The Bully Goat
After our rodeo refresh and gator delivery it was time to get back to business on the ranch. One thing that has always plagued us is the lack of tools at arms reach any time we do a project. We usually spend more time running around trying to gather tools and find things we need rather than actually working on the task at hand. This is a huge reason why the gator was a necessary purchase in our minds. A moving toolbox and feed transportation vehicle. When that puppy arrived it was one of the best days on the ranch. We took it zipping around the pasture, loaded it up with tools, and cut our feed routine down from an hour to around fifteen minutes. Absolutely wild.
Convenient timing for it to arrive too because our lady goats are pregnant. And we know this for a fact because Mr. Billy Ray has gotten extra feisty with them lately. We knew he would eventually but hadn’t gotten around to getting him a new pen built just yet. But when we were out installing the new feeders Billy decided to get a little too playful with Reba and accidentally got his horns stuck around her back legs. Nubians sound like grown humans when they scream and I don’t think I will ever forget Reba’s scream when he threw her on the ground and started twisting her back legs trying to get disconnected from her. Luckily Jaken was sitting on the fence when it happened so he quickly ran and get them disentangled. We thought for sure her legs were broken but after a few minutes of rest and pets she got us and started walking around. It was too close of a call for us so we decided it was time to build Billy his own pen.
We decided to attach it onto the end of the girls pen since we do not have a wether for him yet and didn’t want him to be too far away and lonely. So Jaken spent a few mornings before work post hole digging, concrete setting, and installing h-braces around the corners, pounding t-posts into the ground and gathering supplies for the weekend when Hope and I would help him stretch the fencing. He’s getting really good at building fences but the more fences he builds the more he dislikes it. It’s no joke when people complain about building fence. Its not super difficult but it sure is tedious work.
When the weekend hit Hope and I loaded up on the tractor and helped stretch the woven wire while Jaken nailed it to the posts, then we went behind and clipped all the t-posts to it. Once it was done we got Billy’s feeder and trough set up and then convinced him to move over. We had put Gretchen and Reba over with the sheep while it was being built so no more horn accidents occurred and they were grateful to have their space back. It felt good to get the goats squared away and organized to get ready for their babies to be born in the coming months.
As I said though, the projects never end…and as the goats were all buttoned up we turned to look at the chickens…and the rooster and hen running around outside their fence…here we go again.