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Into our first winter. 3 nannies pregnant.
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Please Note
I wouldn't get attached to the goats you may see featured in my blog. Part of the reason I got them was because I was tired of paying shipping costs ordering goat meat from California.
I realize some of you have a problem with that and I'm sorry we disagree. But I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to just eat vegetables. And goats are the most widely eaten animal on the planet.
The deal I make is to give my livestock a comfortable life and, if it comes down to it, a quick, humane death. These animals are not pets. They have a job to do and the final act in their employment will be a trip to the freezer. The working conditions are great, the retirement plan is a little unpleasant.
Hot Weather Returns
Summer time. When the weather gets hot the goats...disappear. Not totally, but are less active during the day. They'll spend the early am hours grazing and go out again later in the day. The rest of the time they spend slotted up in a shady spot under a big tree, laying on any patch of bare ground they can find.
Nighttime is when it gets really interesting. Between 9 and 10 every night I do a quick patrol to make sure all the critters are okay and there's nothing skulking around the property. Last night the goats were just gone. Last year this disappearing act caused me a moment of near panic, thinking the crew had escaped again.
When it gets hot the goats lay down in the rain channels carved in the hillsides. Even though there's no breeze, apparently the earth is a lot cooler and they use the eroded channels as natural earth sheltered housing.
It does give one a momentary stomach flutter to not see the herd in its usual spot and a cursory search of the south pasture will miss their hiding spot. But stand there for a minute with a powerful spotlight and soon enough you'll see a pair of reflective eyes peek up out of the valley, quickly joined by more as the herd get curious about the flashlight.
Pretty clever if you ask me.
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