As a change from walking the goats along the road, we have started taking them up the hill through the cow paddock to the top of the Farmlet. The advantage of being away from the road is that we can let the goats off their leashes. They really love having the freedom to run about and play, and graze where they like. They are very good about staying with their human herd, and so far we haven’t had any trouble with goats wandering off to parts of the Farmlet where we don’t want them to go (such as the area of native trees near the stream). In fact, the goats are so keen to stay together that we sometimes feel in danger of falling over them, or ending up with their front hooves in the backs of our gumboots. We enjoy watching them prancing about on a fallen log, or doing stunt-leaps down the hill. Humans and goats like to stop at the top of the hill for a while to enjoy the view — or to enjoy a bit more grazing. The goats are excellent company.
Work on the fence around the uphill goat paddock is almost complete. We hope it will be finished before we move the goats back into that paddock in about a week’s time. (We move the goats every 21 days. This is meant to help break the life-cycle of any parasites they might have. I dose them with apple cider vinegar and/or aloe vera and/or tansy a few days before we move them, so that they should have expelled any parasites before moving to the clean paddock.)
Everyone follow Mummy
Another perfect evening on the Farmlet
Stunt goats
I love your blog, and these goat photos just make me smile. What lovely little creatures they are!
thanks for sharing all the nooks and crannies of your life on the farmlet. I enjoy getting to glimpse your piece of the earth. it’s always inspiring (and the goats are cute, too!)