Angel

Angel is a rescue goat who came to me through emails from a friend of a friend of a friend. She had been bred repeatedly and spent her time tied out like a dog. Her feet were severely neglected, and she was thin. The rescue got her feet back in shape and her weight up and then looked to rehome her and this is where she wound up. She came with her 2-year-old daughter, Junie B. The two of them were not friendly or even interested in being near me unless I had treats, but they settled in and seemed happy with each other’s company. I just resigned myself to being able to give them a pet when they came in for food. They hung out with the horses for a couple years before I acquired my first bottle baby, Sabrina. Shortly after Sabrina arrived, Lincoln joined the herd and the two bottle kids lived in the house until they were big enough to go out to the pasture. Angel and Junie B did not want anything to do with them! I had to confine the kids to a separate area with electric netting to protect them from grouchy Angel.

One day, when the goats were sunning themselves, one of the horses got a long blackberry vine tangled in her tail and went tearing across the field and stepped on Junie B, breaking her leg. Sadly, we had to put her down. After that, Angel decided that two rotten bottle babies were better than being lonely, and she started being a bit kinder to Sabrina and Lincoln. As Lincoln grew up, Angel began favoring him to hang out with, but she only really tolerates Sabrina. Angel considers herself “queen of the herd”. She boots everybody else off their feed pans, so she gets a little shed all to herself for dinnertime. She follows the herd out to graze but often, I find her off by herself. She’s still independent and doesn’t want to be loved on so we just let her do her thing!

Angel appears to be a Cashmere breed, possibly crossed with Nigerian Dwarf. Every winter, she grows in a lovely thick fleece that keeps her toasty warm. In the spring, I have to shave it off because she doesn’t really shed like other goats. As beautiful as it is, the downside is, it collects tons of debris, hay, fir needles, and leaves! Her white coat stands out a mile when she’s in the back field. She’s our pretty Angel!