Moki can herd a wheelbarrow like no other. Moki can herd us on our bikes like a pro. Moki will even herd my truck like a champ when I'm slowly backing it into parking spot. And he herds his people like a well trained herding animal. But Moki has NO herding instincts when it comes to livestock. He is a useless goat herder!
Yesterday Alex had to do a building inspection so I took the solo opportunity to up pot some new baby trees. I thought it would be nice to let my goats out to free graze around me while I worked in the dirt. But today the goats were SPOOKED. And BOY can they run fast. ZOOM like the wind they went down the street. I go screaming and flailing after them with a stick. This only spooks them more. So ZOOM they fly into other people's yards spooked out of their minds. I'm screaming back and forth, down and back, up and down the street. I must have looked crazy chasing after my spooked goats. I'm screaming at Moki to help me! Herd them! Don't let them slip past you! So then I realized that I'm only freaking them out more by screaming and chasing them. So I stop. I kneel to the ground and hold out a yummy leaf. I speak softly and sweetly to them. They trot over to me to inspect the leaf. And SNATCH! I grab Buckley by his horn and wrangle him into my arms. Thank God I have dwarf goats. They are so easy to pick up and carry back to the pen. Mabel follows me as I carry Buckley in my arms just like I planned. Moki is just SITTING there the whole time like "Wow mom. Those goats aren't good boys like ME. Look at how well I'm just sitting here!"
Once I got them into their pen they were calm and fine. Mabel LOVES being petted. She gets this glazed look in her blue eyes when you sit there and scratch her back. Today we are going to put up an electrical netting portable fence so they have some new terrain to graze on.
2 comments:
Never a dull moment with pets and/or livestock. One thing we learned early on with our cattle was to teach them to come to us when we called (bribery works great!). Some corn in a bucket and a few "Hey Cows!Come'on cows!" and they would come running from all over.As you found out..it is much easier than chasing them!
aww! you've had quite the week haven't you!! I have to bribe our cat Flash sometimes... if shaking the treats bag doesn't work, then I go outside of his visual range and say, "Tripod! What a good kitty! Such a good kitty..." and of course the jealousy gets the best of him and he'll come. lol
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