These four hooligans have decided that fences are for losers, and that the (figurative) grass is much greener on the other side of the fence. And my solar-powered electric fence charger has done little to disillusion them of this idea, apparently being under the influence of Seasonal Affective Disorder.
So my goats have been spending the past few days very happily stripping the bark from the trees around their pen.
I'm quite impressed by the effectiveness of their teeth! And I have noticed that they are expressing a strong preference for Beech and Pine, but don't have any interest in the Birch.
There's not a ton I can do to fix this for the time being, except perhaps to cut lots of fresh branches to pile inside their fence. I may actually try this approach starting in a week or so, as I plan to cut down lots of trees this winter anyway. Obviously I will need better fencing in the spring, but first I'll need to decide if I'm keeping the goat pen where it is now.
(And I should note that the goats have 24/7 access to hay and water, and are given a generous serving of grain every morning, so it's not like they're escaping because they're hungry, lol. This is just what goats do, apparently.)
In much more sad news, I came home to a dead hen yesterday... Houdini, the solid gray one. There was no obvious cause of death... she was just lying in the middle of the floor of the coop. I'll be keeping an eye on the other birds in case it was an illness of some sort.
Anyway, I hope everyone has had a good start to the new year! Happy Saturday/almost Sunday!
No comments:
Post a Comment