Wednesday

Yesterday I arrived home and thought, "where are my little goats?" Then I thought, "where are the big goats?"

I had a moment of panic thinking they were gone. The guy who bought my other goats had stopped in a couple of weeks ago out of the blue asking if I had more goats for sale. He had also knocked down my mailbox and not said anything until I walked him down the drive (after telling him I had no goats for sale) and found the mailbox standing in a snowbank.

"I wasn't going to leave without telling you."

Hmmm...

Well, I let him off the hook, even though I should have made a claim on his insurance. Now my mailbox is sitting in an ugly 5 gallon bucket filled with rock and braced with two by fours. Winter in Maine...

Anyhow, my goats were all down back and came running and leaping in a herd. The little ones decided it was time to join the big goats, I guess. Of course they went right through the electric fence several times, so I locked them back in their pen and they cried so loudly I put them back with the rest.

Badger was butted through the electric today by Jenny, but it was off. I didn't want to leave it on while I was gone and I had just stopped home briefly and saw it happen. Badger is a bit of a clutz and gets tangled in it (Piper leaps between the strands) so I didn't want to leave it on and have him get electrocuted if he got stuck in it.

I guess it's not putting off much of a zap. I tried to walk part of it and Badger got through it since they follow me everywhere. I walked the lower half today while they were getting their grain and removed a few small sticks. I'll try to get the upper half tomorrow.

The big goats have apparently all been zapped in the past, since they respect it even when off. I have been unplugging it in the mornings so I can hop it with their hay and leaving it off until evening. There's no snow to short it out, but there may be a problem in the upper section.

In the meantime, the little goats mostly follow the big goats and stay in. I swear Jenny was trying to shock Badger this afternoon when she pushed him through it, but it was off. He stretched the line and pulled it off an insulator, which I fixed this afternoon.

Oh, I just don't get enough of goats at my day job! LOL. Worked again today, combed a bunch of does and bucklings and wethers. Still working with my oldest, and a new lady came in today to help. She was good with the goats and at combing and seemed to have a bit of joie de vivre; so welcome to the farm, J!