I had Maybelle’s buckling posted for sale since shortly after he was born. The holidays went by without any real interest in him. He was a beautiful boy but looks just like my buck and having too much testosterone on the farm usually translates into trouble. As baby boy grew older he and my buck, Valentino, started driving the girls nuts.
Just as I started to get concerned with what to do with him I received a message from a woman asking if I’d be willing to do a straight trade for a doeling (baby girl) she had posted for sale. Ummm, YES, I was open to this.
The baby girl wasn’t the same breed as mine and she has horns where my herd doesn’t. My herd was all Mini Alpines and much larger than this girl, a Nigerian Dwarf, so I thought maybe the horns would be a good thing for her.
I asked for a picture and as soon as I saw her little face I knew it was meant to be!
I agreed to the trade and the woman seemed as eager to pick up her new baby as I was to have mine.
The swap happened the next day. When she opened her back door I couldn’t believe the baby was actually cuter in person than in the photos! She was the prettiest buttery color (I love butter), crystal blue eyes and her little white ears were flecked with yellow spots. Adorable!
It was all I could do to not snatch her out of the crate fearing the lady would change her mind. I played it as cool as I could until I finally held this chunky baby. Her fur was fluffy and soft. It was obvious she was stressed and not used to being handled. This would take some work but I was up to the task.
The lady loved her blue eyed buckling equally as much as I loved her doeling. We happily parted ways with our new loves.
It only took one day to discover this little spitfire was naughty, naughty, naughty! She jumped seven feet over my highest fence when I was trying to keep her safe and separated from my herd. I put her in the barn to keep her out of trouble only for her to ransack the place leaving little baby poop, broken eggs and knocked down items all over the place. At one point she jumped into a small window and screamed at me (she does this a lot when not getting her way). Sigh. My new baby girl was a hellion.
I agonized over names for several days: Clementine, Millicent and Meriwether were a few of the names I fantasized about and tried with her but none of them felt right. One night I was watching Legally Blonde with a friend when we both realized “Ellie” would be a perfect name for such a naughty blonde girl. Then Ellie May Clampet from the Beverly Hillbillies came to mind as an adorable country girl and solidified the name “Ellie”.
Now that I’ve had her a couple weeks she’s calmed down more each day. She’s much more willing to be loved on and follows me around like a puppy. She escapes a lot but always announces it loudly, sending my little farm into an uproar. I’m starting to think she’s training me. She’s still super naughty but I’ve learned to deal with it, sort of.
Her little horns are taking some getting used to. She’s nailed me in the face several times already, but not on purpose. She still has the spastic moves of a baby. She gave me my first black eye – well, it was mostly a bluish, light purple and fortunately not a bad one. She must sharpen her horns at night because I swear they get pointier each day.
This past weekend I had a photo shoot and, true to form, she knocked down all the flowers and tried to pull the tablecloth off the picnic table. Then when I tried to get a photo with only Gemma…who decided to jump on the table and nibble the flowers? Yep, Ellie. The photographer was great and worked with the opportunity.
Ellie is by far the naughtiest baby I’ve yet to experience on the farm but she’s slowly settling in. The other girls are considering letting her stay a safe distance from them and her little sharp horns have come in handy.
With each escape Ellie makes the girls panic. I’m not sure if they are tattling or if they’re starting to take a liking to their bratty little sister. I’ve caught both Gemma Jane and Lola Jane playing with her. Maybelle tolerates her for about three minutes before chasing her off. This is progress for Maybelle and luckily Ellie is much faster. Maybelle is slow but has no problem pummeling another animal into the ground if she catches them. So far she’s just letting Ellie Bellie know who’s queen around here.
Next month I’m giving a talk at our local library and they’ve asked if I can bring a goat. Ellie will be making her debut then. Hopefully she will make a good therapy goat because she’s already capturing the hearts of visiting families.
xo