Our dairy goats are not only foundational to Goat Milk Stuff, but they are a big part of our family as well. Each of them has a personality and during this series we’re hoping you’ll get to know more about them.

Ivy is one of our biggest and strongest goats.  She is Colter’s favorite goat, and is very sweet to him.

But she lets everyone else know that she’s in charge and so the little girls (and me too) are very careful around Ivy. I was talking with the boys about her the other day and the conversation went something like this:

Brett: So, what can you tell me about Ivy?

Hewitt: She’s mean.

Colter: She’s not mean, she’s great.

Hewitt: No, she’s pretty mean.

Emery: Yeah, remember the time I was trying to fill the feeder and she wouldn’t let me? She kept getting in my way.

Colter: She just wanted to let you know that she’s in charge, and you’re mean to her.

Emery: I’m not mean to her! I just don’t like her as much because she’s bossy.

Colter: She’s bossy to you because you talk badly about her.

Emery: What? I don’t.

Colter: Yes you do, you stand on the other side of the fence and say how bad she is and it hurts her feelings. You have to be strong around Ivy – she only respects strong people.

Emery: Yeah, she thinks she’s the queen.

Colter: No, she just values strength. If you show her you won’t be pushed around, she won’t be what you call “mean”.

The conversation went on for several more minutes, with Colter defending Ivy through thick and thin. Ivy has always been his favorite, and it shows when she’s with him – she is so sweet with him.

We also talked about how funny it was that Ivy showed her attitude even when she got sick. In fact, we knew she was better because she became ornery again.  LOL  Greyden mentioned that Ivy looks very different from anyone else in our herd, and Emery brought up the fact that even when she had single bucklings, she still gave us tons of milk.

In fact, every year Ivy has given us a single buckling.  Except this year!  She finally gave Colter the girls that he wanted from her.  We will probably be keeping Idina this year, and I know that Colter would like to keep more of her doelings in the future!

Yep, Ivy can be stubborn and ornery, but underneath it all she’s a sweetheart.

As long as you’re good (and strong) to Ivy, she’ll be good to you!