Grand Opening: So Green is My Grass Daycare

On the first sunny day where the grass was glowing green upon the pastures, we liberated the young'uns from the home pasture (now a "mud lot" according to the local vernacular, or a "sacrifice lot" using the USDA NRCS's federal terminology). Using the hog panels (36" tall by 16' wide) we set up a nursery on the greening lawn beside the house, just in front of the deck. Much of the morning was spent rounding up the kids and delivering them into this new enclosure. This being the first time any of them had been separated from their dams, some exercised the full power of their little lungs--nearly deafening me. The first five kids were relatively simple to catch and carry off, although their resistance limited me to carrying one at a time. During this process, I began letting the dams out of the home pasture to wander freely below. When the Nigerian Dwarf goat kids Todd (whose dam is Jennifer) and Theresa (whose dam is Cocoa) were the only ones left with the alpacas, Todd and Theresa were engaged in a whirlwind chase around the pasture. They both understood that I was targeting them and neither had plans to be captured.

Cocoa, Theresa's dam, is nice enough but she tends to be a hands-off kind of gal. She passes her skittishness around humans along to her kids. Theresa is a very sweet little kid, but unlike the kids who will race to greet me and taste my boots or climb up onto me, Theresa keeps her own counsel. At long last, both kids were cornered and carried off. They were glad to join their herd when they arrived at the daycare pen.

Our good neighbor Theresa came over to sit on the porch for a bit, and to meet her namesake. We filmed Phyllis's attempts to catch the kid, and the phenomenal power of Theresa's lungs when caught. Yet, as soon as the kid was passed over the fence and placed into Theresa's arms, she thoroughly relaxed. Heck, she even cuddled. The change was remarkable and each Theresa seemed taken with the other creature bearing that name.

When the shadows grew long, we opened the gate to the daycare. By shaking a bucket of grain, we enticed the goat gals to follow smartly along behind us, and the kids stuck close to their dams for the short trip back up to the home pasture.

Hopefully, we'll get them back out to the green grass frequently enough that the home pasture's recovery will be hastened. So far the greening patches look tasty but are not yet worthy of serious grazing.




For some refreshing reading, goat aficionados will enjoy Brad Kessler's Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese. I was lucky enough to be given a copy by a dear friend this winter and have enjoyed sampling it in bits and perusing it at length. Readers are sure to learn more than they previously knew. Enjoy!