Playmates

Josh and the goats

Livestock guardian dogs may not be playmates to humans, but they are playmates to one another. Having two livestock guardian dogs is often recommended as it keeps them from trying to "play" with the animals they are intended to guard and protect. It is also helpful sometimes to have a "team" of dogs to work together.  Sofie and our newest guardian dog, Josh, are bonding as Josh grows larger. Josh has been penned up with the goats in order to learn about living with them and vice versa.  We put Sofie in with Josh and the goats daily in order for the two dogs to bond as well. They enjoy romping with one another and chasing each other in the pen. When Josh grows big enough & learns his job, he and Sofie will be able to work the pastures together.

Sofie and Josh romping

More romping

Snuggling

Relaxing after romping

New Staff Member!

Meet Josh, our newest staff member. Josh is an almost 4 month old Great Pyrenees/Maremma mix and is the 2nd of our livestock guardian dogs. He is currently living with the goats in their enclosure to help him adjust to a new home.  He and his litter mates shared a pen with kids--the baby goat kind.  Josh is bonding with the goats and they, in turn, are learning to trust him as an ally and not a threat.  As he grows & matures he'll have additional opportunities to work with the chickens under both our and Sofie's watchful eyes.  We expect Sofie and Josh to share the responsibility of protecting all of our animals from predators.

Sofie showing concern for Josh when she hears him crying from his encounter with the electric fence

Josh met the goats as well as the electric fence netting.  The goats were less painful.  Poor Josh, what a shock he received when his wet nose hit the fence.  Ever vigilant, Sofie came immediately to see what had happened! The goats stood on their house and watched Josh for a while from a safe distance.

A funny thing about Josh is that he has six toes on his back paws. Our vet assured us that this is not unusual for Great Pyrenees breeds, but it is still a sight to see! We imagine his paws will be quite large when he is fully grown!

Josh's back paw with six toes

Goat Bridge

Goats on their bridge

Our goats are currently living near a small stream on our property. We built a bridge to allow the goats to cross over the stream safely so they could eat the brush in an area that was inaccessible to the bush hog.  Apparently, we really built them a new play toy. Of course, with a goat just about anything is a new play toy.  They enjoy the bridge and play tag on it, running back and forth full speed ahead.

Goat bridge

The goats are no longer cohabiting with the chickens. We were unable to keep them from eating the chicken's grain. We put extra bars on the chicken's feeders so the goats could not put their heads into the feeder, but they then figured out how to just lick the grain out of the feeder! The goats also took great pleasure in climbing on the chicken feeder and rocking it back and forth, which frightened the chickens away and kept them from eating.

Gabe, Simon and Tawny

Cohabitation

Goats near the temporary fence between the chickens and the goats

We were in need of putting some of our feather netting around the garden, as our livestock guardian dog takes great pleasure in romping through freshly turned earth. We realized that by combining 2 groups we could free up enough feather netting to surround the garden.  While we moved a flock of chickens into the goats' space we had to put up a temporary fence to keep the goats from wandering away. . .far, far away.  As soon as the chickens were set up and the perimeter fence put back into place, we removed the temporary divider and the goats are now cohabiting with the Delaware chickens!

Fence removed between the goats and the chickens-- goat house in upper-right hand corner

Goats checking out the chicken yard

It'll be interesting to see how these two groups adjust to such close quarters.  So far, one of the challenges is keeping the goats out of the chicken's feed.  As ruminants, goats eat very little grain and what they are given is specially formulated for goats with minerals to meet their specific needs.  The chickens have grain mixed for the needs of laying hens and it would not be healthy for the goats to chow down on the layer's feed or vice versa.  So far, so good.  Both goats and chickens enjoy foraging--the goats eating browse (leaves, forbs, bark) and the chickens scratching for bugs and seeking out chickweed, an appropriately named favorite this time of year.

The youngest goat, Simon (aka Porky), who is always willing to eat, tried to stick his head in the chicken's trough feeder so we adjusted the crossbar that keeps the chickens out in order to keep goat heads out too.  Goats, who like to climb, quickly saw another use for the feed trough--a climbing structure!  All three of them were on it playing "king of the mountain" by the end of the day.  The chickens were not too happy about the goat's game as it frightened them away from their grain source at the end of the day when they are chowing down for the night.

