With losing Fionn, Xerxes was lonely in the front pasture all by himself. Goats do not like to be alone. That’s why some people will just keep a wether for their buck to have company. I had tried weaning Uno in there with the two bucks a while ago, but the little snot escaped back to his mom. Yesterday, I decided I’d just do a quick switch, putting Xerxes and Uno up north and putting Joy and Blaze on the front pasture. That way I could also add my upcoming moms on the front pasture too.
Xerxes and Fionn just a couple of days before Fionn’s death
It should be easy peasy, right. Well, the first step was waiting for everyone else to go out to pasture. Then I just used a bit of sweet feed to bribe Joy and Blaze into the Love Shack. 2TC followed, and I had to haul Seven over, but it was easy.
Then I opened the gate to the front pasture and tried the same method of moving Xerxes. He usually just followed Fionn wherever the food led. This time, he was really good at following me. Easy peasy.
Xerxes
Of course, I was constantly tripping over Popcorn.
Popcorn
When I turned around though, Maybeline and Odie had gone through the gate and were exploring the front pasture. Brats.
Odie and Maybeline
I bribed them back out with llama food, and I waited until the llamas went out to pasture before my next step.
Odie eating her bribe
That was putting the girls on the front pasture. I had to “lead” them, but it wasn’t too bad.
Blaze and 2TC
I also added Antigone and Pistol. Antigone is due in June, and her maa, Pistol, could use a little extra attention. Tonight, I’ll try to add Margarita since she is due the end of next week.
Antigone and Pistol (front), Blaze, 2TC, and Joy
That just left catching Uno and putting him with Xerxes. He’s tame, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but he has these slippery-as-butter horns that I just can’t hang on to. I got him up to the gate, and he slipped away. I caught him again and decided to do the hold both horns and walk straddling him method. I got him to the gate and opened it and we were half way through, and then he escaped. That kid is really a momma’s boy. He did not want to be weaned at all. He wanted to stay with his mom and all his other friends in the herd.
Uno
I left him alone, mostly because I couldn’t catch him a third time. He was on to me by then. Finally, when I came out later in the evening, his mom, Maisie was in the Love Shack pen eating the leftovers from Blaze and Joy, and Uno was in there too!
Cupid (left), Moira and Gidget (back), and Maisie
I shut the gate and caught the little stinker. I put a collar on him this time and went back to the straddling him and using both horns to steer method. I also had the collar as a backup if I lost my grip on his horns again. This time, I had success!
He even stayed in all night. That’s good because he’s just four months old, but that’s a lot of buck.
He can do some serious damage to my plans of not having fall oopsie babies.
Tags: Antigone, Blaze, buck, goats, Joy, kidding, Maisie, moving goats, pasture, Pistol, weaning, Xerxes
Teresa
