Canadian Geese 508 Tree

Taking the long way around to the farm paid off again this am. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite stretches of local road most times of the year. (In snowstorms and foul weather the snow drifts at the top and the backside is steep and curvy and prone to ice sheets.)

I had to turn around and go back to get this pic-the geese were quite cooperative, since they were so far away.

While downlaoding the pics, I had to reflect how lucky I am. Between the tornados in the midwest, monsoon in former Burma, and the massive earthquake in China, so many folks are spending the night with everything they have known gone...my compassion goes out to those folks in need.

Just to put it in perspective, one of the cities in China that was hard hit has a population like New York City, and 99% of those folks are camping out in the streets.

Farmtalk:

P was off at the farm again today, and I finished collaring the main barn while R grained. Then R, Boss and I herded the two little wethers, Pablo and Carmells' brown, into the stall with the three remaining 07 doelings. Well, we got Pablo in, but not the brown. He will tame up soon enough.

I then started combing. I finished off two ancient wethers who stared up at me with their teeth jutting out in goaty grins while I made them handsome.

Boss asked me to comb Bonnie, and while she was a pleasant comb while pregnant a few weeks ago, today she was glare eyed and jumpy, protective over her shy homely little single black buckling. I made a comment to Boss about his funky head, and had to restate it more gently when she replied sharply. Hehehe. Boss said he had been very large and Bonnie had a tough time. I didn't spend too much time on Bonnie today. :P

An exciting turn of events, Boss was purchasing another buck, and told me he was a mess and would need combing. As is usual at the farm, the folks didn't show on time, so R and I went ahead to the bucks , now at Jenny Nash.

R let them out for their walk while I cleaned. Boss showed up a bit later and said the folks had not arrived yet, and to go ahead and grain the boys, and gave me the names of two who needed their feet washed.

I had R hold up each foot for washing, since I tore my hand on a goat horn yesterday at my own place, and did NOT want to get the hoof wash on the cut, since it burns like FIRE on a wound. Works great on goat feet, though.

Next I singled Leif out for another comb, since he had streamers of cashmere hanging off his flanks. Usually that is a jumpy place for a goat to have brushed, but Leif and I are old hands now, and between the itchy shedding and the blackflies, he was more than willing to let me vigorously brush him.

Finally Boss arrived, followed by a pickup. The new buck, Chris, was tied in the back of the truck. Need a combing?!?!?!? He looked like one of those caribou or yaks or wild bison with the blankets of fiber hanging off them. It was unbelievable!!!!

R and I immediately took him over and chained him to the fence. I gave the new goat lots of scratches and small talk and a few corn treats and started trying to clean him up. It was sort of a nightmare! I think if it had been up to me I would have done some heavy scissor work, The cashmere had started to felt and was cemented into the tips of all the guard hair. I didn't want to just rip him, so I was tediously teasing individual guard hairs out trying to loosen the gobs of cashmere.

Boss started working on the back of the same side as myself-I was up at the neck and shoulder. Boss put R to work on the other side. We took three big bags off him in an hour and haven't begun to clean him up.

His former owners stood and watched and at first said that they had been told not to brush him as it wrecks the fiber. Then they said that the goat wouldn't let them brush him-but they never tried to tie him to brush him!

I put the exclamation point there, because I had to learn the hard way that if you need to do something to a goat, you need to collar and tie them. Sometimes I can check a foot quickly, but they know they are not tied and will not stand. Even goats that don't mind combing will generally run if I give them a swipe or two with the brush if they are crowding me while I am working on a tied goat.

Certainly the handsome boy had not been neglected-he is quite chubby and was very easy to handle, it was just a matter of them only having the one goat and not a lot of experience. Also in the folks defense, bucks smell. Not many people would want to start digging their fingers into buck hair. The woman even made a point to tell me that the goat's nickname was "stinky".

He will be "handsome"by the time we get him cleaned up. :)