What did you do today?

[hihobaron]

Saltlick
Sounds like you need some cheering up as well...
Goats look good.
=================

Here is some Humor for you to think about. 
I have a good friend here that owns a Small engine repair/Lawn Mower Shop. His Name is Mark.
I tease him about IF he can not fix it, "Get a Goat"
I made up a little Poster for him to post on the shop wall.
He dose not appreciate my "Goatish Attitude"  He is a Good Old Boy.
============================

As a PRANK Call the number and tell him you need a mower repaired, tell him were you are, and wait for the response.when he says NO, to far away.
Then ask him if he knows were you can get some goats to mow the lawn.
 Do not Tell him you have goats.   
 If asked how you got his number Just say a Goat Told me, He will know who did the deed.

Here is the Poster and the number is real.


  Goat mechanics 1 MARK.JPG (Size: 57.67 KB / Downloads: 137)


Here is another Goat Cartoon I am just "WAITING" to use on Mark when the time is right.


  goat_pushing_lawn_mower_sticker.jpg (Size: 13.92 KB / Downloads: 137)

Mark is in his "Busy" Season here in SC and everybody needs work done. I know he will be in the shop Monday trying to work down his "Back Log" We are EST here. Time your call for mid-afternoon here to catch him.


Happy Trails
hihobaron and the Troops in SC

[hihobaron]

Hello All
With the (2) new boy's in the hood here. Blizzard and Fuzzy have proven what everybody claims.
 Kids are Escape Artist !
My old boys Pete and Sam have never escaped the Red Neck goat shed.
But since the KID's got here they(Kid's) have escaped twice. I have seen them "Squeeze" through the third tube up on my camera system.
Another advantage of have a Goat-O-Scope.
They stick around camp "For Now" because of herd habits. But with both out they are getting to the age were with both out they could decide to go "Walk About" on their own.
So I have had some dog cage panels than I have been strapping across the front of the shed at night.
=======================
TODAY:i FIXED THEIR ESCAPE ROUTE. (I hope)
Had the tail end of a roll of 2 X 4 welded wire fencing 4 foot tall.
Perfect height to fit the tube gates height that are the base of the Redneck Goat Shed, all I had to do is cut (2) pieces ,one for the swinging gate, the other the Stationary Gate.
Cutting the wire was the easy part.
I used up about 100 Zip Ties securing the wire to the outside of the tube gates. It "Should work"  
Time will tell.
================================

I Scored big time on Sweet Corn Husk and some ears of sheet corn at two grocery stores I shop at.
City folk: Will pull open a ear of sweet corn in the husk from a display, to check it. IF they like the look many will "Husk it on the spot" and put it in a plastic bag"  The Husk is better protection than a plastic bag"
Moving on: IF they don't like the look they throw it in a trash barrel next to the display or if they husk it on site they throw the husk in the trash barrel.
I have a arrangement this time of year to haul off the huskings. 
Saves the stores putting them in the trash. I use the excuse I am feeding them to my goats and horses.   
My horses and the goats "LOVE" the Fresh HUSK and occasional small ears of corn.
I usually find several good eating size ears that I cook for myself every time I bring bags home.
Today I found 24 good ears that had been looked at and tossed. I have enough sweet corn to cook for a couple days. Then the goats and horses still get the cobs. Everybody is Happy with the "Salvage Feed Operation" 

Free food for me and all the critters here is always a good deal. 

Happy Trails 
Honor Our Veterans 
hihobaron Blizzard, Fuzzy,Pete and Sam

[Nanno]

Once their horns get bigger you won't have to worry about them sneaking through fences any more.

