A Goat Story

Sunday, July 07, 2019

My trio of African Dwarf Goats consists of a mom, Sego Lily, and her twins, Breeze and Poppy. The twins were born in 2009, and mom (a rescue from a goat herd) is of undetermined age and also now arthritic. They began living with me when the twins were six months old. Over the years, the three have participated in parades, and otherwise, shared a large pen with several hens. The goats protect and occasionally provide transportation for the hens, who in turn care for the goats by plucking bugs from their coats and cleaning the corners of their eyes.

This gentle group adores feeding times when grains arrive to supplement the less exciting rations. The goats clamor around a common feeding bucket–eating, head-butting, and pushing one another–while the hens keep wedging-in to grab grains.

Supposedly, goats like to eat grass but mine typically don’t have grasses available. A few years ago, my neighbor Frank opened his grassy field to my goats. They seemed uncomfortable about being free in an unaccustomed large space. They didn’t appear to know they were supposed to like grass. They simply followed me around, in what became a failed experiment, and eagerly returned to their own pen, where they’ve happily remained.

This summer, unusually high rainfalls resulted in bunches of weeds–and worst of all, the despised Russian Thistle (a big tumbleweed with stickers). My grounds aren’t dry enough to spray weeds, so I’ve spent time riding a mower, which became troublesome and went to a repair shop. I worried about the remaining high weeds in a fenced quarter acre that’s reserved for my dogs. I decided to prevent the dogs entering that area, and instead, teach the goats to enter and rid it of weeds. I got the goats from their normal environment by rattling a bucket with grain, which they willingly followed, and in the dogs’ area, dived-in to eat and head-but. But upon finishing and finding themselves in a strange place. Uh Oh!

They tried to follow me by running along the fence, or appeal to me by huddling against the fence. Meanwhile, they eagerly were nibbling on weeds and giving me hopes for success.

I was scheduled to work for only a few hours, and so, left the goats to think and adjust to changes. When I arrived home, they were happy to see me and not noisily complaining. They were beyond delighted upon hearing rattles, and spotting a grain bucket that invited them to follow it home. They did, and in their pen eagerly chowed down.

That was a start, and today, we’ll repeat the process. This couldn’t have happened earlier, for the special area fencing only recently was installed. It’s proved a wonderful space for the dogs, and now at times, will provide a safe alternative place for the goats, where they can freely and really, “be goats”.

Dear Friends, I’m mowerless, and with a renewed appreciation & love for goats. Diana