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Meet Moses—not a donkey but a Nigerian Dwarf goat.
He’s quite the old man. These goats normally live 12 – 14 years, and Moses will be 15 this spring. Moses has lived his entire life at a farm across the valley from ours. He came to our neighbors when he was four days old, and he was bottle fed by our neighbors’ children. He was neutered and had his horns removed early. Later Moses became a 4H goat, and he went on to become a reining county champion. He was brushed, clipped, he traveled, walked on a lead, hiked with the family, was given treats, and doted on.
His companions the past 14 years have been a horse and another goat. Recently the horse died, and six weeks ago his goat friend was taken by a cougar. Seemed like sad times for Moses.
Then my neighbor heard I was losing one of my donkeys, and she called to see if Moses might come here to live and be a companion for Ziggy. I’ve never had a goat, but I have heard they can be good friends with donkeys, so I said yes.
Moses has been here a week, and he’s captured all the human hearts, but he and Ziggy don’t quite understand each other yet. And our dogs, the three bird dogs—are just a little too interested in Moses. I’d say everyone was in a transition except for Moses.
Within hours he was napping twice a day on a straw bed in Ziggy’s stall, relishing Ziggy’s grass hay, and savoring the trees, donkey toys, earthen mounds, and fresh winter air blowing through Ziggy’s paddock. Meanwhile the dogs and the donkey stand outside the fence transfixed by this strange looking bearded creature who has taken over the barn.
Moses the Cheerful lives on, so stay tuned, and we will see how everyone else fits into his life.
7 replies on “Moses the Cheerful”
Ziggy, your new friend seems ideal. You both need a new friend. Good Luck. We look forward to”the rest of the story”.
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I enjoyed your description of Moses. May he live many more years!
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Thanks Jan! So nice to hear from you!
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Can’t wait to meet Moses!
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Oh, he definitely wants to meet you too Terry!
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Te-he ! When my family first got our goats we had 5 quite large dogs, Setters. One of the goats butted one of the dogs and from then on none of the dogs would go anywhere near the goats.The other 4 dogs didnt see the incident either !
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Sue- I sure wish I could say the same from here. Each day we are doing two walks with the dogs and the goat. Goat on leash. Moses either goes still or he wants to run from the dogs, and our two year old pudelpointer is a handful. He’s very, very intense about Moses. All we can do is keep introducing them and having them spend some of each day around each other. It is a process. I did not realize how challenging it would be. On the other hand– Moses has no hesitation about butting Ziggy!
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