Fern & Juniper were born sometime around 3pm on Saturday, March 9, 2024.

They are pure Angora goats, which means their “fur” is called mohair, and can be shorn to create fiber products, similar to a sheep. These types of goats are often mistaken for being sheep.

The twins were found by a clinician and her family who had come to visit the goats prior to the farm’s afternoon feeding.  When they arrived, they found a newly born goat being cleaned by its mom, and another newborn goat lying still in a puddle. The clinician and her family immediately notified other staff members at the farm, and quickly took the baby who was not thriving into the farmhouse.

This writer then arrived on the scene to find a wet and non-responsive goat in a food dish next to the kitchen stove where she was being kept warm with a small heater, while the clinician and her family stood by to offer support. It was believed at the time that this goat was a boy, who would not make it, so I and the children watching “Cowboy Pete”, told him it was time to get up and get going. I grabbed a towel and vigorously rubbed CP’s body all over to stimulate blood flow and to mimic the vigorous rubbing that the goat’s mom would have done if she had attended to the baby and licked it clean and dry.

The baby did not enjoy the vigorous rubbing and started bleating at us to leave it be—a good sign! The clinician’s friend also used her hands to give CP healing energy while this writer felt inside the goat’s mouth to determine whether her body temperature was still low. At this point, the goat’s mohair started to dry and you could see that its body was covered in little brown curls, with a small white-looking toupee on the crown of its head.

The Farm Manager then came into the house with the other baby goat, as its mom had stopped cleaning it, and it needed to be fed. The Farm Manager let us know that both baby goats were girls. Given that the goat we had been working on in the house was warming up and becoming more vocal, but could not stand on her own feet, we nicknamed her “Splay” and her sister who had spent time with mom and been cleaned, “Sturdy”, until better names could be thought-up.

Over the course of five hours, both girls were able to drink colostrum from bottles, stand on their hooves, wear matching sweaters, and snuggle together for a nap next to the stove. And the following day, after staying overnight with the Farm Manager and watching a Swedish drama series, they were named “Fern” and “Juniper”.

Stay tuned as we navigate the bonding process with their Mom, so that they can continue to be a family with a non-traditional start.