about the upcoming kidding season is getting to pick out names. We’ve gotten so
many comments about the names that we chose for our boys and girls. So, here
are a few hints about how we do it.
It all started nearly 25 years ago with two Angora does.
named My Obsession. Angora goats were an obsession for me so
the name certainly fit! However, she had the funniest little patch of fuzz
between her horns, so she instantly got the nickname, Fuzzy. The second doe, a
yearling, needed a good ethereal name. So, off to the children’s fairy tales I
went.What a great bunch of names I
found that had to do with spinning, weaving, princesses, queens and so on. I
wrote them all down and checked back on that list for many years. There was
Arabella (means to be prayerful and I was very thankful to have her), Elspeth
(was a witch, and believe me when I tell you that little Elspeth, always in
trouble, was a little witch!!), Ezmarelda (remember her from the Hunchback of
Notre Dame?), Arachne (spider spinning webs?) and, there were so many more that
I could and did use!
Then came the Boer goats and one of my favorite girls
named Nan-C. What fun we had coming up with boy and girl names with the hyphen.
A
boy named Bold-R (his dad was Rocky after all!)
And, of course there were all the night time births;
Night-train, Starlight, Sandman, the names were endless!
One year, the last kid of the season, a gorgeous little, red
Boer buckling was named Caboose!
A beautiful young doe we had purchased in Illinois came with
the worst name ever, Bald Face Girl. We think she got this awful moniker
because of her all white face. This was going to be a tough one! We nicknamed
her Baldie Girl, but what would we ever name her kids? Well, the day came and
she delivered the most perfect little doeling. My husband, Ken, took one look
at this darling and said “she’s as cute as a button!” The name stuck and she
became Button. Button went on to have a set of twins named Zipper and Snap, and
there was Shoelace (Lacey was her nickname), the names were endless at that
point.
Beautiful Baldie Girl had a set of twins the following
year, Twinkle (girl) and Shine (boy). Twinkle was such a fun name! There was
Sparkle, Glitter, Shimmer, and on and on it went.
Then of course, there were our milking girls. Our big
beautiful Dusk, yielded Luna, Starshine, Dawn, Twilite, Midnight, and Dusk’s
brother,
Darkness.
Xable (pronounced Zable) was tough until I went and
looked online at names starting with X & Z! We had Xelda, Xerses, Xena, Xowie, and Xoey.
Carina produced Carlotta, Chloe, Cora, Clara, and more
names that started with “C” than I care to think about! Oh, and then there was
our pretty Nubian doe named Caribbean. What else could we name her little girl
offspring but Bahama Mama.
So, with all of this being said, have fun with the names!
Don’t over think it, enjoy!
Some really good news: There is a good possibility that
Goat School® will be traveling to Minnesota in June of 2013! We are hoping to
put together some other Goat Schools® along the way, and perhaps as far away as
British Columbia, Canada! We are calling this endeavor the “Great North
American Goat School Tour”. Watch our website www.goatschool.com for updates.
If you are interested in hosting a Goat School®, clickhere for details!
More information on Minnesota will be available after the
holidays.
And, of course you can come to Maine for our Goat School®here!
Don’t forget, our Goat School® Books are available and
make great Christmas gifts!
If I don’t get another blog done before Christmas, may
all of you have a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!