May 21, 2019

Back to Square One

About three weeks ago or so, I told you about the challenges of weaning bucklings ("Growing Up is Hard to Do.") It took awhile, but finally, things were starting to calm down and the little boys were crying less. Sunday I brought the girls up to the paddock adjacent to the little guys. I fervently hoped it wouldn't start another hollering session, and for awhile all seemed well.

The Boo Hoo Boys wanting to get out.

When Dan and I went out to do chores I went to get the girls but they were gone! Turns out they had broken into the puckling pasture and everybody was one big happy family again. The problem was the gate between the two paddocks. The bolt latch can be worked open if the gate is bumped often enough, which is why we have a chain on it too. Somehow the goats had rubbed and stood on the gate panel enough to loosen the latch, but the chain wasn't tight enough to keep the gate shut. The girls has worked their way through the opening.

Henry, Eddie, and Jesse James

Separating them again was a first class fiasco. All the goats were running around and hollering. Finally I managed to get the girls through the one gate without the bucklings following them.

The girls were glad to go back to the barn because it was feeding time. But the little boys were heart broken, and have been crying ever since. It wouldn't be so bad if it was the typical goat call of "maaa, maaa." Instead they've been screaming! High pitched and shrill like a bunch of little girls who've just just seen a spider. I thought we'd finally gotten over this! I hope they settle down again soon.

Back to Square One © May 2019 by

22 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh dear, and I suppose this could mean unplanned pregnancies as well. Oh dear!

Leigh said...

Pam, that person leaving comments about escorts in India is an annoyance to my crowd of bloggers. I get one of these "comments" on almost all of my new posts, as do quite a few of the blogs I visit. Some have switched to moderate all comments, so far I've just deleted them as soon as I find them. I was asleep at 12.21 am (my time) when this one was posted. Blogger offers a "spam" category for comments, but it doesn't stop future ones so I'm not sure of it's point.

I tried to reply to your email, but your anti-spam service wanted too much information and too many hoops to jump through. I hope you don't think me impolite, that that's more than I want to mess with at 5:30 in the morning!

Michelle, it does indeed and that's part of the problem. They will rush to nurse their mothers and then want to mount them. If we do get kids in five months, I'll have to do paternity testing if I want to know who the daddy is! (Fingers crossed that doesn't happen)>

wyomingheart said...

Dang Leigh!...and I thought I had a tough day! ..lol! I can't imagine running after babies! I don't run very well anyway. HA! Never a dull moment, so they say, just hope you don't need to do those paternity tests...just another ripple to keep it interesting. Did you figure out another method for the gate? The chain is how we do ours, too. Perhaps we need to figure out another way to secure.

Chris said...

The boo-hoo boys. Catchy, lol. My thoughts were about unplanned pregnancies too. Eeek! But you didn't know about the gate, until they tested it. So now that loophole, has been closed for any future encounters. Hopefully, nothing will come of it - except a catchy name for your goat boy-band. ;)

Mama Pea said...

Oy! Let's hope there won't be any consequences except more screaming from the little boys. Although that's enough to drive one bonkers . . . and hope the neighbors within earshot don't call animal control to complain you're torturing your animals! One would think that because there are three of them, they wouldn't be so fixated on that broken bond with their mothers.

Ed said...

Some days are like that when despite our best intentions, we have to take two steps back.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets the occasional dubai escort post on my blog. I probably only get one a month though. I certainly hope none of my readers click the links before I can delete them. I'm sure the computer disease you would get from clicking is a three step back kind.

Leigh said...

Wyomingheart, things like this certainly don't fit the "to-do" category, lol. For us, the thing with the gates is the gap between the gate itself and the gate post that it latches to. Our gates tend to shift and sag, which changes the gap. In this case they were all able to squeeze through even with the chain still in place! I'm not sure what Dan is going to do to fix it. We haven't been satisfied with most latching systems

Chris, I keep telling them they are big boys now and shouldn't be crying for their mothers, but they don't listen. :)

Mama Pea, I've often thought about what the neighbors must think. Usually I try to alert them that we are weaning the baby boys and to expect a ruckus. This one is now going to go on a whole lot longer, unfortunately.

Ed, "expect the unexpected" should be one of our mottos. :)

Those escort service comments are a real problem. Bloggers go to the Blogger help forum for answers, but so far Blogger/Google does nothing. I did figure out how to report them as spam. At the bottom of the left-hand column on the dashboard is a help link. I searched for "spam" and found a box to report the offending website. I didn't want to risk actually going to the website, so I copied and pasted the URL from their Blogger profile page. I doubt it will do any good, but one can hope.

Susan said...

I love that - Boo Hoo Boys! And I can just hear the screaming. Your description is spot-on. I have found that goats are very 'busy' when it comes to fences and gates. You really have to be on your toes. I hope that this escapade does not result in fall babes. There are two Indian websites that seem to be blanketing Blogger - the ubiquitous escort service and now a mulch company. I'm not sure why some of them end up in my spam box and others don't, but they are why I have to moderate comments. PIA.

