So the newest addition to the stable at which I ride is Rocky. He is adorable and takes the place of the demented geriatric Twix who recently was found dead after he decided to tangle with a draft horse who kicked him in the face shattering his jaw overnight. Rocky is sweet and playful and happy to go along on a hike, assuming it is not his nap time (around 2pm). His eyes really give him a suspicious look when you take a profile picture.
If you take him for a hike at nap time (who knew?), you get to carry him after he lays down on the trail and curls up asleep after about a mile. When people saw the photos of my wife carrying him and asked why Lori had to carry him, I said “well it’s her job”, one woman accused me of being sexist that only the woman could carry a napping baby; and my friend who sees my wife, chimed in “no, literally that is her job carrying animals around all day” (she’s a vet). [in my defense I did start carrying Rocky and was told “you’re not doing it right…”
(yes it really doesn’t get much cuter than that)
Anyway, he is small enough to wriggle through holes and being that he is a baby he has zero common sense (not that goats are possessed of deep thought to start with, but he doesn’t even know how to goat yet), so he needed a tag in case he wanders off. So pulled out a nice purple star tag
I’m torn between goats and small pigs to clear the bush. I have to say you’re swaying me to goats. BTW it’s not uncommon here to hear over the police radio that goats have broken loose and are on the highway, same with horses and Senepol cattle.
This is one of the cutest posts I’ve seen in a long time. And, the part about him falling asleep…no matter where he is…around 2pm every day, is hilarious. Never had any goats, but I’ve always loved how cute they are.
We have blackberry vines that grow like kudzu; goats love 'em. I can’t fathom how they chomp right through those thorny things without shredding their mouths, but I’m glad they can.
Ours came to us as adults, though, and were never leash trained. This is what happened when I tried to take Jezebel for a short walk to show her a new patch of blackberry vines. (If the photo had sound, you would get to hear how a goat screams.)
I think the phrase remotely edible may be too vague and limiting. Insulation off of wires, vehicle interiors (don’t leave a door open), etc. if they can chew it and swallow it, they’ll eat it.
Heh. The pygmies might be a little more discriminating. They mostly just eat my landscaping and try to ring the bark on all my favorite trees.
Their most infuriating trait, given how much they ARE willing to eat, is that they won’t even look at their alfalfa hay if it happens to touch the ground. They make a big mess of it pulling it out of the feeder while they eat, so 2/3 of it ends up strewn on the ground, and then they stand in the middle of knee-high piles of perfectly good hay and bleat angry goat curses at us for starving them to death.
Yeah, I agree with Henry, swine can be very destructive with their rooting. Even the small pigs can get quite large and to get one that can reach high enough for good brush clearing, they’ll need to be pretty large. (Pigs are very cute though!) And you have such a fun, amazing selection of goats to choose from!
