Ever-Evolving Herd Dynamics

[Nanno]

The herd dynamics have changed for the better since Blackbird and Penny left. Skeeter is no longer the high and mighty herd princess she once was, and she's completely quit bullying Coral. Rita and Coral have formed a strong bond in a short time, and Tigerlily has sided with them as a sort of matriarch. Yesterday Skeeter shouldered her way up to the hay feeder and tried to jostle Coral out of the way. Tigerlily went into attack mode, pummeled the tar out of Skeeter, and drove her away from the hay rack. Skeeter cried for her mom, but Petunia is no longer all that interested in defending Skeeter. She's pregnant with new babies due in April and Skeeter is a big yearling doe now. Skeeter is going to have to figure out how to get along with the other goats on her own, and she's quickly learning that she can't bully her way to the top without her mom to back her up. Petunia is a fantastic mom and herd queen.

Rita has never shown much overt attachment to anyone before. She didn't cry when I sold her mom last October, and she didn't even say goodbye when Penny left last week. But the other day when I removed Coral from the pen to milk and left the other goats locked up because of bad weather, Rita started screaming her head off. She was overjoyed when I brought Coral back 20 minutes later. It's nice to see Coral have a close friend too. She's never really had one before. She's not an outcast, but she's never had anyone to snuggle and share with until now. I think she's enjoying it.