I approached the farm, slowed down early enough to spot a stranger in the herd. Little did I know there were two strangers. Words fail. Pictures will suffice. Congratulations to http://www.opiesgoats.com for the first two of many great additions to 2013!
If you have a few minutes and want to learn more about how I do what I do and why, listen to the radio show I recorded with Ann Marie Ames, broadcast Saturday and Sunday morning osn WCLO and WJVL, respectively.
http://wclo.com/podcasts/ag-matters/2012/dec/18/goat-matters/
Adam showing Peanut at Rock County 4-H Fair
Megan showing Symphony at Rock County 4-H Fair
Living in southern Wisconsin, we do not get nearly the amount of snow as we did just decades ago. Nonetheless, you need to be prepared, especially when you have livestock depending on you for food and water. JP put the plow on the truck, bought a new shovel, and intends to bring a snowblower for me to use here on the farm. I’ll be busting trails walking back and forth to their fenced in habitats, the barn, and back throughout the coming cold days and nights, carrying buckets of water from the basement to the heated buckets in the fields. Thinking about it actually makes me feel warm and cozy, picturing the layers of clothes, socks, facemasks and footwear that make winters in Wisconsin tolerable. It is the most beautiful time of year here, afterall. Why fight it?
George had nearly three months worth of male company up until yesterday, having sold one of the baby boys to a family with eleven children (eight under eight) and raffling the other off for HealthNet of Rock County – the proceeds will be used for updating the dental clinic. Baby Walker raised nearly $5000.
They will be missed by me of course and JP, well, not so much. The kids tend to “cry” a lot and it sounds like they are sad, hurt, dying and/or lonely. And whether or not they are, you can’t just tend to every sound that comes out of them and honestly, after two months, I was ready for some peace and quiet. So I thought.
The fact is, I miss my little guys and I know George does too. My mini donkey is now alone with the does again and JP is the only other guy living on the farm. They seem to embrace that and seem to have a bond that is both adorable and enviable. Deep down, I want George to only love me. I am not gonna lie.
Regardless, the farm is baby free and George is the lone male in the field. Again.
I went to feed Louise yesterday and Barrett was gone. Baby Barrett was missing. We searched low but not high and frantic can’t describe how I felt. I let Louise out to help point the way but no luck. No Barrett. Then I heard a little cry. Baby Barrett had escaped UNDER their fence (I’ll never understand how he fit) and went to visit his sweet Uncle George, our miniature donkey. He had climbed to the top of George’s giant hay-bale bed and fell through – he was literally stuck between and under bales of hay! JP dug him out and George’s company, invited or not, was carried back to his mother, uninjured.
It has been so freakin’ hot in southern Wisconsin this week – over 90 degrees every day. The animals move slow, I move slow, even the vegetables in the garden seem to be growing slow. Not the damn weeds, though. Oh no. Worse yet, I can barely handle the heat enough to cultivate, pull weeds, and thin rows.
Needless to say, I spend my days in an air-conditioned office – I actually need a sweater. I drive home to the farm in my car which turns into an oven while I’m at work. It cools off just about when I am pulling in my driveway.I am a fair-skinned redhead. This shit ain’t for me. Can you believe I actually lived in Arizona for five years? What was I thinking?
As if my lethargic by-product of the weather isn’t enough, the animals are going through so much water. Mind you, I…
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Opie's Goats 