I went down to their farm to visit their large collection of everything. They have a flock of mixed and very miscellaneous sheep, a collection of pigs (mostly rescues), some llamas, some alpacas, and of course my goats. We visited them in the order listed, starting out with capturing some escaped lambs who had gotten into one of the pig-pastures.
Finally we came around to the pasture of alpacas and the four angora goats from last year's purchase. While all four goats could use some dieting, I can't fault their care. All of them look happy and healthy. Ria is gorgeous; she looks like a stockier version of Sashimi with shining curls instead of waves. Maggy Lynn did not stay white, but came back to a strawberry blond, still with the bouncing ears. Kagan looks just like his big brother Lerris.
The best part of my visit was seeing Julius, last summer's dead goat walking. He looks fantastic. He has curls with solid Crystal-spaced horns, a bit of a beard, and no trace of weakness anywhere. His whatever-it-was from last summer cleared up completely last fall, and he's big enough that you would never guess he had trouble. In fact, Julius is far larger than his twin sister Ida who is still here on our farm. I'm so glad for him, and for his owners. He's a really pretty boy now. They wethered him in January, so he has nice horns that are plenty wide/strong enough to grab, but they won't turn into clotheslines very quickly now, and of course his hair will stay nice longer, too.
I expect that they will be bringing Quince and Ria back over to our farm to be bred this fall. Maggy is probably big enough too, but we'll see for real once she's been sheared in August. I can argue both sides of breeding her, though. While she's plenty big enough, she's only a yearling, and while she *could* carry a kid, there's no reason to push her too young. It's not like they are trying to make money on their goats. ::grin::
