Meet the former opera singer who lives with 30 dwarf goats - which regularly terrorise her Great Dane.
Nina Lorcini, 58, and her herd have become internet sensations after videos of the livestock menacing the other pets went viral.
The goats have become an important part of Nina’s life since her husband sadly passed away with brain cancer in 2018.
She said: "The goats were and are everything. They are clever and funny and beautiful, and the cycle of life is magic, even still."
Nina had spent 25 years trying to make it as a professional opera singer, but in 2012 she had lost all hope and decided to stop for good.
After coming home to Nassau, New York from her final two-month singing job, she spotted something that changed her life forever.
She said: “I was driving along a lake on a gorgeous summer afternoon and I saw two tiny black and white goats on a lawn, and boom. That was it.
“My late husband and I made the deal that I could have goats and he could have horses.”
The following summer she welcomed her first three Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats - Sophie, Penelope and Portia - to her homestead.
The stepmum-of-two said: “They are dairy goats and I do milk them, twice daily, every day.
"A full udder doesn't care, it's the deepest commitment I have ever known. They are also adorable pets."
Over the years, her tiny herd grew to 23 does and seven bucks, with the girls living in her historic barn with her nine chickens, and the boys in their own buck house.
“The boys have only one job they do once a year, the rest of the year, they live like frat boys.” said Nina.
The self-described milkmaid also raises her own baby goats, and in the summer when they are just a few days old, they get to gallop around her house.
She said: “They live in the house until about two weeks then go out to live with the doe herd.
“I separate the babies from their mums at birth because most of them will be sold to live elsewhere, either as dairy animals or as pets, and I don't want babies screaming for their mamas as they leave.
“This way, they bond to me, then transfer that bond to their new humans, no crying.
“I take some heat for this, but I believe it is the kindest way, and that is my number one concern.”
She hand rears them, meaning the washing machine is going non-stop as she chases them around cleaning up poop, but Nina knows that is a given with farm life.
Nina said: “The hardest thing is that you hold these lives in your hands, you can do everything right and still lose. That's the hard part.
“This was also the lesson I learned when my strapping 49-year-old husband died a horrible slow death from brain cancer four years ago.
“You are not in control at all.”
Nina has delivered quintuplets, saved a premature duckling by tucking it into her bra for warmth and taped up a does teats to stop her from nursing from herself.
Her cheeky herd get up to their own fair share of hijinks too, tormenting her Great Dane Hudson, and have even managed to make their way into the locked grain store.
Nina said: "Sugar rammed her body against the stall door until the sliding latch bounced out of position.
"I came into the barn to find the milking stall swarming with my does, grain bins overturned, a feast in progress.
"Fortunately, no one was hurt and since then I rely on a double sided dog leash clasp to hold the door shut: thumbs required!"
She runs a popular AirBnB experience between April and November, where goat lovers can come and spend an hour playing with the 60cm tall goats.
“Most people find the experience very therapeutic. I had six bachelorette weekends last year!” said Nina.
Her herd are also now TikTok stars, with the farm’s account @duagwyngoats boasting over 100,000 followers who love Nina’s videos of the babies clip clopping through her home.
The farm is named Dúagwyn which is Welsh for ‘black and white’ not only because that is the colour of her goats, but because Nina doesn’t like to look back.
She said: “There is an immediacy to my life now, and something I never experienced as a performer:
“Happiness is found in wanting less and ambition is never satisfied. That delight is right in front of you.”
Nina Lorcini, 58, and her herd have become internet sensations after videos of the livestock menacing the other pets went viral.
The goats have become an important part of Nina’s life since her husband sadly passed away with brain cancer in 2018.
She said: "The goats were and are everything. They are clever and funny and beautiful, and the cycle of life is magic, even still."
Nina had spent 25 years trying to make it as a professional opera singer, but in 2012 she had lost all hope and decided to stop for good.
After coming home to Nassau, New York from her final two-month singing job, she spotted something that changed her life forever.
She said: “I was driving along a lake on a gorgeous summer afternoon and I saw two tiny black and white goats on a lawn, and boom. That was it.
“My late husband and I made the deal that I could have goats and he could have horses.”
The following summer she welcomed her first three Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats - Sophie, Penelope and Portia - to her homestead.
The stepmum-of-two said: “They are dairy goats and I do milk them, twice daily, every day.
"A full udder doesn't care, it's the deepest commitment I have ever known. They are also adorable pets."
Over the years, her tiny herd grew to 23 does and seven bucks, with the girls living in her historic barn with her nine chickens, and the boys in their own buck house.
“The boys have only one job they do once a year, the rest of the year, they live like frat boys.” said Nina.
The self-described milkmaid also raises her own baby goats, and in the summer when they are just a few days old, they get to gallop around her house.
She said: “They live in the house until about two weeks then go out to live with the doe herd.
“I separate the babies from their mums at birth because most of them will be sold to live elsewhere, either as dairy animals or as pets, and I don't want babies screaming for their mamas as they leave.
“This way, they bond to me, then transfer that bond to their new humans, no crying.
“I take some heat for this, but I believe it is the kindest way, and that is my number one concern.”
She hand rears them, meaning the washing machine is going non-stop as she chases them around cleaning up poop, but Nina knows that is a given with farm life.
Nina said: “The hardest thing is that you hold these lives in your hands, you can do everything right and still lose. That's the hard part.
“This was also the lesson I learned when my strapping 49-year-old husband died a horrible slow death from brain cancer four years ago.
“You are not in control at all.”
Nina has delivered quintuplets, saved a premature duckling by tucking it into her bra for warmth and taped up a does teats to stop her from nursing from herself.
Her cheeky herd get up to their own fair share of hijinks too, tormenting her Great Dane Hudson, and have even managed to make their way into the locked grain store.
Nina said: "Sugar rammed her body against the stall door until the sliding latch bounced out of position.
"I came into the barn to find the milking stall swarming with my does, grain bins overturned, a feast in progress.
"Fortunately, no one was hurt and since then I rely on a double sided dog leash clasp to hold the door shut: thumbs required!"
She runs a popular AirBnB experience between April and November, where goat lovers can come and spend an hour playing with the 60cm tall goats.
“Most people find the experience very therapeutic. I had six bachelorette weekends last year!” said Nina.
Her herd are also now TikTok stars, with the farm’s account @duagwyngoats boasting over 100,000 followers who love Nina’s videos of the babies clip clopping through her home.
The farm is named Dúagwyn which is Welsh for ‘black and white’ not only because that is the colour of her goats, but because Nina doesn’t like to look back.
She said: “There is an immediacy to my life now, and something I never experienced as a performer:
“Happiness is found in wanting less and ambition is never satisfied. That delight is right in front of you.”
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