Friday, March 27, 2009
The Great Goat Escape
As many of you know, we purchsed two Nubian nanny goats last Thursday. It was a little earlier than we planned to get our goats, but we had the opportunity to purchase these two goats within our budget and we had to take it. We have been working on the fence for the goats this week and were close to finishing. So the goats have been confined to the barn, with the exception of daily walks. We had a pretty big storm yesterday morning and when the storm cleared I went out to feed as usual. The girls have been coming along nicely in getting to know us and my voice, so I did not latch the stall door when I went in yesterday. Both girls were very nervous and coffee spooked at something, so yep right through the stall door like she had been shot from a cannon with Tea closely on her heals. Oh great, the goats are out and the fence is not finished. After 3 hours of trying to herd goats back to the barn we decided to leave them be, let them calm down and finish the fence. It did not help that my mare, Whisper, decided that these goats are her babies and she was playing keep away. So when we would get the goats close to the barn she would move them away from it. I was worried about them getting in the pasture with the boys, which they did on one occasion. My stallion does not tolerate intruders and will kill the goats if given the chance. It is lucky for them that he is very old (25) and can no longer move as fast as he once could. He almost caught Coffee before we could get them out of there, but fortunately she safely made it out. So 3 hours of chasing goats, 2 hours of finishing the fence, and another hour herding the goats into their new fence all before lunch. So we were pretty exhausted yesterday and I am sure that it looked like the keystone cops around here. Somebody really needs to visit our place with a video camera everyday, we would definitely win some money on America's funniest videos. By the time all was said and done all 4 of us (yes the baby was helping me herd goats) were covered in mud and exhausted. It was a run to see who could get to the shower first, the children won. It is once again pouring down rain and is supposed to be like this through Saturday. I can guarantee you that this morning the stall door will be latched when I go out to feed. And who said our lives here on the farm were boring!!!
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5 comments:
Oh what fun! Wonderful memories for the children in years to come.
I can imagine your frustration! You will not catch a goat by chasing it, but they will practiclly run you over to get to a can of grain or sweetfeed if they learn you have something in it for them. Just speaking from over 30 years of keeping goats. Tony
Can goats eat sweetfeed? I fed it to my sheep for like a year and a half before I learned sheep can't have copper.... Sweetfeed has copper in it. They loved it but seem content with their Clean Cracked Corn and kid and lamb pellets.
Goats need copper to funtion properly. I wasn't meaning to feed it to them as a main dietary item. In fact most people feed way to much grain to goats. In cold weather they will actually freeze to death if they don't have enough roughage as their digestion process produces a major portion of heat to keep their bodies warm. Tony
Thank you ladies for the encouragement and the comments. Just keep the goats and I in your prayers that we become friends, otherwise their destiny is the freezer or the auction barn. They really are sweet goats, just not handled much at all.
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