Once They Moved

Now that I had the moms where they needed to be, that still left me with a couple of problems.  I needed to get Astra on this side so I could milk her.

Astra (Haley in the back)

It was actually pretty easy to just open the panel by the cattle tank and let her come through.

Three generations: Pretzel, Moira, and Astra

Unfortunately, Astra and Perdita had to be separated again because she thought she should nurse her maa again, and Astra let her.

Astra and Perdita

I put her back on the other side with the rest of the herd.

Perdita, Aurora, and Daisy (I think the kid is Tippy)

Then I wanted to bring Dolly over too.  She’s been getting to come in and eat sweet feed everyday, and I wanted to continue that.  But she and Zinnia were being a bit difficult.

Zinnia and Dolly

Eventually, I got her in too.

I also had to do something with the geese.  The moms and babies can go everywhere, but the dads can’t get back and forth.  I decided I would put them away from the new kids.  I moved pools and so far it’s working out.  I think that’s all the moving around I had to do.  Trust me, that was plenty for this round of moving goats.

two of the babies

Now, I get to continue trying to keep track of kids out on the pasture with all that tall, thick grass.  So far, that has been going well.

Joani (back), Moira and Pretzel

The other problem is that the move did not help with Tiger getting his head stuck.

Tiger the second time I had to cut him out

I actually have had to cut him out of the fence twice.

You’ll notice he has duct tape on his horns, but he managed to rip the horn apparatus off.

I do not know what I’m going to do with this boy until I can get him sold.

I’m going to give the kids two or three weeks to be able to keep up with their moms, and then I can move them onto the Back Forty.

Moving Goats Again

I decided it was time to move goats again.  Sidney and Moira were in the Love Shack, and there really isn’t much shade.  There’s even less green stuff to eat.  They really needed out.

Moira and Sidney in the Love Shack

Hilda and Cupid were in the same situation in the greenhouse, but it is a bit bigger indoor space.  That makes it a little better.

Cupid in the Love Shack

Anyhow, I decided to do some moving and rearranging to give all my  moms plenty of pasture.  I also hoped to keep Tiger from getting stuck in the fence.  I waited until the herd went out to pasture.

in the Back Forty

I started by dividing my barnyard in half with a couple of panels.

The llamas on the north half of the barnyard

Of course, the llamas showed up just as I was getting ready to do my changes.  I put another panel in the barn to divide it.  Then I decided to bribe the llamas to go back to the other side.

Odie

It worked!

Maybeline and Aurora (Odie behind)

Next up was using some feed to bribe my moms in the north paddock to go into that pen I had just created in the barn.  That was also easy peasy.  I shut them in with one of my panels that I had previously had dividing the barnyard.

the moms from up north

Of course, the kids were still hanging out up by the gate, but I decided I’d deal with them later.  I had all the adults out of the way.

Ivy, Jack, Glover, Lemuel, and Sunshine

Then I went to the buck room.

Freddie and Tiger

They were going to move north.  Xerxes and Freddie were easy.  They just followed me right up.

Xerxes and Freddie (Sunshine and Ivy under the tarp)

I had to go back and bring Tiger with me.  Once I got them up there, I shut the gate.

Tiger (Xerxes and Freddie checking out the tarp hut)

About the time I was getting ready to catch the kids and put them in the barnyard where there moms were going to be, some little Perdita girl slid off the top of the quonset hut under the tarp.  I had completely forgotten about her.  I caught her and put her in the barnyard and then went back to catching the five kids.

Perdita and Ivy

Then I let the moms out of the barn to get their kids.  I’m really sure I had already caught Lem.  Oh well. I caught him again and put him back on the sided I wanted him on.

Lemuel looks tiny beside Freddie.

Then the moms decided they were going to go hang out in the barn again.  I guess that was good because I realized I had forgotten to block the openings by the cattle tank.  They could have just walked right out to the Back Forty.  I am not trying to keep track of these eleven kids on forty acres.

To block the cattle tank holes, I had to remove the door from the greenhouse, so that let Hilda and Cupid out.

Zinnia, Glover, Haley, Joani, Cupid, and Tansy

Then I just had to open the Love Shack.  Um.  My panel was kind of sunk into the ground with the grass holding it down. It took a fair amount of work to get it pulled loose.

Then Sidney and Moira were out.

Sidney and Moira

I could not get everyone to come down to the side I wanted them on.  They were all hanging out in the barn, so I finally gave up for a while.

Eventually, when I let Haley into the milk room to change her bandage, everyone else thought they should come beg for food.

Haley’s foot doesn’t slow her down much; Perdita on the bench

I used that opportunity to finish dividing the barnyard in half again.  Pretty soon, everyone else came back up from pasture and tried to figure out what was going on.

Tomorrow, I’ll finish the saga.

Goat Pics

Here’s just a few pictures from the last week or so.  I started this post a while back, but we keep having more things happen and I push it back.

2TC is queen of the picnic table

Beautiful Bambi

Dolly

Tansy and Sunshine

Cinnamon

I think Purl is ignoring the fact that she’s no longer her maa’s baby.

Sidney’s boy, Thunder

Pluto

Popcorn

Wanda scratching her neck

Haley is still doing well (and the white bandage just looks like another sock)

Joani’s boy, Glover

These goats might drive me crazy, but I do adore them.