Every animal (minus the poultry) that has come on our farm has been named. For over a decade, I took the lead in naming everything. I even had a name book and have frequented baby naming sites solely for the purposes of naming animals. Some of my favorite names have been London, Cairo, and Fancy. Some of the more unique ones have been Technical Difficulties (he was always causing issues) and Slim Jim. Naming an animal was always thought out, and often times, they would go days without a name just to make sure their name matched their personality. It is one of my favorite parts of having livestock; however, my job has begun to be taken over by my little brothers recently. That is a tough pill to swallow.
It isn’t that I necessarily mind that they are naming the animals (I make sure I get a few to name), but it is more what they are naming them. The latest twin goats that were born are just an example.
Lady had her first set of kids this week–two big girls (11 and 8 pounds). They are really beautiful, and I was quite excited about how they looked. I felt that they should have pretty names, but Isaac and Gideon wanted to name them. I was ok with this and was hoping I could throw some good names they liked out there. I was wrong.
I found the babies and called for the boys to come out and come look. The following conversation ensued:
Isaac: “Lady! Look how pretty your babies are. Aren’t you a good momma? Risa, Lady is my show goat, that means I name the babies right?”
Me: “Lady is yours but the buck is mine.”
Isaac: “That’s true. Can I still name them?”
Me: “We will talk about different names, but you can name them.”
Gideon: “Tres! We should name that one Tres. That is the number 3 in Spanish right?”
Me: “Let’s just wait until tomorrow to name them that way we can think on it.”
The next day while we were feeding, Isaac and Gideon came riding up on the golfcart saying “How are Tres and Mud doing?”
Me: “Who and who?”
Gideon: “That’s their names–Tres and Mud.”
All I could think was dear heavens, I’m going to have pretty little does named after wet dirt and the other after a foreign number 3.
Me: “Ummm… well… I was thinking since the mom is named Lady, we could do something like Duchess.”
Grandma: “What about Maddie and Tae? They are country singer girls that were on TV.”
Gideon: “No, no, Tres. Her name is Tres.”
Isaac: “How about Mud Pie?”
Me: “Why Mud?”
Isaac: “Her face looks like mud to me.”
Me: “Alright…”
Later I went in the house and told Mom: “I need a hug. I have baby goats named after Spanish 3 and mud.”
She laughed.
So, yes, I swallowed the pill, stepped down from my position as namer and relinquished the reigns to an 8 and 10 year old. I’ve had a good run (I’m still adamant that I get to name things; I just have to share, and the boys are good with this), and at least I could name some of the babies this year. Speaking of those guys, here are some updated pictures of all the little ones. They are growing super fast.
Rural Ris 