[hihobaron]

To Nanno
RE: electric fence and horn growth.
You just gave me a "Nasty" idea.
When I put up the the electric fence test area I will just glue some foil conductive strips to their horns all the way down to the skin line . with the  horny boys horns will be the first contact point "ZAP"
A little Super glue and a strip of copper or aluminum foil as a conductor down to the base of the horn and the goat gets "Elto-Shock" therapy to stay away from fence and you can tell the goats it is Bling to make them look better.
But they do it to them self goat will learn fast NOT to get near fence.
One draw back would be they will make good lighting attractors   in open country.
So if that happens, you have roasted goat for a few days. Not likely here lots of tall trees to take the hit first.
Happy Trails
hihobaron Blizzard,Fuzzy,Pete and Sam

[Nanno]

Even better idea: put strips of tin foil on the fence in a few places. The fluttering makes them curious and they usually will touch it with a nose or tongue. It's how a lot of folks teach goats to respect electric fences. Seems mean, but it's a heck of a lot kinder than having them try to jump through, get tangled, and end up strangled/shocked to death. I don't think putting foil on the horns would do much good. Horned goats usually check things out with their noses/tongues first just like hornless ones. None of my horned goats ever mess with electric fences any more than the hornless ones. But when it comes to metal gates, the hornless goats have the escape advantage (except Finn--Finn can clear just about any fence or gate in a single leap, although he seems leery to try jumping an electric fence--there's a psychological barrier there).

[hihobaron]

Even better idea: put strips of tin foil on the fence in a few places. The fluttering makes them curious and they usually will touch it with a nose or tongue. It's how a lot of folks teach goats to respect electric fences. Seems mean, but it's a heck of a lot kinder than having them try to jump through, get tangled, and end up strangled/shocked to death. I don't think putting foil on the horns would do much good. Horned goats usually check things out with their noses/tongues first just like hornless ones. None of my horned goats ever mess with electric fences any more than the hornless ones. But when it comes to metal gates, the hornless goats have the escape advantage (except Finn--Finn can clear just about any fence or gate in a single leap, although he seems leery to try jumping an electric fence--there's a psychological barrier there).

Hello Nanno
I like your idea of putting "metal" foil on the electric fence line and the reasoning behind it.
Problem here with what I want to use is with Bi-Polar it would "Short" out the fence.
BI-Polar carries both the HOT and GROUND on the same tape
Common electric fence using ground conduction your foil idea will work good.
I "Mark" all my horse Electric fence wire (conventional steel wire) with long streamers of construction Ribbon.
#1 for visibility  to the horses.
#2 It makes it easy for me to see if there is a section of fence down that I need to go out and work on.
#3 Don't worry I consider Barbed Wire Mean, Electric Fence and animals "Trained to Respect it" is humane. 
#4 Jumping a fence like Finn you can not do much about. that is when you need to depend on the "Herd" bonding 
#5 Dooly who you met on your visit here is a RET Hunter Jumper he can still clear a 4 foot jump at close to 18 years old. Polar and Trader in their teens can clear a 4 foot fence still. Addie (Black Filly) will do better IF I decide to go that way with her (Not likely )
#6 The "Fix" on the Red Neck Goat Shed to keep the Kids in seems to be working, no escapes. : So Far 
Happy Trails
hihobaron and the Troops in South Carolina

[hihobaron]

Hello All
Came across this item:
It is a Cut and Paste from a different website about the way our livestock is being looked in today's courts.
=======================================

An Outrage: Craig Mosher And The Criminalizing Of The Animal World

The Criminalizing Of The Animal World:
In July of 2015, a Woodbridge, Connecticut couple were traveling west on a Vermont highway when they struck and killed a large Scottish Highlander bull that had escaped from its pasture, according to the Vermont State Police.  The driver, a 64 year-old man, was killed, his wife was injured but recovered.

It was an awful accident.It is now a crime.

Animal escapes are a part of rural life, accidents as serious as this as rare as they are awful. A tree had fallen on the fence where the bull was being pastured, lifting it up enough for him to escape. But a local prosecutor seems to have decided there is no such thing as an accident when it comes to animals.

Last month, a grand jury indicted the bull's owner on criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter at the urging of local prosecutor Rose Kennedy. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

If Craig Mosher is convicted, the lives of every farmer and animal lover will be altered, dramatically and much for the worse. It is a truly horrific precedent, whether you own a bull, a cow, a dog or a cat.

I've been writing about the criminalizing of the animal world for some time now, from the efforts to ban the New York Carriage Horses and falsely accuse the drivers of abuse and deception to the arrest of Joshua Rockwood, a young farmer charged with animal abuse and threatened with jail and the loss of his farm because his water tanks froze in -27 temperatures.

