FiFi Mae, Trailer Queen

On Sunday the does and dogs again roamed the back acres—with the caprines browsing the new growth within earshot of the barn and the canines venturing far afield. When I motored the little UTV Trail Wagon into the woods, the does pressed forward in a wave to investigate as I began, and even followed me to my first excavation site—a well-rotted tree stump ready to work in the garden; however, they soon lost interest and returned to the more serious task of foraging. The dogs, on the other hand, romped gaily along—bouncing over fallen trees, chasing through the brush, prancing close for petting when I stopped to collect soil along the wetter lowlands. Molly even stood in the runoff feeding the seasonal West Fork of Spring Creek to supervise my adventures in mud. Heidi appeared frequently, never getting close enough to be touched, but coming closer than her norm.

Back at the barn, where I had spent a chunk of the morning cutting the woven wire affixed to the round pen to allow the pen to be broken apart in sections and moved, the boys munched hay and sniffed eagerly at any does that approached their enclosure. The storage trailer stood wide open, inviting goats to approach to reach the hay stored inside. The fainters could reach the hay by standing on the ramp or even reaching from the ground, but the dwarfs had to make do with hay brought down for them. Thumbelina, Cocoa, and Jennifer, who are somewhat hampered by the enormity of their pregnancies, had to watch from the ground as little FiFi Mae hopped nimbly into the trailer. There she ate happily and lorded it over all those below her perch.

At different times the fainters challenged her reign, but little FiFi Mae was undeterred. She even took on the imperious herd queen, Gwen, who tried to enter the trailer itself, only to be stopped cold by the little upstart who has been here barely a week. I’m pleased that FiFi Mae has acclimated so well. When she first arrived she allowed herself to be bullied and run off, but now she holds her own at the feed trough—and she became Trailer Queen in the blink of an eye, much to Gwen’s dismay!

In the late afternoon the girls were ready to go in for the night, and soon settled into their stalls with hay. Even Luther was hungry after all of his running, and he stayed close when the girls got fed. When he reached into the fainters’ hog pan / trough I understood, and let him into the alcove where the canines’ kibble is harbored safely out of reach of those greedy goats. Then Molly actually came when I called—I have yet to do any formal obedience training with the pups—galloping in from the depths of the woods, eager to please and quick to return to the pasture. With everyone but Heidi tucked in for the night, and Heidi on patrol outside the pups’ pasture that she enters and exits at will through the flimsy soft divider I erected to suggest a fence when I expanded the canine kingdom to include the overhang at the rear of the barn a few days back, I called Jody in Mt. Juliet and headed out to pick up the fainter buckling she had for sale.