“All our animals are very confused,” Bev Montgomery said, standing in her yard trying to stop an adorable, noisy, four-month-old goat from eating the rose bushes.
After a quick census with her daughter Shae, the Montgomerys come back with a tally — three dogs, five cats, four sheep out the back of their house and another 800 in paddocks, a donkey that came with an alpaca, a horse and the pet goat, Pixie.
Image 1 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 2 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 3 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 4 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 5 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 6 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 7 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 8 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 9 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 10 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 11 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphImage 12 of 12
Pixie the goat from Tallygaroopna, with Bev and Shae Montgomery Photo by Max StainkamphThe dogs are all working dogs who know exactly what they are, but one of the cats also thinks it’s a dog — demanding belly rubs, scratches and going out on the quad bike.
The four sheep, by the looks, aren’t thinking about anything beyond munching on hay and coming up for a scratch.
The other four cats are reasonably sure they’re cats, but Pixie, judging by her adoration of Shae and her siblings’ old cubby house in the background, and her demands for attention, apparently thinks she’s a small child.
And why wouldn’t she, having spent four months as the most fawned-over pet in the house?
Pixie has only just been weaned off a bottle and moved outside, having been sitting in a box — and on Bev’s lap in front of the telly — since she was brought home four months ago.
Nev Montgomery — husband of Bev — is the culprit, Shae said, with the News visiting while he was out working on some of their roughly 180 hectares near Tallygaroopna.
“Dad works with livestock and she was born in the yards and they were gonna take her away, and Dad walked past and she bleated at him and he said ‘you’re coming home with me’,” she said.
This isn’t an uncommon occurrence.
“He does it all the time, but when I bring home an animal I get in trouble,” Shae said.
However, it took only days for the family to fall in love with Pixie.
"It’s very different, and she’s funny. We’ve had a couple of goats in the past but they’ve never been as domesticated,” Shae said.
“I’ll come outside and find her up on the air con, climbing up and bleating out at me.”
Since moving outside Pixie has taken a shine to the slide.
“My bedroom’s on that side of the house and quite often I’ll hear her jumping up the slide and sliding down,” Shae said.
Pixie has resisted efforts to train her, Bev said, but she made up for it by being very cute.
“Pixie is about the only word she’ll recognise and she’ll come to you but that’s about it,” she said.
“It’s just live having a baby lamb, it just sounds different. She can jump as well. She’s like a cat, she can climb on that gate there.”