1980 The Goats

We (Jim and I) started with 2 goats, Annie Goatley and Vincent van Goat.  We got them at the McGregor Ranch in Scotland, Texas.

Like Vincent van Goat

Annie was fairly docile, though she wasn't what I would call tame.  She was solid black.  Vincent was an obnoxious chocolate brown billy goat with white stripes on his head.  He had a voice that could cut glass.  He was extremely wild.  His favorite thing was to wait until you weren't looking, then sneak up behind you and butt you in the back of the knees, watching you fall.  Other times, you could see him take aim at you and just come running.  He had yellow devil's eyes.   And oh my goodness he stunk to high heaven.  We loved them, though, and they were great company for my horse, Sugar.

Like Annie Goatley

Eventually, as such things happen, Cookie had kids.  She had three, which apparently is the norm for Pygmy goats.  They were all what's known as gray agouti.   One was a boy and two were girls.  They were adorable.  We named one of the girls Cookie and the other Wings, because she had a white patch on either side that looked like wings.

The Vernon Daily Records wrote an article about them, as a matter of fact.

Eventually, we found a home for Annie Goatley and Vincent van Goat where they had more land, and we also gave away the little boy as soon as possible.  That left us with the two little girls.  And Orphan.