Meet the Goats

Sophie was our original Queen Bee here at Twisted Roots Farm.  She would boss anyone around at any hour of the day.  However, since we brought her daughter Roxie to the farm, Sophie’s prestige has dropped down a notch, but that doesn’t mean that she still won’t boss around other goats whenever the chance arises.  Also, since her first kidding (aka giving birth) here at the farm three years ago, she now also sounds like Chewbacca (Star Wars reference – he’s a wookie for those of you not in the know) during feeding time when she wants to keep other goats out of her hay stash.  Sophie loves attention and can often be found pushing up against her favourite humans for some extra lovin’.  She also likes to take up the rear on our goat walks, so she’s a great companion for those quieter souls who also want to take it easy.  Sophie makes the cutest mini-me’s and for the past three years of kidding (giving birth in goat speak), has created three minions that are just adorable!

Sadie is one of our original gals as she and her sister Sophie were the first goats to come to our farm in 2018.  At first, Sadie wasn’t too interested in being hand-milked and as we had no idea what we were doing and hadn’t yet built a milking stand, which would have made life so much easier for all of us, we could often be seen with Will holding her collar as she tried to get away from us and me following after holding the milking bucket in one hand and trying to squeeze a little milk out at any chance I got!  We were ridiculous.  Eventually, we got it all figured out though and Sadie did eventually forgive us for being so ridiculous.  Sadie can be quite pushy with the other goats and doesn’t put up with much.  Yet with humans, she’s a big suck.  As she’s not currently in milk, she will often be found with her face sticking through the wall of the milking stand waiting for a little treat of grain, which she often gets 😉 

Oh Moe.  This beauty also joined the farm with Roxie in 2020 and is just the sweetest doll.  She loves cuddles, hugs, rubs, and is basically a four-legged therapy master.  She is gentle and sweet and has the most incredible set of ears that just sit perked up on her head.  She also has really gorgeous long locks along her spine that make you want to braid them.  And her goatee is phenomenal!  Who says a lady can’t rock some facial hair?!  Whenever we are with the goats, Moe will make her way straight for us and just nuzzle up beside us.  She does not take kindly to others who also are also seeking attention and she will let them know.  She is also one of our louder goats and can often be seen yelling at us from the goat shed.  Typically looking for feed or just as a general attention-seeking maneuver.  Moe will teach you how to take deep breaths, how to be in the moment, and that you are deserving of love. 

Roxie came to us in 2020 from the same farm as Sophie and Sadie and is actually one of Sophie’s daughters from a few years ago. Roxie and Moana came here together, but  Roxie quickly worked her way up the corporate ladder and is now known as the boss of the goat shed.  She will head butt any other goat at any hour of any day…except, for some reason, her auntie Sadie, with whom she has an absolute fear of.  She is also one tank of a goat, which makes her head butting all the more impactful.  But if anything is amiss on the farm or something seems fishy out on a goat walk, Roxie is the one who will notice.  She is always on guard and we are fairly certain that she sleeps with one eye open. Even though she is a bit of a brute, she still loves her scratches and has been seen to be very patient with the new little goat kids who aren’t her own.

Rosie came to our farm in 2018 on her own and pregnant as we didn’t know at the time that it would have been easier for her if we had introduced her and at least one more goat at a time to the current herd to reduce bullying.  But Rosie is a trooper and found her own niche within the group and can often be seen trying to work her way up the hierarchy (aka head butting other goats) as arriving solo meant she was not top dog.  Rosie is extremely affectionate and will often be found giving face and neck rubs, either to us humans or her favourite gal pal Moana.  She is also an incredible mother and enjoys cuddling up to her kids.  But if you aren’t her kid and you try to latch on to a teat, she’ll let you know she’s not impressed! That being said, she is very friendly with kids who aren’t her own and will even allow them to use her as a jungle gym. She’s a real sweetheart.

Annabelle was born here at the farm in 2019 and is Sophie’s daughter.  Although she started out a little timid, since kidding (birthing) here at the farm twice now, she has greatly softened and is a lovely doe.  She’s also one heck of a momma and if she has kids, she can be heard out on our walks just yakkin’ away at them constantly.  She’s extremely attentive and loving towards her kids.  Annabelle also enjoys back scratches and grain and since being hand milked and receiving grain, she’s fairly obsessed with it.  Goats don’t usually have an off-switch with the consumption of grain, so if anyone was going to go overboard with free-access to grain, it would be Annabelle.  But since her feed is rationed, she’ll be okay.  But come milking time, you can guarantee that she’ll be standing by the milk stand door the whole time, just vying to get in!  

Lucy, aka Lulu, has had a bit of a hard go in her life.  She was born here at the farm in 2019 and is Annabelle’s twin sister and Sophie’s daughter.  Lulu was always a little smaller than her sister Annabelle and in the winter of 2021 she ended up with hypothermia.  We quickly brought her inside to warm her up and began the long process of getting her all healed up and to a nice healthy weight.  She had to live in our house for a few months but she loved it!  She got all the attention and apple snacks she wanted.  She also got to help open the farm stand each day, wearing her goat coat to keep her warm and feeling quite regal and important.  Lulu is now doing just fine and after a slightly difficult transition of reintroducing her back into the herd once she was healthy, they can be funny that way if a goat hasn’t been around for awhile and is then reintroduced, she’s now been welcomed back and is loving life.

Aerowyn was born here at the farm in 2021 with her sister Annie.  Moana is their mom, but since Moe had never raised her kids at the farm she came from (they were taken away at birth to be bottle fed) she didn’t quite know what she was doing.  We tried to teach her, yet she became so obsessed with licking their tails and basically biting at them, we decided to pull Aerowyn and Annie and bottle feed them.  Goat moms will usually lick their kids’ tails to keep them clean and help promote them to drink when they are nursing, but Moe just took it to an extreme level.  So we took over her role.  And let me tell you, it’s a lot of work bottle feeding goat kids!  At first, they need to be fed every few hours, all day and all night.  So that was quite the job, yet it was also very sweet sitting with a little soft kid on your lap, feeding them.  Aerowyn came to see us as mom and dad, so she is extremely friendly.  She also has a very unique look, almost like that of a deer.

Annie was born here at the farm in 2021 with her sister Aerowyn.  Their mom is Moana and as we mentioned in Aerowyn’s profile, we had to take Annie and Aerowyn away from Moe as she was getting a little rough with licking their tails after they were born.  After being raised as a bottle baby, Annie still thinks that we produce milk out of our hands (from holding the bottle) and can often be seen trying to nibble at our hands.  This can be a little challenging if we’re trying to do something in the goat shed, like fix a door or give another goat some loving, as she’s right up in our faces.  She is also a little bit of a trouble maker.  If she can bust out of an area or get into something, she will.  She also looks just like her mom Moe with the same colouring, long hair along her spine, and cool shaped ears…so we’ll see if she can grow the same epic goatee as her mom.