I love raising animals on our small farm. But when you raise a mix of farm animals, and keep them all until old age, then you’ve got some issues to work out. How to house them, how to feed them, how to entertain them, and most of all how to help with old-age. Many small farms don’t choose to deal with geriatric animals.

Birthing and caring for newborn goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, chickens, or rabbits is fun, and it’s easy to find lots of information to help. So is caring for healthy prime-of-life animals. But geriatric animals tend to be different. I’ve had to learn how from fellow farmers, veterinarians, and articles from The Goat Journal and GALA, the Greater Appalachian Llama and Alpaca Association.

We always seem to have at least one geriatric animal in the barn. Right now we have three. Nigerian dwarf goats, Art, Pumpkin, and Mac. They’re the remaining brothers of quadruplets born April 28, 2012.

The year they were born, I wasn’t planning on raising any kids, but when my eldest son requested holding his wedding reception at our home, I quickly got Happy, my favorite goat, pregnant.  A wedding reception at Wiggly Goat Farm just had to have some wiggly little goats!

The brothers have been with us through three moves, met numerous animal additions to the farm, and were part of another home wedding in 2023—that of our youngest son! Now, as really old goats, they get lots of extra attention, mushy meals, meds, and cuddles.

I invite you to meet our animal mix of old and young by scheduling a Barn Visit, or …if you need some help with your own animal mix, I offer Farm Coaching to get you sorted out.