The family is expecting about 100 newborn goats in the next month.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Wonderland Nigerians

A Kamloops woman is asking for your old towels and blankets as she prepares to welcome nearly 100 newborn goats.

Cobie Woods traded in the city life of Calgary to move back to her hometown of Kamloops, where she decided to take on a new endeavour six years ago. Now, she’s trying to prepare as her herd of goats multiplies.

“We have no prior farm experience, but we decided when we had kids that we’d enjoy living on some property,” Woods says. “You think you’ll just have a couple of goats. I remember my neighbour telling me I could have 50 goats, and I thought she was crazy. I thought it would never happen. Sure enough, it has.”

Now, the family is ready to welcome their newest batch of Nigerian dwarf and milk house goats. They sell the dairy goats across the country, show them at 4H and Canadian Goat Society shows, and make natural goat milk soaps.

Some of the family’s 50 goats are already in labour, while others are expected to give birth in late February. Woods says her two daughters, Brielle, 10, and Ryenne, 12, technically own the herd of miniature goats and have been eagerly awaiting the newborns.

“The herd is registered in their names and they make a lot of the decisions,” Woods says. “They have a tent for the last two nights, sleeping in the barn and they’re waiting for their 4H projects to be born.”

Woods says that each goat usually gives birth to two or three kids, and the family doesn’t have nearly enough towels and blankets to help with the process.

“My mom had a contact at a thrift store and they would always give us towels and blankets... if they couldn’t sell them because of a stain or a rip they collected them for us, but that thrift store has been closed,” Woods says.

Woods says although they’ve been through this process before, she can’t always reuse the towels because of how difficult they are to wash.

“It’s a messy job and we do try to keep reusing them, but sometimes they’re pretty gross and they wreck my washing machine trying to get all the birthing stuff and the hay that gets stuck,” Woods says.

A big bunch of newborn goats are expected at the Woods' family goat farms, and they need lots of linens to make the process easier.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Wonderland Nigerians

As the births draw near, Woods hopes that community members with old towels and blankets will drop them off at the farm, which is located just north of Rayleigh. She says the linens help during the birthing process and adds the kids are wrapped up in them to help keep them warm.

If you don’t have old linens to donate, she says the goats always love fresh fruit and vegetable scraps.

To contact Woods about donating any items send an email to milkhousegoats@gmail.com.

Woods expects that the farm will host a meet and greet event with the new batch of kids once they are ready for visitors.

To check for updates, visit their Facebook pages for the Wonderland Nigerian Dwarf Goats farm and for the Milk House Nubians farm.

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