Rain, Fence, Tree, and Goats

I shared that our big five inch rain on the 13th washed out the fence between my Back Forty and the neighbor’s field.  Since then, it really hasn’t quit raining.  We’ve had probably 12 inches of rain since then (including that five inches; I’m writing this draft on the 21st).  That means, we really haven’t been able to get back there to fix it.

from 5 inches on the 13th

No problem!  I want Tony to get used to Fionn and Xerxes and the other goats, so when we cooled down, I shut the three of them in the small paddock.

Tony, Fionn, and Xerxes

By the way, Tony ditched his halter, so I’m out there looking for it a lot too.  I’m not too mad because I knew it was loose and was too lazy to switch it.

It will also let Tony get closer to the whole herd of goats and other llamas if they are on the front pasture too.

Tony watching goats

So I let the rest of the llamas and goats onto the front pasture.

Aurora and Odie

It’s certainly got enough for them to eat for quite a while.

Haley, Cinnamon and Haley’s kids, Calliope jumping over Orpheus

I did forget one minor thing though–the horizontal oak tree.

The goats love it!

Hermes in the tree; Aphrodite and Giselle (?) above

Unfortunately, when it was cut and the fence pulled up, it was done to hold in cows, not goats.  You can see Caroline and Daisy clear out over the ditch.

Athena and Daisy accidentally landed on the ditch side of the fence.  I had to haul Athena kicking and screaming back to the barnyard.  When I was getting ready to go try and bribe Daisy in, she figured out she was on the wrong side and panicked.  I called to her, and I swear to you, she came on a dead run around the corner straight for the gate.  If I had been standing in the way, she’d have run me over.

Betty Lou and Athena on opposite sides of the fence and Daisy about to be on the wrong side of the fence

Well, it’s still raining, so we haven’t had time to even bring the chain saw and trim the tree.  At least the rain kept them away for a day, but today (again the 21st), they were all playing on the tree again.

You’ll notice Daisy is headed back up down the tree so she isn’t on the wrong side again.

Caroline, Daisy, and Zeus

However, Caroline fell off on the wrong side.  It didn’t phase her.  She just kept eating.

I did have to drag Caroline her back to the barnyard.

Seriously, why can’t you just walk?

“Why am I in jail?” -Caroline

Then Zeus was up there trying to eat. (Video link below)  He got carried back to the barnyard.  At least that was a little easier.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fedenhills.myson%2Fvideos%2F1805652856148229%2F&show_text=0&width=560

Zeus (Yes, that’s Caroline right behind him, but she did turn back around.)

We finally goat a break in the rain so we could trim the tree to keep the goats in!  Who knows how long it will be before it’s dry enough to take equipment to the Back Forty to fix the fence (or make hay for that matter).

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The First Round

Things have been so busy, I’m way behind on sharing what’s been going on.  On Monday evening, I had my first round of hide-and-goat-seek.  I saw Haley take her kids out to pasture, but I was busy preparing for incoming storms.  I had to move some of the brand new kids to a place where there was enough room for everyone to get inside.  I figured it would take a few minutes, and then I could run down and grab her kids.

Well, a cloud came and the breeze picked up and brought relief from the 100 degree feels-like temperature and the goats all got excited and took off across pasture, so I had no idea when the kids got tired and decided to take a nap.  I did, however, discover that my fence was washed out in the rain that moved the tree down the ditch.  I might have had to yell at a handfull of goats to get their tails back on my side of the fence.

I walked and walked and called to the kids and swore at Haley for bringing them out, and after a good half an hour, I came upon this adorable sight.

Calliope and Orpheus

Score!  Farmer Teresa 2; goats 0.  I carried them back to the barnyard, and it wasn’t long before the front line of the storms reached us.

We had another inch-and-a-half of rain overnight.

Rain

I have mentioned that we have been dry this spring.  It seems like the rain is all around us, but stops just short of my farm no matter which direction it’s coming from.  Seriously.  My nephew just north of town got four-tenths of an inch one night while, two miles away, I got sprinkles.  That’s been the pattern.  Well that all ended overnight Wednesday and into Thursday morning.  My red-neck rain gauge overflowed.  I had to call my dad and see how much we got–five inches by the end of the rain event.

You know it’s a hard rain when you get the waves of wash coming through the barnyard.

Aurora in the background

After five inches, the barnyard was wet, but not muddy.  We really did need this rain.

Sidney

I decided to go see how much water was in pasture.  The ditch looked more like a real creek.

The debris and flat grass shows how high the water was.  I was impressed.

Then I got to where I was going to take the fallen tree bridge across the water, but it was gone.  You can see where it was supposed to be–there’s no grass.

Seriously.  The water swept it farther down the ditch.  I kept following the ditch to see where it ended up.

It landed against the next batch of willow trees.  Both of the logs crossing were moved from the spot .

To really see how far it was moved, it went the path of the arrow below.  For perspective, the little white spots behind the willow tree are goats.

Water is some powerful force!

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