Happy Goat Productions

Promoting Sustainable Family Farming in Northern New Mexico

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This page introduces you to our small herd of dairy goats. Given the nature of milk production, i.e. the need to breed the mamas in order to get them to produce milk after kidding, the exact composition of our herd is always changing. Our emotional attachment to the mama goats is the obvious result of our close daily physical contact from milking them by hand. Consequently, we have chosen to refrain from eating our own goats or their kids and have always been able to find happy homes for the kids. This website is set up in part to ensure that we will be able to do so in the future as well, by reaching out to prospective fellow "goat ladies" (and gentlemen) who may want to acquire any of our kids, who should all turn out to be wonderful, highly productive, and very personable milkers in their own right. We co-own a young Alpine buck named Fidelito of an excellent bloodline who visits his ladies on a yearly basis to keep the milk flowing and ensure only the best genes for future generations of Happy Goats.

For our most recent additions, visit the kidding page.

Here are some pictures of the ladies in our herd (with dozens of babies to come soon, at which time I will be too busy to update this website or even take pictures):

1. Meimei, a Tres Piedras Mix


Meimei, the queen of the herdMeimei 妹妹 (Chinese for "younger sister" because she was the first kid we ever bought and at that time a true "younger sister" to my daughter Momo). She is now the lofty and very bossy queen of our herd and proud mama of Pascualina (see below). Her mother was a wild goat from Tres Piedras and Meimei didn't have much human contact before we got her. She has therefore never lost her feral nature and only lets us pet her when we milk her, when she is not feeling well (very rare), or when she is giving birth, at which time she turns to butter in need of a belly rub. She is a fierce protectress of the herd, partly thanks to her beautiful long horns, which her original owner thankfully did not remove. These horns are dangerous weapons, as evidenced by two scars on my lip and ear from times when she had to prove to me who was boss. The most important rule of the goat yard: Never let Meimei fool you and lower your head near her horns! Goats are ruthless with each other, but also with any potential invaders. Our dogs are terrified of her and no coyote would dare enter the goat yard with Meimei staring him or her down...

     goat birthMeimei, being the world's most wonderful mother!
Two gorgeous alpine goats - mother and daughter




                                                   
Meimei and her daughter Pascualina, about a year after Pascualina's birth on Easter Sunday, 2007.








Pascualina as kidPascualinaPascualina, clearly the prettiest of them all, a trait she has inherited from her dad Elvis, a gorgeous long-haired buck from a farm in Colorado.


The following two pictures are proof of Pascualina's acrobatic abilities. Goats are natural climbers and will use anything, including a milking stand, in the game of "king of the hill." Here you can also see how easy it is to construct a milking stand from dumpster-dived materials... You can see another pretty picture of Pascualina on the "farm home" page

goat acrobatics  goat acrobatics 2
                             

2. Lupe, our purebred Saanen

Lupe, our pure-bread SaanenLupe is a creature from a very different world. She comes from a prestigious breeder of award-winning show-goats, has the world's biggest bell-shaped teats on a humongous udder, and only ended up with us because of her uneven teats, which have never bothered us. She is quite finicky with her food but a lovely creature who produces the creamiest milk (and handsomest kids) in the whole herd. And by the way, female goats also grow beards, as you can see here... 

.Saanen, close-up







Saanen with kids grazing


3. Sweetie, an American Alpine

Sweetie, American alpinesweetie close-upThe favorite of all kids and truly my daughter's goat, Sweetie is an American Alpine who we acquired in Abiqiu during my daughter's camping trip. She is incredibly affectionate, playful, and doesn't quite act like the dignified mom she should be. Not our most productive milker, with teats that are too small for any man's hands to milk, but with the sweetest personality of all of our goats. She loves visiting schools and teaching kids how to milk her. 

Momo and Sweetie
        

4. Red and her Kids

good old goatKids milking a goatFollowing are pictures of our very first goat Red and her kids. Old and tired already when we got her, she patiently endured countless young and inexperienced milking hands on her rough old udders since. Red now lives in deserved retirement up the road in the company of a donkey, in safe distance from our buck Fidelito because she is too old to have any more kids.



Goat kids can be real terrors, especially in a chicken coop!

goat kids in chicken coop



But in spite of that, this picture shows why we do what we do, year after year:

Momo with baby goat     
      

If you liked the contents of this website and found any of its information helpful or would simply like to support our work at Happy Goat Productions, please consider making a donation by clicking the "donate" button below. Alternatively, use the feedback form to send me a message and discuss arrangements for donating any of our services (e.g. weekly milk, egg, and veggie delivery to a family in need, a visit with my animals to a local school class or club, or anything else you can think of....).