Exciting New Paddock

Everything you do is for your goats. You get out in the hot weather and fence in another paddock just for the goats. Sweat and toil and get if finished. You open the gate and the goats rush to the newly available browse. You are now patting yourself on the back knowing you have made it better for your goats.

Back in the mid 50’s my grandfather told me that if a mule could roll over, it was worth a hundred dollars. Now I have no idea what that has to do with a new paddock, but as I was watching the goats in the new paddock, I noticed one of the doelings run from one area to another, lay down, and roll over. I’m saying to myself, ‘She is worth a hundred dollars,’ going back to what my grand father told about mules. She got up and ran and rolled again. It was almost funny. A few minutes later an older doe rolled over, scratching her back as she rolled. Oh, she is very pregnant and looked totally ridiculous.

We talked about how happy these goats are to have a new paddock to browse and graze in. The herd kept moving to/from the browse to grazing. A couple were scratching their sides and neck on the ground. As they continue to move around, they moved back to the browse area along the creek. All of a sudden, a bunch (seven or eight) ran back to the grazing area, laying down, snorting, rolling over, with a couple of kids running like wild children, circling the herd, laying down, rolling over, jumping up, and running again.

We sat there laughing at the ‘Games’ they are playing. It seemed funny. I thought I noticed something from the browse area. I walked over and sure enough, they had gotten into a yellow jacket nest and the yellow jackets were very unhappy. We quickly moved the herd out of the new paddock and applied wasp spray to the nest or at least where the yellow jackets were swarming. When we got back to the barn, we noticed that a couple had spots on their body what was swelling a little. We made them all happy - we fed them.

So much for being a good guy and giving the goats a new paddock to browse through. Hopefully we will someday be able to convince them to return to that paddock!