Free goats-- the goat saleslady strikes again

We have a friend who raises Arapawa goats.  The goats were isolated on the Arapawa islands in New Zealand and evidently there are only 300-400 of these goats that are registered in our great country.  This friend who owns these goats is the one that let us have her 2+ year old hens because I couldn't wait 4 months to have fresh eggs.  Well, when we came to pick up the hens her Arapawa had just given birth to quads.  She talked us into taking 3 of the offspring but we couldn't take them until the barn got fixed up.  That was last October. 

We finally got around to getting the barn fixed up enough to keep the goats from escaping.  So today we went to pick up the goats.  We helped Lee put some of the goat ladies in pens with the males and then Lee says--- Hey, do you want 2 more FREE goats?  I smiled, knowing full well that Mike would eventually say yes and that Lee just had to wear him down a few minutes.  She even left us alone in the barn with them like a good saleswoman to let us talk it out.  We now understand the cost of feed and how much work animals can be-- so this was a big decision.  Do we take 2 more goats?  She is one clever lady.  So we figured oh, sure, what's 2 more goats.

The problem is that we didn't plan on 5 goats and how to get them home?  Make 2 trips?  Oh no, the 5 goats went into the back of the minivan and Mike sat on the floor with them as I drove home very carefully.  The camera battery died after a few camera shots so I didn't get one with Mike in back with the goats but it was pretty darn funny.  

Goats are funny and spunky--- I'm not sure I knew what to expect but now we have goats.  This summer we'll find an area of forest that needs thinning and let the goats do their thing....

btw...the goats were fabulous in the back of the van.  They sat down and hung out for the ride.

Pictures and names of goats in future blog....