What did you do today?

[Charlie Horse]

Yesterday sucked.  Moved the goats from the rented field by my old apartment to the new place.  I just walked all 6 of them the mile-and-a-half and that went well.  I figured I had the fencing 'good enough' until I saw them leaping parts of the fence like deer.  Some temporary repairs done, I headed over and took down the old fencing.  My neighbor said he'd let me borrow a truck and another neighbor loaned me a flatbed.  When I went to get the truck, the guy said he didnt trust other people to drive it due to a bad experience once (its a mile and a half! Sheesh).  So he and his son in law helped me load up.  That was very very nice.  But despite my skepticism and objections, he drove into the field and on the way out snagged the trailer's jack and bent the mount a bit.  Nice.  Then I took off, knowing the goats would get antsy and want to escape if they didn't see me around for long.  Sure enough I see this gaggle of close-flocking goats coming around the corner down the middle of the road.  It was actually kinda funny, they were on the way back home as a family.  I led them back and they just wouldn't stay in the field.  I was pretty frustrated about that and then the neighbor pulled in with the flat bed.  While unloading I fell and bruised my hand really bad when I snagged my pants on some horse panels.  I spent the rest of the night fixing fencing and making a high security goat zone next to the house and setting up their polydomes.  I had only eaten a hot dog all day and I could smell the neighbors doing a BBQ.  Finished at 11 and put the goats in for the night.  The whole day was spent on goats.  Goats goats goats.

I got a couple fun pictures of the critters though. 

   


   

[IdahoNancy]

Yup, I've had those days. Lovely back drop in the pictures. Good luck with your hand.

[MosesBrowning]

Beautiful pictures. Hope your hand heals quickly. =)

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Ah hell Charlie, sounds frustrating indeed! Nothing like goats pointing out the flaws in their fencing

[Nanno]

Nice story Charlie Horse. I'm sure I enjoyed the read much more than you enjoyed the experience! The scenery is beautiful. I hope things work out really well for you and your critters in this new place.

I've spent the past week moving pens around myself. My goats are loose together as a herd and can wander our property during the day, but I pen them up at night for predator protection. My does and wethers (eight goats) have had the run of about an acre at night, but I've kept the two bucklings separated in their own small pen at night because when there are girls around my two younger wethers can be brutal to them. I was also afraid my wethers wouldn't give the bucks access to the feeder and they've needed lots to eat to keep up with their heavy growth this winter.

But now the grass is coming in nicely and I'm able to cut back on feeding everyone. The bucks can graze as much as they want all day long, and the warm weather combined with rut being well behind us has helped everyone mellow out. The pregnant girls are starting to show and I don't want them getting involved in any rough-and-tumble around the hay feeder (because yes, I still feed some hay at night even though most of the goats don't technically need it once the grass comes in). I also want them closer to the house when they kid, so I made my big pen smaller and used those extra fence sections, combined with a section from the buck pen, to make a new bigger pen close to the house. Last night there was some crying and confusion when I put all the girls in the new pen and took the bucks out to live with the big boys. The bucks are a good size now and well able to stand up for themselves. Finn and Sputnik have been sparring with them lately instead of brutally pounding them at every opportunity, which is a very good sign that the buckies are coming into their own. With no girls around, the boys were surprisingly good to each other at the feeder and everyone got to eat. This morning when I looked out the window, all the boys were laying congenially together in a pool of sunshine. I expected Rocky and Rambo (the bucks) to be huddled together under the scrub oak away from the others, but Rambo is laying near Cuzco and Rocky is laying near Sputnik and everyone looks very happy together. Yay for a successful housing transition!

[northcoast]

First kid of the season showed up yesterday right when I got home from work. Big doeling delivered unassisted. Disappointed it wasn't a buck but she is happy and healthy.

[DownUnder Gal]

Lovely pics Charlie Horse, the scenery certainly looks beautiful at your new place.

Sounds like spring is definitely in the air over there. Conversely, here the nights are becoming crisp and it's still dark when I leave for work at 6.30am now.  But I do love Autumn, it's better weather for hiking than the heat of the summer.  We just need some rain now as we've had very little over the last few months and everything is bone dry. Here's some pics of our hike yesterday. Koby's getting a lot fitter so we're going to go farther afield up into the hills next time.

   

   

   

[Nanno]

First kid of the season showed up yesterday right when I got home from work.  Big doeling delivered unassisted.  Disappointed it wasn't a buck but she is happy and healthy.

Congratulations! I love packgoat breeders. We're just about the only people in the goat world who say, "I wish it were a buck."

[Charlie Horse]

Today I decided to explore the neighborhood and took the 4 boys out on a walk to see what kind of hiking could be done starting from the house.  It was overcast and cool but set to be warm later so I left the packs home this time since the goats are still quite fuzzy.  First we stopped to visit my late friend Dan's resting place just off the trail.  Its the first time I've been back there since last fall, but I'll be stopping by a lot in the future.  Seems he's had company from a bunch of deer. 

   

Next we stopped by the dam and took in the view.  The level is low because they're going to improve and expand the main dam and dredge the silt this year.  I'm not sure what that means for my irrigation.



   

I'm not a big fan of goats going close to steep slopes and cliffs. 


   

Here's a panorama looking out over the San Rafael



   

Up here the terrain is a lot smoother.  I wasn't sure what it was like in this area.  Its always so different when I'm down below looking up-- Then its a plateau.  But when  I'm on top looking down, its a canyon.  I can hardly keep both points of view straight-- its like a totally different place to me.



   

There are so many deer around.  I even had them stealing hay when I lived in the middle of town.  Its always fun to see the herd move through the property as they make their way to the alfalfa fields in the evening.



   

There's a lot more snow higher up.  It feels like May right now though.  Cant complain.



   

I think I'll go camp by these gray castle formations next week.


   

I found a couple graves covered by insanely bright and interesting stones.  It could be pets.  It could be orphans.  I don't know, but someone put some work into these.


Anyhow, the hike was under 3 hours and I was already getting some hot spots on my feet.  I think I need to save up for some new hiking boots or some good shoes.  By the time we got home the goats were panting as it reached a blistering room temperature!

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Thanks for sharing Charlie. What a wonderful area to have more or less out your back door. I am also not a fan of goats on the edge. Scares the poo outta me.