Got my Goat!!!

[cirianz]

Only took two years but we now have a goat out in our back paddock to keep the grass down & generally be a pet for the kids

Farmer John & Debbie, proudly surveying our herd of goat!

 

[Adywebb]

Nice one Ciri - and if you ever get hungry it will make a nice curry

 

[cirianz]

Nyum nyum

 

[General_K]

Pics, Ciri, pics!

 

[cirianz]

Will do

Just been out giving it some snacks & petting as part of the whole taming thing & it butted the cat The cat was most indignant & had to stop & lick it's dignity back into place

 

[TriplexDread]

PMSL typical cats

 

[muckshifter]

You need sheep to keep grass down ...

One big Goat or one small paddock ... I like fresh goat's milk.

 

[cirianz]

wellllll... since it's a male goat I don't think I'll try it in my tea this time

 

[ChristopherP]

L O L


PMSL & ROFL *AT THE SAME TIME*

Yeah get some pics up!

Hahaha

 

[itsme]

wellllll... since it's a male goat I don't think I'll try it in my tea this time

It aint a Nanny then Whoops
My mate had a goat, he would rent it out to locals with overgrown gardens, they eat everything so be careful?

ROTFPMSLOL

 

[Taffycat]

How is your goat getting on Ciri? Does he have a name yet and has the cat forgiven him? I love goats - probably a throwback to toddlerhood when The Billygoats Gruff (think that was the title) was read to me and always made me laugh my socks off, lol A bit like the previous posts in this thread actually, lol. Hope yours is doing well and getting down to some serious "mowing" duties

 

[ChristopherP]

Can i name it pleeease?

I vote.... Stephen (or steve for short)

 

[cirianz]

The Goat's settled in remarkably well very quickly & is very tame. The kids love him & we all spend some time up in his paddock each day fussing & patting him.

By now all of the cats & one of the dogs have been similarly informed of their place in the goat herd hierachy & tend to keep a healthy distance Whenever I go up the back paddock my dog khola makes sure that she keeps me between her & the goat
The picture of doggy courage, if we ever got burgled she'd be hiding under my desk the whole time
So far we've kept John's dog Sam well away from the goat though as he is not likely to be quite so... accepting when assigned his place in the herd.

The goat has been named. He'd picked up the name 'Gabby' before we got him home, because he was so talkative & since he hasn't shut up since the name seems to have stuck. He's even more of a chatter box than I am & can 'shout' too. I'm sure everyone in the bay hears about it if he reckons it's too long since we last visited him

So far he seems to be coping with his lawn mowery duties, although the spring growth hasn't really started yet... that'll be the real test of his mettle

I have noticed that he tends to prefer trees to grass. He can't actually reach any properly on his own as we put a running-line down the middle of the paddock with a chain that just lets him reach the fence. John looked after his landlord's goat before he moved here, so we're familiar with just how good escape artists they are (Indeed, one of John's neighbours informed me of this at great length each time she brought the goat back) & there's no way our fence would hold him on it's own.
But bits of tree are his favourite treat whenever we go up to visit
We tried him with toast, buttered of course, but got nothing but a turned up nose. But when it comes to tree... nothing can compete. Preferably with the branchletts attached No accounting for taste i suppose Luckily we have an abundance of trees around here to keep him supplied, lol.

All in all he's cool... & definitely the smartest goat ever
Not that I'm biased or anything

By the way chris... I have to ask... why stephen?

 

[cirianz]

2nd time I've tried to post photos & they just wont go

Says it's an invalid file type... but it's the same as all the other photos I've uploaded?

Sorry

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you so much for the Gabby-goat-update Ciri, it makes very enjoyable reading, he sounds like quite a character - and definitely a goat with attitude!

Hope you're keeping him well away from your washing line though, A while ago, I remember reading about a goat who loved to "recycle" the drying underwear of his owner When the elastic caught on his tongue one day, there were red faces all round when the vet had to retrieve the rest of a pair of very old-fashioned bloomers!! (The goat was none the worse, I hasten to add - no operations or anything like that, just a case of pulling 'em out again.)

Aww pity about the photos, but looking forward very much to seeing them when the "glitch" is fixed.

Don't know whether you have heard this before, but if not, you might find the following goat story amusing at:

http://www.monarchywales.org.uk/index.asp?pageid=6356
(Scroll down to: Sunday June 25th 2006 William Windsor of Wales is Demoted)

 

[cirianz]

ROTFPMSL

Private Willian indeed
"Disobeying a direct order"
Perhaps a secret anti monarchist?

Reminds me of when John refused to shake hands with the (previous) Prime Minister on National TV
He was told to say what a good job he thought she was doing & he said something along the lines of 'like f*ck I'm going to say that' so in the end they canceled that part of the doco
I bet they'd've demoted him too if they'd had the chance

Don't worry though, our washing line is up on our porch, well away from the back paddock (Is cool, stays dry even when it rains ) 'sides, I think my underwear is more likely to embarass the vet than myself
Have to be careful about Rhododendrons & azaeleas (sp?) though. The previous owners planted them all over the place (not a big fan of them myself, but John loves them so they stay in... even the one I'm allergic too ) & they're poisonous to goats apparently! Luckily there's none up the back paddock though so that's ok. Just have to make sure he doesn't get loose!

 

[Taffycat]

ROFLMAO

Good for John! And yes, I too thought it was a bit of a liberty to demote-a-goat for just doing his own thing.

It is surprising how many plants, etc., can adversely affect goats, isn't it? I was surprised to learn that they can react badly to some fairly ordinary things - bracken for instance (although it's apparently not very good for humans either, so won't be including that in any salads!!

)

Ooh - speaking of ferns ... hope it's ok to add this here ... I followed your link and think your Work in Progress is absolutely stunning Ciri

.

 

[cirianz]

Thank you

Going crazy with the leaves on the right now so that's especially welcome

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you

Going crazy with the leaves on the right now so that's especially welcome

I'm really looking forward to the next piccy, but meanwhile I continue to be impressed by the wonderful detail in your fern and leaf-litter - just brilliant! Hmmmm..... thinking about it, I guess you'll have to be on the look-out for your subject being "sabbotaged" by a certain browsing goat Just kidding

(sorry, pun intended!!)

 

[cirianz]

lol, & would he know if he was eating paper? Or ferns
The rocks might be a bit hard on his teeth though