Sweet Pea is a very special Nigerian Dwarf doe who was born on our farm in 2017.
When Sweet Pea was born, she was barely a pound. She was so tiny and weak, we weren’t sure she would make it. Her mom, Leeloo, had triplets, and her brother and sister were nursing well, however Sweet Pea would not nurse. We worked very hard with her – had her on a heating pad to keep her warm, and had to syringe colostrum into her. She was not interested in nursing for a very long time, but after about four hours of working with her, she finally latched on by herself! We were thrilled! We kept checking on her every couple of hours for the next few days, making sure she was eating. She got stronger, and before long she was starting to bounce around like all the other kids. We have lots of great videos of Sweet Pea when she was young, but this one has to be our favourite: Sweet Pea Learning to Play. Have a look at our Facebook Page for even more videos of Sweet Pea and the other goats: GottaGoat Farm Videos.
Since she was a triplet, there were times when her larger brother and sister would get to nurse and she wouldn’t. Her mom, Leeloo, was very strict with them, and once they had nursed for a bit, she wouldn’t let anyone back on for a while. We caught Sweet Pea sneaking under Halley’s Comet a few times for an extra “drink” if she wasn’t able to beat her siblings to their own mom! Halley couldn’t see who was nursing with all her long fur, so she would often just let her nurse, thinking it was one of her own kids. As Sweet Pea grew up, she has shown that she is very strong and resourceful. She is now quite bossy with the other goats, and she always makes sure she gets her share of food. She has grown really well, and although she is a bit on the small side (mostly due to having a small sire), you certainly couldn’t tell now that Sweet Pea was such a tiny baby!
Due to her original small size, we decided to keep Sweet Pea at our farm with us. We were afraid she could end up being bred too young, and didn’t want to risk having anything happen to this sweet girl. Sweet Pea is an unregistered Nigerian Dwarf doe. She is blue-eyed with wattles and she does have horns. Sweet Pea’s sire is Prince.