This morning we weighed the goat boys - just curious, I guess. Elliot, always the bigger of the two, weighed in at 46 pounds, while little Emerson was 38 pounds. (To accomplish this I had to weigh myself, then re-weigh myself holding each of them, and do the math.) They are about six months old now, so hopefully close to their mature size.
The issue now is that Elliot has once again (after a few month hiatus) decided he wants to be a "lap goat" - if he sees an unsuspecting person sitting somewhere, he will get a running start and leap up into the lap. This was adorable when he was tiny, funny when he was a bit larger, but downright dangerous now. You could just be sitting there in a chair and suddenly WHOMP! 46 pounds of shank-footed goat lands on top of you. Then he turns around a few times trying to get comfortable while you are gasping for breath. At this point Emerson will notice and become jealous, so he'll try to climb on as well. Emily is brave here, but personally I think it's less risky to just sit on the ground when I'm outside. Then they're usually content to snuggle up next to me.
The day in March we brought them home was chaotic and crazy as we tried to get everything set up and acclimate them to their new surroundings. They were frightened and didn't seem to like us. After about two hours we left them in the garage and went inside, somewhat discouraged, to eat dinner (leftover Chinese takeout). After we ate Emily went back to the garage, planning to sit in a chair in their pen and just talk to them so they would get used to her voice. As soon as she sat down, both goats ran over and jumped into her lap. Guess they had figured out who their new mommy was! It was such a gratifying moment - so it's hard to ever turn down a goat who wants to be held, no matter how big. (I'm just glad we didn't get Boer goats, who can weigh up to 200 pounds!)
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