1. Naya was born the first week of June, 2011 as one of
three triplet doelings to new mom Ionia at the
Goodwin Hill Goat Yard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
On September 15, Ionia and her kids moved to their
new home at the LexFarm Goat Yard, about 3 miles
away on the other side of town.
It took some time for the small herd of Nigerian
Dwarf goats to get used to their new surroundings,
set up on a hill overlooking Busa Farm, with a view
in the winter through the trees to the Arlington
Reservoir. Also, because goats are very smart animals
and also very social, they have their own hierarchy in
the herd and treat their human caretakers as part of
A Year (or two) in the life of Naya the Goat
that social hierarchy. So it also took some time for the humans to get to know them and vice versa. While
Ionia's coloring is black and white, the three triplets were all brown and white. But we soon learned that Naya
was the one without "waddles" - fat deposits that dangle below the chins of sisters Sapphire and Ella. Naya also
seemed to have a special relationship with her mother, the "Queen" of the herd, Ionia. While the others,
especially Sapphire, were more independent and typically butted heads with Ionia (literally...they're goats!),
Naya always seemed to prefer to stay close to Ionia, her protector.
But when Ionia had two new kids, Salt and Pepper in
March, 2012, Naya's position in the herd as the
Queen's favorite suddenly changed. There was a new
doeling in town... and Salt was now the new darling
of the herd, protected fiercely by Ionia, and favored
by the humans as well.
Throughout the summer of 2012, Naya learned to
find her own special place in the yard, using her
slightly larger size to literally push her weight
around when branches of greens were brought into
the yard, or when visitors sat with brush in hand
ready to offer gentle strokes along the back of
whichever goat got closest.
Baby Naya - June, 2011
Naya takes her spot next to Ionia
Salt makes herself known
2. And in the fall of 2012, Naya gained
special status. In a dairy herd, all of the
goats must be females, except any
wethers (castrated males) that may stay
with the females. Since the does are bred
for the production of milk, once a doe
has been bred, her standing in the herd is
raised significantly. In November, 2012,
Naya spent several weeks at a different
farm where a buck named "Bucky" was
resident. When Naya returned home, she
began a special diet of 20% high protein
grain mix and also moved from sharing
a stall with her two sisters, Ella and
Sapphire, to sharing a stall with her
mother, Ionia, the only milking doe in
the herd.
As her pregnancy progressed through
the winter, her social stature grew along
with her physical size.
Naya forages
A pregnant Naya waits patiently
3. By the time she delivered three new kids on May 9, 2013, she appeared ready to assume her new
role as a milking doe. Her three kids, two bucks and a doe all have her same coloring, and were
named "John Snow" (lots of white on his back), "Snoopy" (has one brown spot on his back) and
"Lilac" born when the lilacs were in bloom.
Naya is a great milker...producing 16 - 20 oz
each day. Unfortunately (or fortunately,
depending on how you look at it), she is not
quite as good a mother as a milker. She
prefers to be away from her kids if at all
possible, and often when they try to nurse, she
just walks away. This isn't such a bad thing in
a dairy operation: it means the kids are
weaned sooner, which means more milk for
the humans...which of course is the whole
point of a dairy operation!
On Monday, July 15, 2013, Naya and her two
bucklings (soon to be wethers) , along with
sister Sapphire and half-sister Salt – were sold and moved to a new farm. We at the LexFarm goat yard
were sad to see our friends go, and sorry that we won't be able to continue to watch Naya grow into
her next new role as Queen of her herd. But we know that she will be doing what she was bred for:
providing delicious,nutritious fresh goats milk - high in fat and rich in protein - for many to enjoy for
years to come!
New Mom Naya with her kids: left to right,
& top to bottom: Lilac, John Snow, Snoopy
