As I mentioned yesterday the male person went on a hike.
He went on the State Line Trail which is not too far from the Farm.
I guess you can figure out that the trail is the line between Montana and Idaho.
He hiked to about 6,000ft!
Isn't that some view?
In lots of places there was still snow on the ground.
IN JULY!
LOTS of snow.
Pretty wild, huh?
While up there he could look down into the very beautiful Heart Lake.
He has hiked into Heart Lake before and caught trout.
I am not interested in trout.
He also looked down into Diamond Lake.
The publicist has managed to hike her lazy butt there.
The most exciting part of his hike though was when he met my cousins!
MOUNTAIN GOATS!
He saw nannies and kids!
Aren't the kids cute?
They got pretty close to him.
He said they did not seem scared.
Maybe because he smelled like ME!
He even saw a buck goat.
That was the photo I showed you yesterday.
Here he is a little closer up.
They are all shedding their winter coat to get ready for the warmer weather.
It was very exciting for him to see so many of them.
He said there were about 9 all together.
I wish I had been there!
Tomorrow instead of Farm Cat Friday I will have the winner of the random drawing for my new piggie soap and the top five choices for the name so you can vote in the poll!
It's time for Goatucation and today I am going to further goatucate you on the subject of my wild cousin, the mountain goat. I personally have never met one of my mountain goat cousins but the publicist and the male person did run into some when they visited Glacier National Park here in Montana. It's a very beautiful place - or so they said. This is one of their favorite scenes from the park. It's St. Mary's Lake....
But I digress.
The mountain goat is also called the Rocky Mountain Goat and it is only found in North America. Both nannies and billied grow horns just like us Nigerian Dwarf goats. Mountain goats grow a nice thick fur to help keep them warm in the winter; they can withstand temperatures to -50° F and winds up to 100 MPH. Brrrrr!
Billy goats weigh from 100 - 300 pounds with the nanny goats being around 25% less. They are about 3 feet tall at the shoulders. If I weren't so in love with my studmuffin I might just find a goat like this veeeerrrrryyyy attractive.
Mountain goats are found in the Rocky and Cascade Mountain ranges in Northern Washington, Idaho and Montana through British Columbia and Alberta and the Chugach Mountains in Alaska. Some of my white, furry cousins have been transplanted into Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and other places.
Hmmmm, I would like to see other places. I wonder how I can arrange something like that.
As you can see the mountain goat looks very different from a Nigerian Dwarf goat but they are still cute.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about my wild cousins. The publicist took these photos when she visited Glacier. She says it's beautiful and if you are ever in Montana you should visit.
I think she should take me there for a visit so I could meet my cousins! Wouldn't that be fun?
I thought you all would like to learn about the four different kind of goats. Yes, believe it or not there are other types of goats other than dairy goats like me. Of course I think that dairy goats are best but I suppose I am just a little bit prejudiced.
Therefore, the first kind of goat is the dairy goat and you already know quite a bit about me! And, well Abby. And Mallory. We are nice goats that give milk. And like to bask in the sun.
The second kind of goat is a fiber goat. These breeds are bred for their wool. They are Angora, Cashmere, Nigora and Pygora.
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That cute goat is an angora goat. Not as cute as me of course! These goats' hair can be spun into wool for knitting and crocheting.
Then there are our wild cousins, the Mountain Goats. The publicist and male person saw lots of Mountain Goats when they went to Glacier National Park.
The publicist really likes Mountain Goats! But they are not pets like me and Abby and the rest of the Happy Goats.
And lastly there are meat goats! Oh, the horror! People actually eat us! The goats usually bred for eating are Boer goats.
I hope you liked learning about the other kinds of goats out there. Just don't invite me to a barbeque....
Tomorrow: Mallory Gets Frisky
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