[Jacob-list] Pygmies & Jacobs

[Susan J Martin]

I don't keep my pygmy goats and sheep together.....I tried it early on but my pygmy female has a bit of a Napoleon complex - she was constantly antagonizing the sheep and asking for a fight - and I was afraid that one day my ewes would decide to throw pacifism out the window and let her have it!!!  Our ram is in a meadow next to our pygmies (Daisy Mae, and her two wethered sons, Rudy & Zevi)..........and our Jacob ram loves Daisy with all his heart (especially when she's in heat, and then obviously it's lust, not love!!).  The two of them "Eskimo" kiss through the fence and Daisy is quite a little trollop when she's in heat -- let's just say that she certainly tries to make herself available -- and if the ram could figure out how to make it all work with the woven wire fence he would give it his best!!  However, even when she's not in heat, the two of them are best friends......much to the chagrin of Daisy's sons.  In fact, Rudy, has developed the strange habit of reaching through the fence and eating the fleece off of the ram's neck........and ram doesn't seem to mind!!  One winter I was so perplexed as to why my ram had a bald neck........no lice, no rash, etc...........and then one day I saw Rudy helping himself to seconds and thirds of fleece..........does anybody have an explanation for that?  BTW, pygmies are wonderful little fellows, very smart, very amiable, very cute and naughty, and if you have folks begging to buy a cute little ram for a pet, encourage them to explore the world of pygmy goats.  Also, another interesting behavior we observed with our pygmies -- at one time we had a pygmy buck named Abner -- very nice fellow and also very smelly and sexual.  (Wethered males do not smell bad, nor do they engage in the sexual behavior).  When Daisy would go into labor and obviously be in pain, Abner would stand beside her and lay his head on her neck -- it was very endearing and touching and we observed this behavior several times.  

Sue Martin

Stonecroft Manor
"The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep...They all shout and sing for joy!"     
Psa. 65:13
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20060629/8342c89e/attachment-0001.html