Phoenix High School students Bailey Christensen, left, and Angelica Banfield feed a pair of Boer goat sisters, Tia, lower left, and Mia.

Two new kids at Phoenix High School could be heard crying from down a long hallway on a recent afternoon.

Far from being stressed about homework or navigating a school schedule, the two “kids” — baby Boer goats born earlier this month — were hollering for their warm bottles of milk.

The babies — the newest members of the school’s FFA herd of livestock — were donated at just four days of age by an FFA alumni family after the pair were rejected by their mother, said school FFA advisor Melissa Madsen.

“They just kind of came to us out of the blue. We got a call from a former FFA parent,” Madsen said. “They had a previous student who had gone off to college. Mom was left caring for all the critters, and now they’re realizing toward the end of their college career they’re probably not going to be raising goats anymore.

“These babies were born, their mama wouldn’t take care of them, and so they suddenly had bottle babies to deal with when they were already in the process of moving the herd somewhere else. … We went ahead and took these two, and we’re gonna finish figuring out all the logistics with getting the rest of the herd,” Madesen said. “If that happens, we’ll have a built-in goat herd for students to work with.”

If all goes well, the school FFA program will end up with three more does and two bucks, according to Madsen.

While the babies are too small to use for FFA shows this coming season, Madsen said the experience students will glean from caring for young livestock is invaluable.

“I’ve got a Vet Med class and an Animal Science class. I’m hoping that, as they grow, the kids can do all the things that need to happen and get those opportunities and experiences and all of that with real-life animals.”

Without live specimens, Madsen noted, students utilize an array of stuffed animals for practicing procedures.

“They’ll eventually become part of our breeding herd, so they can continue to be learning experiences for the kids,” she said.

“If we are able to breed, then the other thing that will hopefully fall into place is we would like to be able to have animals available for kids to show.”

Students Bailey Christensen and Angelica Banfield admitted the baby sisters were cute but said they were surprised by the achievable volume the pair could muster with their wails.

Scooping the babies from a donated playpen, Banfield, president of the school FFA chapter, stroked the long ears of one of the babies.

“Even when you’re not feeding them, they’ll try to suck on you because they think you’re going to,” said the teen.

“On the first day they were officially in here, our veterinary medicine class held them and they were doing a lab on respiration and heartbeats. Instead of doing it on each other, or on the stuffed animals, we got to do it on an actual animal,” Banfield said.

“They’re really wiggly so definitely more realistic than a stuffed animal.”

Christensen, Phoenix High’s FFA sentinel, said she looked forward to helping care for the goats.

“I did a turkey last year, but this is my first time taking care of goats,” she said. “We’ve been coming in to help feed them.”

Madsen said the biggest challenge since the babies arrived has been wrangling two-hour feedings. She takes them home and on the road when she travels between schools. 

While the babies didn’t arrive with names, Madsen reported Tuesday that a raffle was held during an FFA auction to sell naming rights; the dark brown-headed doeling was named Tia while the redhead doeling was named Mia.

“We have a school farm off campus, on Colver Road. These guys will eventually live out there as our chapter herd, but for now they still eat pretty often. We’re working on signing kids up to keep the feedings going during the day and I get the night shifts,” Madsen said with a laugh.

To watch for updates on the baby goats, visit the school FFA Facebook page.