A successful "field" trip

Every kidding season brings us some challenges and this year is no different.  We've been struggling currently with a possible udder injury from triplet boys and parasite overload in another doe who also had triplet boys.  Kids wreak havoc on their moms and I can so identify with that.

My soon-to-be-a-veterinarian niece told me it's time we move our goats to another pasture because ours is probably unhealthy after 4 years of goats pooping on it.   I already knew this but it motivated me to speed things up hearing it from someone else so today I took action.  You may remember how recently I tried moving the goats into our big field with no success.  I have to get them to cross the road - yes, all of them at once.   This is quite an orchestration but today I had a plan.

I loaded all 10 kids up in my station wagon, along with Darla who is a great baby sitter and also small enough I could lift into the car.  I drove them over to the field where they could cry out to their moms across the road.  How easy is that, huh?  All I had to do was let the moms out of their barn and they'd cross the road to be with their kids.  Well, it mostly worked that way.  We only had one car stop to wait for a confused goat.  The lady was very kind and I think she liked watching this discombobulated woman trying to organize her caprines.  Two goats didn't cross the road so I had to bribe them with food but eventually I had all the does and their kids on new ground.

 They were nervous, but at the same time seemed excited about the varieties of salad they'd been introduced to.  They wanted me nearby though and cried if I walked too far away.  Over time they relaxed and I was able to go back to the house to eat lunch without anyone freaking out.  The standard donkeys were not too crazy about the goats being over there without them but when I tried to coax them over too they still wouldn't cross the road.  It'll happen and you'll read about it here when it does.

It was so nice to see them standing in green grass that had never been tread on by a goat before.

Getting them back to their barn wasn't too big of a deal but still a little nerve wracking.  I'm sure this will get easier if I do it every day.  For my birthday James gave me 2 Goat Crossing signs.  I guess it's time I put them up.