The carriage trade defeated the ban, Rockwood was cleared of all charges, Mosher must also prevail. A new and radical community of farmers and animal lovers are awakened and ready and eager to support one another. This is a landmark opportunity to defend the right of animals to live with us and the rights of people who wish to live with them.

This may be the most outrageous and disturbing case yet, this shocking indictment of Mosher who lives in Killington, Vermont and is well-known and respected for the good care he has given his animals.

Even amidst the deprivations of the animal rights movement, I've never seen a case involving animals that has more ugly, outrageously unfair implications for farmers or anyone who lives with an animal – horses, cows, dogs, cats, donkeys, even chickens. From everything that is known about this case, justice is weeping in a corner.

Throughout the history of rural America, and also of urban America, accidents occur involving animals. Dogs escape from fences, pull leashes out of people's hands, run off in the woods, vanish looking for sex, cats slip out-of-doors and windows, sometimes run in street. Trees fall on the best fences, lightning strikes pastures, cars run into them, drought and rain can undermine posts, latches can rust, electric fences can short. Livestock animals are often big and strong, everyone who lives in rural America has had animals slip through fences.

Farms are not fortresses, farmers often have miles of fences to monitor, repair, inspect. And little spare time to do it.

In Maine, people are killed every year in collisions with Moose, thousands of people all over the country hit deer (I've hit and killed two, Maria hit one.) Are states to be charged with criminal offenses when these very sad incidents occur? If Craig Mosher is guilty, what about the person whose dog runs into a truck and causes it to veer into a pole or other car? Is the owner to face financial ruin, arrest and indictment?

Sometimes these animals are hit by cars and trucks, sometimes they are killed, sometimes it takes days or weeks to find them. And sometimes people are injured, even killed, in accidents. That is the nature of life, animals are not immune from tragedy any more than people are. There will always be accidents, none of us, animal or human, have any guarantees.

Even the best and strongest fences can not offer lifetime and absolute protection from escape or wandering. I have had donkeys unlatch gates, knock me down when I opened them and rush out, had sheep go right through charged five-wire fences. Just last week, our pony came up behind me and nosed me out-of-the-way to try to get through a gate I was opening (to enter) and eat the grass in the yard. If Maria was not walking up right behind me, and quickly closed the gate, Chloe could have gotten out.

When my animals get out, I call on my neighbors, we rush to help one another. It is not a crime scene, it is life. It is no big deal to see some cows trotting down a country road, we just pull up to the farmhouse, knock on the door and let them know.

In all of American history, in cities where dogs escape and in the country where cows get out – farms have huge spaces and fence lines to patrol, cows are big and nosy. All of us have stopped to help when cows and horses and goats and sheep get out – this has happened to just about every farmer in the country. It will no doubt happen to me again. Pigs are insanely clever about digging out from fences, they are very tough to catch.

It is a familiar ritual in farming communities, when we see a cow or horse or donkey or dog on the road, we pull over, stop and help.  If we can't, we call the sheriff. Usually there is no need, and they can't do much more about it than we can. Animals don't take orders or answer polite requests or obey arrogant prosecutors.

In the country, we say that escaped animals are often the way we meet our neighbors. Three years ago, our new fence failed and my sheep broke out and ran up a busy highway for a half-mile.  Trucks and cars were swerving all over the place to avoid them, it was a horrifying sight. We met Bob, our new neighbor. "This is how I meet all of the newcomers," he said, shaking my hand.

A dozen good neighbors – most of whom we had never met – came running to help that day. People pulled over in cars and trucks. Nobody called the police to have us arrested.  And I am lucky, I had $8,000 fences that far surpass legal requirements, the best fences I could buy. Few farmers have enough leftover money to do that, milk prices haven't gone up in years.

A hurricane had just passed close by, there was a deluge, and the pasture was flooded, and the fences shorted. It was an accident, and I can't imagine how it could have been avoided. We added some new fences, it has not happened since.  If the Rutland County Prosecutor succeeds in convicting George Mosher, this would now be a crime, an awful window for greedy lawyers and ambitious prosecutors to jump through.

