A Goat Tale – Little Buddy the lucky fainting goat!

I’ve been called a lot of things but I never for once in my life thought I would be called a “goat lady” or a “goat whisperer” but in the last 7 days I’ve been called that pretty frequently!   I even googled the words “what does goat poop look like?” (and I even took picture of his actual poop – jeez!), “what does a goat eat?”, and “how do I know if I have a fainting goat?” — so it’s official I am a goat lady!

Last Monday morning (the morning after Easter Sunday 2017) as I was just waking up and making my way down the hallway to a pretty typical Monday morning, my husband said “honey come downstairs please” (in a little bit of a suspicious tone) and I said, “like right this second, I just woke up?!” and he said “yes right now please!”  So a little worried I tiptoed down the stairs to the office, and he pointed out the sliding glass door to this furry animal, and I said “what is that!?  He said, I think it’s a goat!  So I stared for a while, thinking how in the world is there a goat on our back porch!  I peaked out the other side of the curtain so I could see his face and he stood up, turned around, and laid down the other way (like please lady you’re annoying me).  Rubbing my eyes to be sure I was awake, I turned and  without saying anything I ran back upstairs to the kitchen. Greg didn’t say anything but got on the phone for his next conference call, when just a few minutes later I came back downstairs with two bowls (one with Almond Milk and one with Plantain Chips) as I didn’t exactly have goat food and honestly didn’t even know what they like to eat. When Greg saw me coming back down the stairs with the two bowls he said “oh my gosh, are you kidding me?” to whoever he was talking to!  🙂 I was on a mission to feed my newfound goat friend!

So, I proceeded to open the sliding glass door and put the two bowls on the porch for him, but he ran off.  So I told Greg I am going back upstairs to start my morning over, and to text or call me if he comes back. Sure enough about 10 minutes later Greg hollered for me to come down, and there he was munching down on the plantain chips and drinking the heck out of some Almond Milk.  That’s when I took the first video that we have titled  the Goat Whisperer (I will post it soon – technical difficulties aka it’s too large). 🙂  Turns out he loved the Plantain chips (I mean licked the bowl for several minutes after it was empty) and pretty well liked Almond Milk also.  Who knew!

Turns out we were parents of a goat long before we even knew we were goat people! The Terminix man came to spray the week prior to our discovery, and he saw the goat.  He asked my husband when we got a goat?!  A bit confused Greg said “we don’t have a goat”, and the Terminix guy said “well there was one laying on your back porch a little bit ago but ran off when he saw me”.  Now you would think Greg would say honey did we get a goat, but he didn’t even mention it, in fact he never told me the story until the Monday morning that we discovered the goat.

So for the next several days all I could think of was this goat! I came down stairs every morning, and sure enough there he was.   I would feed him Plantain chips and Almond Milk, and same routine ensued every day!  I couldn’t decide what to name him but every time I went to check on him I kept calling him “Little Buddy” so that’s his name!   Little Buddy already had a pretty good house under our massive screen porch so I got him some Hay and a bucket of water (yes I went to Lowe’s and put a bail of Hay in my trunk and there was Hay everywhere).  He also has a little shed at the bottom of our property which used to be a little lake outhouse so when I am talking to him too much he runs down the property to the outhouse (now known as the goat house)!

Side note: you are probably wondering how I know it’s a he?  Let’s just say he has something that starts with a “b” hanging from his belly side.  I said Greg it has “b….” hanging, does that mean he is a boy and he said yes that is what that means! 🙂

So over the course of week one I was so puzzled how in the world a Goat wondered upon our property.  That doesn’t just happen and in fact over the course of the 20 years we have lived in that house we have seen Turkeys, Deer, lots of snakes, Rabbits, Fox, Coyotes, and every kind of bird you could imagine but a Goat, never!

So I continued to think things over and wondered what in the world is this trying to tell me so I googled the words “What is a goat symbolic of?”…here’s what I found…

• Goats invoke a sense of Independence (well ok we have that in common Little Buddy) however what was interesting as I read further research, while goats are not anti-social they often times are ok going down a solitary path as opposed to staying with the herd which could lead to great discovery!
• Goats encourage independent adventures and exploring!
• Goats love great heights (I actually did know this) and it symbolizes ambition. They love to climb and this speaks of achievement and success (Buddy is becoming a pretty cool goat!)
• Goats will face big challenges with confidence and excitement (still with you Little Buddy!)
• Goat are very intelligent, and have a high sense of curiosity! (Buddy and I are getting along just fine)

In summary goats symbolize courage, curiosity, balance and exploration!  As I face the next 45 years of my life, Little Buddy has brought me a simple but powerful understanding of where I’ve been, and where I’m going and for that I am grateful that Little Buddy chose us for his next exploration!

From Little Buddy to all of you, enjoy your journey, be curious, and be confident in your exploration! 🙂

Few additional tips if a goat stumbles across your path:

• There is such thing as a fainting goat and I’ve seen him faint several times.   The first time I about fainted! But here’s what actually happens to a fainting goat — fainting goats have a muscle condition called myotonia congenita and when they are startled essentially there legs are temporarily inoperable so they fall over. They do not actually lose consciousness rather they just fall over for about 8-10 seconds and then as soon as they are back on their feet, they are off and running!
• A goat has an incredible sense of hearing!  Little Buddy can hear my coming down the stairs (even when I am tiptoeing) and turns to peak in the sliding glass door with perked up ears).
• The below is what their poop looks like (as noted earlier I took this picture).  I was trying to determine if he had been up on our big deck which is right outside our master bedroom. Sure enough he had and it’s one of his favorite night spots because it’s safe!

• Goats like to eat Hay and Grain and while rumor has it that they will eat anything we do not yet have any evidence that he has eaten anything we don’t want him to.
• Get this – the fainting goat was discovered in Tennessee (my home state) in 1880!
• Male goats do not make milk only female!

I will keep you all posted on adventures with Little Buddy the fainting goat!  🙂