Angora Goats From Rescue

Last night we got 4 angora goats. I am not sure whether they are actually angora or pygora. Does anybody know the difference to look at them? The adult female is about 18 inches at the withers. They were from the Animal Rescue League here in Iowa and are just adorable. Sadly, they were confiscated in a neglect case and were the four worst animals (the former owner still has the rest). They were living in mud and feces. Their little hooves are terrible and will need some TLC over time-they are all soft and curved. They had some mites but I am treating them for that. Next job: bathtime. They absolutely reek of urine. They had nowhere to sleep that was clean. There is one adult female and the 3 baby females. The adult has extremely matted fleece right now, poor thing. We need to start her fresh with a shearing in spring. The babies are not as bad. We are going to give them baths and the shelter is letting us borrow their huge animal hair dryer thing. Right now they need TLC and some good food and shelter. And names! I am hopeful they will be very much improved by spring.

Here is one of the babies and the adult. We don't know if they are her babies or not, and we don't know if they are all from the same mom but the rescue league thinks so.

Mom (without flash - you can really see how filthy they are). Poor babies.

She has a lovely head, she just needs cleaning!

Awwww...if she was all cleaned up, this one could be in a nativity scene!

This message was edited Dec 9, 2008 1:49 PM

Another pic of the Maybe-Mom.

They look like sheep! They are cute. Lots of TLC!
Its nice that people are willing to step up and take animals out of unfit homes.
I know there are a lot of reasons animals get neglected.

Love their little curly fleeces - they are cute as buttons. Fortunately, you can't smell them from the pictures!

I hope to post more pictures soon once they are bathed and fresh!

Do they have blue eyes? The last pic looks like it.
Do you sheer them like sheep?

They have such luvly curly locks don't, they. Names: 'Sweater' for Mama. Babies: "Mitten", "Scarf", and "Muff" or "Muffie". You are so wonderful to take them in Claire.

Good going they have come to the right home.

Oh too funny! Soft sweater, fluffy mitten, wooly scarf, and ? Muffie!
Awwww! Their little faces just suck ya' in!

They don't have blue eyes - it's just the goaty equivalent of human "red eye" from the flash on the camera!

Yes, you can shear them twice a year when they are well fed and producing good fleece. Their fiber can be worked in with our Icelandic sheep fiber and/or our llama fiber to produce wool blends. Angora goat fleece is incredibly soft.

I love the names - Sweater, Mitten & Scarf are perfect. We have another goat named Muffin. I think Muffie and Muffin is too confusing. I need another wooly item name!

socks?

The only thing I can think of is Vest. LOL The old brain cells are not working.

'Slipper'. Claire will you have their wool woven up? I'm imagining the warm snuggly blankies sigh.

Hmmm...too many now! I'm thinking maybe Sweater for (maybe) Mom, and then names ending with "s" for the girls, so slippers, mittens and socks. I'll see what Kelly thinks!

I have used angora mixed yarn before. It is very different to use. The natural colors are great.
I always wanted to learn to spin. I even looked at some of the equipment to do it.
It is expensive to buy for sure. per ounce price is crazy! But I like its look.

I love it! I hope Kelly likes them too.

One of my many plans is to learn to process, card and spin the wool. Plus we want to do our own shearing. Time, time, time, it is the enemy! (not to mention school).

Yes, one thing at a time. We would have to quit "life" to get everything done we want to.
It would be neat. I love to crochet and knit. It would be great to do everything from animal to final product. Someday though! Someday!

So glad you saved them Claire and i agree with Sewin they look like sheep. I love the curly hair reminds me of mine when i just let it be natural.

What about shirley temple she had curly hair or maybe whoopie for whoopie goldberg i love her hair.

They look (theoretically) beautiful. Just get them back to themselves and don't they have sweet faces. Fuzzy, Wuzzy, Shirley, and Agatha.

Not to be confused with "scuzzy" which is their current condition!

No, he's a long lost second cousin whom nobody keeps in touch with!

Love 'em good, Claire!!

I'm going to have Kelly take photos of the bathing procedures. I figure I'll have to be in the tub with them. I'll have to find a scuzzy pair of shorts and an old t-shirt for this adventure. The water is going to be horrible. I'm sure it'll be great for my septic though!

Are you going to wash them inside? How about reusing the water on your plants?

How 'bout Cumulus, Cirrus, and Stratus... all clouds! And Frost.