Traditionally, accidents like these often lead to civil suits or insurance claims,  they have always been handled as civil cases. I can find no evidence that any animal accident that befalls responsible animal owners – and many people testify that Mosher is extremely responsible – has ever resulted in criminal charges, absent evidence of malice or chronic and irresponsible neglect. There is no evidence of chronic or irresponsible behavior by Mosher, nothing that would ever be called criminal or require jail time.

This message was posted on Facebook tonight by the Vermont Farm Bureau, which is rushing to Mosher's defense and asking for help:

"Please call or email senators from Rutland Vermont, Peg Flory, Kevin Mullin, and Brian callamore, and Representatives Butch Shaw and Job Tate asking them simply to try to get all charges dropped against Craig Mosher of Killington, VT.

Craig's bull was loose in route 4 at 10:30 pm last July 31,2015. He was out looking for his bull, a pet, when he learned that a motorist struck and killed his bull and then veered off the road into a tree, killing himself. It is tragic.

Mr Mosher has been charged by a grand jury in Rutland county with involuntary manslaughter. This carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison. Landowners around the area are already reluctant to rent out pastures to neighboring farmers. Other farmers don't want to let their animals out of the barn. If you live in the area drive by Mr Mosher's farm and fences. See for yourself how they are.

This was a tragic accident. This case is being pursued by prosecutor Rose Kennedy. This is not good news for anyone with livestock.

The emails for the senators and representatives are first initial last name all lower case with no punctuation @ leg.state.vt.us. For example: kmullin@leg.state.vt.us. As of now mr Mosher has a court date of june 6, 2016. Please come to court that day to show your support. We will keep updating the day and time."

The Vermont Standard quoted Texas attorney and author Jan Dawson, who has written several books about livestock accidents, as saying "I"ve never heard of anybody filing criminal charges like manslaughter." These cases are always civil cases, settled, when there are damages, in civil courts.

Yet another case perhaps, of a prosecutor who seems to know nothing about farms, or the real lives of animals. That has become a familiar story to farmers and animal lovers.

Believe me, if they can do it to him, they can do it to every one who lives with any kind of animal. If your cat runs in front of a car and causes an accident, this prosecutor believes that  you can face criminal charges.

For farmers and rural communities, this could be a catastrophe.

It means hobby farms and second homers will not permit farmers to graze on their land for fear of criminal charges. It means many farmers – this is already happening in Vermont, according to the Farm Bureau, since the arrest – will keep their cows and other animals confined in barns and never let them graze freely. It means the insurance rates of anyone who lives with any kind of animal could go through the roof.

It means farmers will incur greater expenses and live in even more fear and uncertainty. And this in Vermont, a rural state with a rich history of animals living with people.

A farmer e-mailed me this afternoon – he lives near Mosher – to say he plans to send three of his cows to slaughter because they stick their noses under the fence too often to try to get to the grass near the road. "I can't take a chance on them getting out now, that kind of indictment would ruin me. Before, when they got out, somebody would tell me and we'd get them back in. Now….I don't know. It's just crazy." He is, of course, terrified to give his name.

This is part of having a farm, there is no foolproof fence against all animals and all of nature.

Increasingly, and in part because of the furor over animal rights, we have come to see animals as deserving of perfect lives. No injuries or suffering or accidents of any kind are acceptable.

Abuse is being radically and arbitrarily redefined, and historic and traditional treatment of animals is becoming criminalized, with no public discussion or due process. As we lose touch with farms, nature, and the realities and identity of rural life, we are losing our perspective when it comes to animals. It becomes ever more expensive, controversial,difficult and dangerous to own them.

How many people will simply decide not to bother with this kind of persecution and forego the experience of having a pet bull or keeping cows alive or even getting a dog and cat? It becomes more difficult and costly and fraught every day to live with animals, and they are the ones suffering the most from this myopia, they are vanishing from the earth.

The New York Carriage Horses, perhaps the luckiest, best  regulated and best cared for horses anywhere, have to fight for their very lives every year because people would ought to know better believe it is cruel for working animals to work.

