It Takes a Village

The last several days' beautiful spring weather has given us the opportunity
to accomplish quite a few tasks on the spring chore list.
Some tasks, like staining the pirate ship and outdoor furniture is easily done by one person.
Other tasks take a village.

Vaccinating goats is one such activity.
When we vaccinate and worm goats, we also trim hooves.
It's easier to do everything all at once.

The biggest challenge in all of these tasks is catching the goats.


And in this particular case I am referring to our Nigerian dwarf goats.
Two of our five dwarf goats are extremely shy.


They allow me to pet them when I am delivering food....
but if they think something out of the ordinary is going to happen,
they take off at a run.

Normally it takes about 5 adults to out-smart these quick goats.
And normally we end up running them into a fenced-in shoot of sorts.


I move in and get the hooves trimmed...then Becky gives wormer and vaccinations.
And in just a couple of minutes, the whole unpleasant (for Audrey) ordeal is over.

Next it was time for Stella The Elusive.
While we were finishing up with Audrey, Jace and Taryn tried to round up this last little gal.


Amazingly, it only took two fast children to catch our most wily goat.


Dear Stella, the elusive, is always the most difficult to catch.
Somehow.... Jace and Taryn managed to catch her all by themselves!


We quickly got hooves trimmed and vaccinations given....
and there was peace and quiet in the goat yard once again.

Vaccinations are done for another year.
Hooves...well, that's a different matter...
I'll need to trim hooves in another 4 months or so.

While we had a large crew, we also moved 3 goat houses from Becky's yard



to our orchard.
These will serve as shelter for Grace, Faith and Hope.


The pigs were quite intrigued by all of the activity.


What fun they are going to have once the lambs arrive.
Ginger and MaryAnn are quite social and love to converse with the other animals.
Having Grace and her girls right next door will offer a lot of stimulation for the piggy gals.

Comments

Lynne said…
Love seeing all the springtime activity and plans . . .
Busy life at BHA continues . . .
I think "busy life makes for a happy life". . . at least you all look busy . . . and very HAPPY!
colleen said…
Love seeing what goes on at BHA in the spring.... never a dull moment. I can hardly wait for the arrival of Faith, Hope and Grace!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i am SO excited! you would think they were all coming to live at my house. i can't wait to see how ginger and maryann like their new family members1
Carla said…
The trouble with having 2 shy goats is that the second goat sees whats happening to the first goat and then makes an even greater effort to get away. Maybe Stella didn't think the little humans would be in on it? :)
Anonymous said…
No jackets!!! Yeah, nice weather sure made your Spring activities pleasant! Also lots of help makes for more laughter with the chores. Can't wait for the new addition to arrive, Hugs, June
Great post Bev,
Looks like you are having some wonderful weather.. The children are really a big help.. I think a farm is such a good environment for children.. Have a wonderful week.
fondly,
Penny
NanaDiana said…
Always something, isn't it,.on a farm? Love that the kids caught the goat by themselves. I am sure they were proud as peacocks! Can't wait to see your new "wooly ones" in place! xo Diana
This N That said…
Always a fun time trying to catch the goaties..Looks like the kids have the hang of it..Can't have too many helpers..