Figure 1 - L'l G with two of her kids
“L’l G” came to us in 2012,  an unsolicited addition to our goat herd dropped off by a well-meaning friend who knew we had some goats and would probably not mind one more. (Getting Tom Butt’s Goat, November 13, 2012). We put her into the pasture with the other goats, but she was not happy. She was much happier to hang out with our two Labradors, Tess and Chispa. See Chispa and Li’l G. This would have been fine except L’l G was a vegetarian (actually, a vegan) and immediately started stripping our yard of anything edible, especially plants we did not want eaten.

Since L’l G had bonded to the dogs, she ate alongside them with her own “dog bowl” at feeding time and followed them everywhere (outside). We would not let her into the house at night, so she camped out on the porch at the front door, so sad to be separated. When we took the dogs for a walk, she had to go along, and when the dogs jumped into the bay, L’l G jumped in and swam with them ( L’ l G Swims with the Dogs).

So, what to do? If L’l G didn’t like our other goats, we would find her a boyfriend, which is how we acquired “Pip,” another pygmy goat that had been in a petting zoo. Problem solved. Well, L’l G and Pip hit it off and managed to produce voluminous (over 20) offspring over the next few years. We sold or gave away all the females but kept some of the neutered males, of which five still remain. Pip died a couple of years ago, and L’l G joined him in goat heaven over the holidays. The life expectancy of a goat is 10-12 years, so L’l G pushed the envelope.

We tried adding a couple of sheep to our flock, but Pip didn’t like them. See Pip and Dusty.

We buried L’l G today with full honors behind the barn in the goat cemetery.

Figure 2 - Grandkids playing with Pip

Figure 3 - Pip providing a perch for his son, Paris, named so because he was born while we were in Paris for the UN COP 21 event in 1915

Figure 4 - The Nichol Knob goat herd minus L'l G and Pip