standing in or near that stall while the girls all got used to one another. If I exited, Marcie was quickly up on her hind legs peering down the corridor to see where I had gone. I'm not used to such tall goats. Indeed, fainter Gwen can reach her nose up to the top of the door's wood, but Marcie may as well be human for her stature.

When I first brought her into that stall, having changed my mind at the last minute and decided against putting her in with Nigerian Dwarf Jennifer and alpacas Van and Spencer because Jennifer can be quite pushy with those horns of hers, why Marcie had no idea of how I was sparing her from Jennifer's aggression. Instead, what she saw was not the quiet alpaca I had chosen to pair her with but the BIG, TALL alpaca whose size cowed Marcie immediately. The first hour was spent pretty much with me at one side of the stall and Marcie and Goldie Rose standing diagonally across from one another, as far away as either could get in the restricted space. Marcie was shy but steady whereas Goldie seemed to think that if she did not look at Marcie, perhaps Marcie would not be there.

Leave it to the young to resolve all of our differences. Indeed, Miss Lili Gray Clouds made the first overtures, venturing over to sniff this new goat before skittering back to the safety of her dam's side. Eventually Goldie relaxed enough to lie down with Lili beside her. Marcie did not lie down in all the time that I was there, but she did relax enough to sample the grain and munch on the hay. Even so, she seemed so shy that I debated spending the night in the barn just to give her the familiarity of my presence. I was tired enough that I could have slept right there in the stall with these gals.

Eventually I got brave enough to walk away. While I would have liked to be able to ignore Marcie's calls, of course I walked the whole distance to the house replying to her every bleat, telling her that it would be all right, that she should try to settle in, and that she would see me again in the morning.

This morning Marcie was eager to come out into the sunshine. I kept Jennifer handy and milked each gal in turn. After milking, Marcie and I walked around for a bit and then I turned her out with the alpaca gals, Luther, and the geese. Again she objected to being left, but seemed to settle in after a while. I'm looking for another full-sized milk goat to keep with her and hope to have a companion for her within the week.