2008 July 15 | Chickens in the Road

Archive for July 15th, 2008

Jul
15

You guys are great! You came up with so many fabulous combinations of names, my head is spinning in an attempt to decide. What I have here is a one-time situation. I will not again, ever, get a boy and girl, siblings, so this is a singular opportunity to name a pair. Raising dairy goats means you don’t need a whole passle of boys. You need a buck and a wether (neutered male). A buck must be kept in a separate pen from the girls, but goats are social creatures. He’ll need a companion to belly up to the bar with as he drowns his sorrows during the many, many long days and nights between dates with the girls. That’s the job of the wether, the non-threatening companion goat. Our wether will live with the girls for now, but next year when we get our buck pen built and get a buck, he’ll move in there.

Neutered as a baby, our wether will never develop the shaggy mane and beard, or the bulk, of a buck. He’ll look, in fact, much like a large female. I think he’s contemplating this upcoming, longterm indignity in this photo:

Yesterday’s poll wasn’t working until afternoon due to a technical glitch. I was going to carry over the poll to today’s post, but really the babies need to be named in a pairing and you all came up with so many cool ideas! Just pairing up the names was hard enough. I can’t possibly make a final decision. I CAN’T. And since you can only vote once, moving over the poll wouldn’t allow for possible swayed decisions based on the pairings. So, based on your suggestions, using the original five doeling names, here are the pairings in a new, final poll:

(Doeling name listed first, wether second.)

Nutmeg and Honey
Nut ‘n Honey! Cute! The very popular Nutmeg choice paired with the Clover connection (clover honey). And the wether will be my “sweet boy” since he’ll be neutered.

Clarabelle and Clarence
As one commenter noted, yelling CLARABELLE when I’m irritated could be quite fulfilling. Like if she’s annoying me when I’m trying to milk her. Plus there’s something so adorable about naming animals people names.

Penny and Copper
Copper Penny! And it’s cute, but not too cute, as one commenter said. Just the right amount of cute. Plus it makes me feel like I’m in the Disney movie, The Fox and the Hound.

Taffy and Buddy
A cute candy girl name paired with a moniker fitting of my wether’s lot in life. And fun!

Cookie and Clyde
Like Clarabelle and Clarence, these names go with the “geneological” idea of naming the babies with the same first letter as the mother. Plus there’s a sort of Bonnie-and-Clyde-with-alliteration feel to it.

Trouble is, I love them all. I can’t choose! So that’s your job!