GOATS!

Lilac with her head stuck in the fence….again

With goats it seems that the old adage “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” has special meaning. No matter how lush the pasture, they always think that what is growing on the other side of the fence must be even better. The temptation to stick their heads through the woven wire fence for a nibble is just too much to resist. Unfortunately goats are equipped with horns that act like barbs- they slide in with ease but there is no pulling them back out. Sometimes when I hear them crying I’m able to wrestle with them and angle their heads just the right way to slide them out, but usually I end up having to cut the fence with bolt cutters. Pretty soon I’m not going to have much fence left.

Within the last week things have gotten out of hand. Not only is either Luc or Lilac (never mother Ivy, she has more sense then that, or maybe her head is just too big to fit through) caught in the fence at least every other day but they’ve started doing it at very inconvenient times. A few days ago we were woken up by a stranger at the front door with a neighbor we had never met, while out on an early morning walk, heard Lilac hollering and came to investigate. Then last night we had just sat down to a work-dinner with Chris’s bosses when I got a text from a different neighbor saying that they heard screaming coming from our farm. Thankfully they were able to rescue the goat without me having to rush out of dinner. (Thanks SO SO much Cowens!!)

Enough is enough. Today I fashioned both of the “teenagers” some fancy new hats. If they stay on, they should prevent them from sticking their heads into any holes where they are liable to get stuck. I think that the one on Luc will stay put– his horns angle out enough that I was able to fasten plastic zip ties tightly enough around his horns that the pipe is pretty secure. Lilac’s horns go straight back, though, without much spread so I’m not sure if the pipe will stay on her or if she will manage to slide it up and off. I’ve seen photos where other people have used duct tape to keep the bar in place so I’ll try that tomorrow if they manage to dislodge their hats. Fingers crossed that this is the end of our stuck goat drama!