Cuzco posed like a statue for a very long time, just waiting for me to bring the camera I’m sure.

And then the old goat did something very out of character–he pulled a silly face! I’m used to the other goats making goofy expressions and sticking their tongues out at the camera, but never Cuzco! I guess even the most dignified goat has to let his hair down once in a while.

Back to looking noble…

Until Phil breaks out the Christmas fruitcake, at which point all pretense of nobility flies straight out the window! Here he is climbing the gate with one foot in the mineral feeder just like a silly young scallawag who doesn’t care what anyone thinks. “Gimme fruitcake! Gimme NOW! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!!!”

Have I ever mentioned that fruitcake very nearly killed this greedy goat two years ago? We bought a 3-lb. fruitcake that was supposed to be shared among five goats. Cuzco tore into it like a fiend, knocked it to the ground and devoured it before anyone had time to react. I got a picture of the aftermath.

And this was where Cuzco spent the next day.

We ran him into the vet that morning because he was so sick he would hardly move, but the vet didn’t seem to think there was much to be done for him. So we took him back home, made him a bed by the wood stove, and I sat with him until late that evening when he finally got up and wanted outside. It was a few days before he was totally “right”, but he pulled through and we’ve since modified our fruitcake distribution system. For one thing, you’ll notice there is a gate between Phil and Cuzco in this year’s picture. We also bought a smaller fruitcake which was then cut into even smaller portions to be fed one at a time. Cuzco still got the biggest portion because he by far enjoys it the most (only about half of the goats even like it at all), but we make sure he never gets to inhale an entire 3-lb. fruitcake in one sitting again!