Of course, were it me I'd probably name one Fuzzbutt... the ornriest one. LOL

I'd guess they're angora 'cause they're all white... seems like a pygmy would throw some color in there. But I'm not up on all that

Cute goats Cmoxon I love goats! and Its really nice that you got ones from the ASPCA because really not a lot of people think to go there for farm animals. They do look like sheep because they are so wooly and fluffy. I've wanted a goat and the past summer I asked my dad but:[ he like when I asked him about getting ducks he said noo! :[ but my grandpas girlfriend that gave us most of our chickens has 2 goats billy and ginger and they are really fun to play with. She put this paste on there horns when they were babys so there horns wouldnt grow and when billy plays he pushes on you with his head and then he will jump up and come toward you but he stops before he can hurt you. ginger chases you and jumps on her food bucket. billy bit my stomsche once. it hurt
Dominique

Jayryunen - what great names! I never thought of the cloud forms. Oh, now I am stuck! I might even call one "Nimbus" (because cumulonimbus is too long).

Dominique - I can't believe you got bit in the stomach by a goat! Oh my gosh! That would be awful! I have a ram (sheep) that tries to butt me with his horns and I have to be careful. The goats are all really gentle though. One of them likes to sit in my lap. I hope the new angora goats will be like that too. Right now they are really timid but they came from an abusive situation so it's expected. I guess a lot of animal shelters don't have space for farm animals but the one here has a nice horse barn and they take any kind of farm animals, but the most frequent ones are roosters!

Wren, yes, I have to wash them inside. If I washed them outside, they would freeze afterwards. It was a balmy high of 23 today. And windy too! I have clearly not sufficiently conveyed the smell of these goats to you! If I used that water on my plants, I could never have people over to my house again. It is horrible. Kelly must have touched one of them with his leather watch strap last night. We have used soap, hand cleaner, nail polish remover, facial toner, vodka, and lemon oil to try to remove the smell from his watch strap. Nothing works. He could not wear it today. Even just being on his wrist, we could smell it at breakfast, and finally we figured out where it was coming from. Our bathroom with a tub is in the lower level of our hose so it has no window and we can't pump it outside. So in theory, a good idea, but in practice, not so easy. If it was summer, we'd do it outside and use the water on the plants. But we can't wait for April to wash these little gals!

I want to see picture of that operation. Done goats shake like dogs when they are wet?

I once washed one of my tervs. in the bath tub-there was water every where.LOL

I had a big black an blue mark
on my stomache for 2 weeks but
I was at summer camp so I didnt
say anything. The goat that bit me
(billy) I can ride on him but he doesnt
like it and he runs really fast. Also when
you ride him there is nothing to hold
on to and once I almost fell off and the
day before it rained so if I did happen
to fall off it wouldn't have been pretty.
ha ha ha!
Dominique

Wren - I am sure I am about to find out if goats shake like dogs! There will be a lot of towels available!

Dominique - I have never tried to ride on one of my goats. They probably wouldn't like it either! And I would end up on a pile of llama poo...

you have llamas! wow you have everything:]
The thing about riding a goat is it ends to fast to enjoy it:]
companys over got to go bye!:]
definetely be on later
Dominique

We just started with our hobby farm this year. We now have 3 llamas, 3 Icelandic sheep, 1 Suffolk-Dorset-Rambouillet cross sheep, 21 goats and about 100 chickens. :-) No cows or horses though.

oh wow im suprised I sort of
do but sort of don't want a
horse I do because I love to ride
but I dont because they cost a
lot and they are a lot of hard work.
Also about riding a goat you
have to weigh less then like 70 pounds.
But I dont put all my weight on my feet
touch the ground at all times. Billy and
ginger are nubian goats and they are
pretty big. I love their big floppy ears.
Dominique

Love the "dreads" LOL (dreadlocks)
You are a gem Claire.

Do you still have pasture for more Claire? I've been wondering. With 2yrs drought here the traditional calculations have been totally insufficient...

Slacks, Garment, Fiber, Bolero, Tunic, Sleeve (like this one), Jumper, Mohair, Locks, Spun, Knit, Crochet, Yarn.....

I just couldn't stop.

What cuties!

Oh, Nimbus, that's a nice one. And depending on the day it could easily become numbutt. Like the day you wash this suckers in the house...

Pity you can't take 'em down to the car wash. =)

Can you maybe shorten the dreads?Before washing, maybe that would get rid of some of the stench.

I'd be worried about clogging my septic system...

Pasture has been a considerable problem here with our drought too. The government opened up free pasture on Crown lands to help alleviate the problem but I don't know how that is doable if you have to transport your livestock and house yourself away from your farm/ranch? Fortunately they're predicting that we will FINALLY have normal precipitation levels this winter. YIPPEE!!!!