Beth's Story

Beth is a small (mostly) Pygmy goat. She came to live with us a little over 2 years ago. The second of my original goats had died of old age and I hated the thought of Misty being alone. So.. I took a trip up to Nevins Farm in Methuen MA - part of the http://mspca.org. They were thrilled to know that I wanted to adopt another goat because they had a very special little goat who was living in the horse barn. She was there because no matter what they did to the outside enclosure - she would find a way out. The economy had turned sour and the Farm was having to rescue more horses than they knew what to do with so having a little goat taking up a horse stall was not a good arrangement. So, I patched all the holes in our fence and brought Beth home in the back of my car. Now, Beth was very fat but of course that is not unusual for goats and I didn't think much of it. She seemed happy to be here and settled right in. She didn't figure out how to jump over the fence at first. January 22 started off like any other winter day. The kids went off to school and I was working from home. Early afternoon I went out to run a couple of errands. Now as I got in the car, I realized that it was kind of odd that the animals weren't bleeting at me for more hay. 'See human, bleet, get fed' (that was how they thought). So, I arrived home in time to meet the school bus and still no bleeting. So, I went in to the paddock to check on everyone. My first thought was that Beth had finally found her way out. Then from the back of one of the stalls came a noise I had never heard. Beth was huddled in the corner of the stall with 2 baby goaties! Pregnant not fat she was! Happy Mama.
With the help of a couple of friends and the kids, we set up a makeshift stall in the garage where we could keep an eye on them and make sure they were ok. They stayed there until the weather improved and they could gradually be let out in the goatie pen. 2 years later they are thriving. Both little boys - neutered but not de horned. They still cuddle with their mom Beth at night. How Beth got pregnant is something we will never know and what adventures she had before she came to us will always be a mystery. But we are happy to have her and her boys as part of our family.