Our namesake goat, Alabu ( Allie) is getting older. This past May she just turned 12. Nubian goats, (her breed) have a usual life span of 10 to 14 years, so she is definitely getting up there. We notice she doesn’t shed out to a sleek smooth coat in the spring like she used to and it takes a little extra to keep her at a good weight.
She doesn’t like goat feed that you can buy at the farm store, but she will eat some black sunflower seeds and she devours drench. Dench is liquid vitamins for goats. You usually give them after they give birth but I have started giving her a little every day. She also gets supplemented with stuff from the kitchen and the garden. I recently found out she loves strawberries. I have 150 plants and lots that aren’t really worth eating because they are super tiny , deformed or bug eaten. I had been saving them for the chickens but now they go to Allie.
Here is an interesting thing about old goats, they don’t know they are old. They really don’t slow down. I still look out the window and see she is up on her hind legs butting heads with Midnight. She runs up the hill to me when I call her and still acts like a kid ( pun untended )! She is very bonded to our pony Caddy, but very jealous of her people spending time with him instead of her. Whatever care Caddy is getting she tries to get in the middle and get it for herself.
The other day our grand daughter Miss Number Two was watching me do my morning barn chores. I put fly spray on Allie, just because Caddy had it and she wanted it too. Miss Number Two said, ” Grammy you sure do take good care of your animals!” Well I’m glad she thinks so and I hope she learns to treat everyone that way.