Woolly Bits said...

the poor boys - I thought it's only the human boys that can be mama kids:) the calves here are relatively quiet; when separated, they call, but it's not as noisy apparently as with goats?
so far I've been lucky with spam on the blog, but instead we get "indian calls" on the phone all the time:( I think the menfolk made it worse by cursing wildly into the phone when the calls came - they call at all times now and it gets more and more annoying, but there's nothing you can do - getting a new numbers seems too much trouble! I'd say eventually they'll loose interest and pester someone else... but I do wonder who falls for those idiotic phone scams?

Goatldi said...

Oh my such a tangled pile of goats and annoying post and phone calls, where do I begin.

Well with the goats if your boys are 4 months or less they are most likely shooting blanks. Not to say there is always an over achiever in the lot.And if your does are in the 4-6 month range they most likely aren't cycling yet.We would like to hope. However you have taken it with grace and humor priceless!

Yup goats and gates. In another life there was a goat supply company that actually offered a gate locking system guaranteed to defeat even the goat with the most nimble of lips. Apparently it worked as the business was brisk.

And if you don't feel better already ask me someday about how the underage Nubian buck managed to get through the cattle panel and breed my daughters grand champion Toggenburg one year. It has been 25 years yet the adult child still loves to torture me with my apparent lack of diligence at the time.

Smile and chive on!

Leigh said...

Susan, I'd like some fall babies, but I'd also like to know who the daddy is! I haven't gotten anything from the mulch company (knock on wood) but I recall a number of years ago I kept getting comments by a plumber in London, England. They weren't link filled comments, but frequent and having nothing to do with my blog. Never could figure the logic of advertising local services to someone in another company!

Bettina, that's why we don't answer the phone unless we recognize the number. A couple decades ago (back in the basic landline days) I kept getting calls from some annoying company and quoted some Scripture at them. Oh my, the calls came fast and furious for months after that and at all times of day and night. Trouble was, there was no way to know who they were and how to report them.

Goatldi, that's what I'm counting on! That they don't really have the goods yet! Seems to me the old-fashioned gates which latch with a ring of study rope tossed over a post on the gate and fence post would be the best way to go. The fancier the latches, the more they confound me! lol

Powell River Books said...

Life on the farm isn't all fun and games. Well, maybe "games." - Margy

Rain said...

I'm sure you're frustrated as hell Leigh, but your description of how the boys are screaming made me giggle! I hope you find peace soon!!!

deb harvey said...

could you wean them a week or two later? they need to be close to someone adult and warm maybe a wether?

Leigh said...

Margy, never a dull moment. :)

Rain, most years I've been lucky in that my bucklings are sold by the time they need to be weaned. Not so lucky this year. I am planning to keep two though. So we'd have the ruckus anyway!

Deb, I wait as long as possible to separate them, usually when they become relentless in chasing the does. Mounting behavior starts really young, but once the reproductive apparatus starts extending when they mount, I don't want to take a chance. Sad for the little guys, isn't it?

Mark Shaw said...

I am starting to discover keeping animals is never dull. We returned home last week to find a jackal in our garden with one of our chickens in its mouth. I chased it off and chicken was OK. We arrived home just in time. I have had to separate our dogs from the chickens now I just need to figure out how to desperate the chickens from the jackals. Nobody said it would be easy but I wouldn't change it.
Great post as usual. Mark.

Leigh said...

A jackal! Oh my, Mark. Very fortunate timing on yours and Julie's part. Worrisome too, I imagine. We don't have jackals, but we do have coyotes occasionally passing trough. I wonder about the habits of jackals and if yours is local or a wanderer. Either way, all predators seem to love chicken dinner.

Renee Nefe said...

sounds like I should go back and check my mostly abandoned blog. I do remember getting comments on old posts.

sorry about your security breach. hope everything is okay. Wow, the fun never ends huh?

Leigh said...

Renee, yeah, those comments on old posts is always odd. Why in the world would someone try to get traffic from a blog post that no one visits anymore. I never did get the rationale. If you do quite with your blog, please don't "delete" it with blogger. Those same blog addys always seem to get taken over by porn promoters.

Quinn said...

Oh I know that awful sound and I hate it - usually I can let the cashmere does decide when to wean the kids, but if I have to separate them and wean them for some reason, the desperate crying goes on until they have no voices left on the second day - but even then they are still opening their mouths and trying to wail. It's awful.
Well, at least I guess the "good news" is that they all made it through the gap without incident? My little guy stuck his head through a tiny gap between gate and fence and then could not pull back because of his little horns. Thank goodness I was nearby and heard him shriek because even though I RAN, his tongue was stuck out one side of his mouth and his eyes were rolling back in his head when I got there and opened the gate.

Leigh said...

Quinn, yikes! How fortunate you were there to rescue your little guy. Another reason I don't like horns (We have had close calls with horns getting caught in collars.) But of course Cashnmeres aren't disbudded.

Rose said...

Oh, what a fun morning that was...NOT. I can just imagine the crying. That would be heartbreaking and annoying all at the same time.