No animal and no farmer – and no ordinary citizen – would benefit in any way from such a flagrant overreach by government authority and injustice to a respected member of the community. It could happen to anyone.

The local police chief told a reporter he was stunned by the indictment, he said in 17 years he has never heard of an animal accident resulting in criminal charges. He said Mosher was a respected and admired member of the community who had never caused any kind of trouble, with or without his pet bulls and rescue donkeys.

This is not just a Vermont story, or I would not be writing about it here on my blog. This is part of a national hysteria, a new kind of witch trial, now familiar to farmers and animal lovers everywhere. It is disturbing, but also an opportunity to help a fellow animal lover and be part of the new animal awakening, a wiser and better understanding of animals than this.

I've learned in recent months that we are part of a new kind of community, we are using this new technology to support one another and fight for a rational and just way to love animals and live with them in the face of almost continuous challenge and assault. There is no way in any rational world that Craig Mosher should be facing up to 15 years in jail because his bull got through an opening in his fence that he could not  have known about or prevented.

hihobaron and the Troops in SC

[hihobaron]

Hello All
Here is a fun one for Ya'll.
No goats involved. ( Well maybe a mention or two)
Needed some service work done on the Garden Tractor after hitting to many roots, stumps, rocks etc mowing the fields.
Or as the goats call it the Weed Eating Monster, if they would work faster I would not need to use IT.
Had to use it today goat boys have been spending to much time in the shade eating brush.
Blades in the deck were dull and had my friend at Mark's Small Engine shop order in some heavy duty ones.
He let me know they were in.
Tractor needed a oil change any way and is hard to start (female thing, only works when IT wants to)
Well I got it started cut grass for 3-4 hours and decided to just not mess with loading it on the truck or hooking a trailer up to move it..  SS was here to follow on with her truck so I had a ride back to Camp.
=======================
Put my Stars and Bars hat on and drove it down the main road at full speed 8 mph at best.
This was at a busy time of day for our road, SS took the tail gunner position with the truck's flashers on for safety.
We got a lot of looks,honks and waves from on coming traffic. The South will rise again.
I know we looked like "Waterboy Movie" driving his Garden Tractor to Collage
Mark dropped  his teeth opened the shop door and said drive on in.
I will have to leave it there a couple days he has a back log. Goats are going to have to work hard while it is there.

Happy Trails 
Weed Eating  Monster and the Redneck Troops in SC
hihobaron Blizzard, Fuzzy, Pete and Sam

[hihobaron]

Hello All
This is to all you folk with HORNED Goats.
My two old boys are dehorned, the 2 bucklings born in March Alpine X Saanen have 4-5 inch horns already.
It has been hot here the last couple days 90+.
My old boy's ("Colored" Pete and Sam) have taken to laying in any shade they can close to me after a cool morning of turn out browsing. The old boys were panting in the heat in the shade.
The new kids (White) with horns were ok when they came in just panting a very little bit.
I Felt their horns and they were hotter than the body temp. So all of the above has proven to me that goats do use the blood supply to the horns as a way to radiate body heat. Granted the White coat may have helped.
But they were in the same shaded woods as Pete and Sam.
Proof by feel.
Happy Trails
hihobaron Blizzard, Fuzzy, Pete, Sam and the Troops in SC

[hihobaron]

Hello All
I had a accident today.
Ended up with a badly swollen left knee.
Cause: Trying to catch a big turtle crossing the road, Tripped and fell hard on gravel Left Knee hit first.
Have other abrasions but the knee is the worst, using lots of horse liniment.
Same Leg that took major damage from a land mine a few years ago.
Here is a trick I use on horses and now myself would work on goats too with leg swellings.
In my case my jeans are tight over the knee because of swelling.
I just keep the area wet with Absorbine Horse Liniment
You could use a old sock
(Clean) with the toe cut out to do the same thing if you wear shorts or for a sprained ankle etc.
A old small sock with the toe cut out I think would work on a goat too.
Soak the area good with Liniment, have used the sock method on horses for poltices of different kinds as well as protection for bandaging wound dressings.
Goats were not  responsible for my injury.
Happy Trails
Just call me Hop Along hihobaron
The Troops here in SC say "Howdy Ya'll"