Simon on top of the chicken feeder

Moving the animals

Small Hen-a-bago next to the pond

We have moved our animals to other parts of the farm, into a new pasture that has recently been completely fenced.  While the chickens and goats can be contained by electric netting, Sofie, our livestock guardian dog, needs a "real" electric fence to define the border of her "patrol" area.  As we have three smaller groups for her to protect she roams the larger area in which the smaller enclosures are fenced.  Sofie really loves being in this larger pasture!

The goats now have a view of the creek bed and the smaller flock of Delaware chickens have a view of the pond. The large flock of chickens (Rhode Island Red and Partridge Rock) have gone to the oat field--yes the one we planted a few months ago.  We rotate our animals around the farm in order to  keep them from eating all of the fresh seeds and grass on the pastures, to give the pastures a chance to rest, and as a form of parasite control on the pastures. The animals also provide a healthy source of fertilizer for the soil.  The garden should grow really well this year!

Delaware layers next to the pond

Before and After-- Looking Back at our Animals!

We were looking through our photographs the other day and realizing just how much our animals (or farm staff) have grown over the last season! In this post we share some photos of the "before and after" of the no-longer-babies so you can see how much they have grown! 

GOATS

Baby

Charlie with baby Simon, still at breeder's facility before the kid is old enough to come to the farm.

Adolescent

Getting there, not quite adult yet, but growing larger! 

CHICKENS

Babies, our first run of chicks--a straight run mixed variety of heavy, dual-purpose breeds.

Adolescent Rhode Island Reds and Partridge Rocks

Adult

GUINEAS

Babies aka keets

Adolescent

Getting there, not quite adults, but we are starting to see more of their adult features! 

Unfortunately, we are also seeing fewer guineas as 3 have been taken by predators.  Apparently guineas are especially enjoyed by hungry wild critters such as raccoon and owls who hunt at night when guineas are vulnerable due to their natural desire to roost in trees. We have three surviving guineas who seem to be smart enough to keep themselves alive by sleeping each night in the large hen-a-bago with the Rhode Island Reds and Partridge Rocks. 

Photo, courtesy of Jami Ansell

SOFIE

Our guardian livestock dog

The day she arrived at the farm in June 2011.

Adolescent, she still has some growing up to do! 

Photo, courtesy of Jami Ansell

Photo, courtesy of Jami Ansell

Our first year with our hard-working staff of animals has been both an adventure and a learning experience! 

Dancing Goats

After trimming the goats' hooves the other week, they seemed a little frisky from being penned up. Two of them, Gabe and Simon, began prancing and playing in the yard together.

There was some jumping:

 And head butting:

 More jumping:

 And they both were jumping and knocking their hooves together:

While it appears that they are crashing into each other it's actually very well choreographed.  They rise on their hind legs and come down, bumping heads in such a gentle way.  I call it goat dancing.  As soon as Tawny's hoof trim was completed, he joined in too.  Goats are very frolicsome and great fun to watch!  If they weren't guys we could put tutus on them.  ;-)

Clothes Nibbling and Hoof Trimming

Goats need a hoof trim every month and the process is always an adventure.  Catching them is not easy--until they seek haven inside their house and then we block the front door.  Extra helpers are good to have around too.

 With the front opening blocked, we opened the back door of the goat house and grabbed one goat while the others were kept from escaping:

Mike and Charlie successfully extricate only one goat while keeping the other two inside.

                                     

Here comes Simon!  He always wants to be first--because he likes to eat and he always expects to find food.

Now it's Gabe's turn.

While one person was holding a goat, another trimmed the hooves. How this endeavor is possible without more than two people, we will never know!

First hoof and Simon is still patient.

Jan is still learning another new skill--goat pedicurist.

Once Simon was free and able to wander around, he had to see what Tawny was making a fuss about in the house.  As Gabe was now being trimmed, Tawny was alone and expressing his unhappiness loudly.

After checking on Tawny, Simon turned his attention to Gabe and the work in progress:

 Of course, with goats, there was a lot of clothes nibbling!

Did I mention that Simon is always expecting food?  Mike's shirt is tasty!

Charlie's too.

And now for just a little nibble of Jan's hat.