Moving day!

The great

‘Route 66’

goat drive

went fairly well. On Sunday morning two horse trailers showed up to take all the critters to their new home. One trailer caravanned the sheep and Paschal the Llama. The other carried all of the milk goats and kids. Now that they are here safe and sound I can say it went well, but… Paschal gave me quite a fit when it came time to harnessing him up, and the sheep went every which way which was not in the trailer were they were supposed to be going. So there were grain bribes and pleads there was begging and then there was……. sheep wrangling. They all got in the trailer.

I’m on a first name basis with most of the sheep. At least the females (ewes) but suddenly our dialog went something like this:

“OK girls”, I tell them, “in the trailer, were taking you to your new home!”

“uh,uh, Blondie were not getting into that box with wheels”.
"Oh come on, you’ll love it” I tell them.
“Excuse me…Do we know you”? “ Grain? No thanks”
The goats were a different story, they raced to the trailer with pure goat glee. Yippee ! were going for a ride! So we were off.

The Sheep arrived first, got out of the trailer and started munching on the thick lush green grass the second they stepped foot on their new land. Paschal wasn’t sure how to get out of the trailer so I had to go in and push him out. But he too found the grass and they were munching up a storm. Then the goats came. They liked the trailer so much they didn’t care to exit but it didn’t take long for them to realize the sheep had found some good stuff to eat so they would check it out and come back to the trailer if they so desired. (I didn’t tell them the trailer would be gone).

The first day and evening went well. Pascal was a little scared. When Llamas are not certain of things they make a small little whiny noise. It’s a very sad noise. After he has sized up the place he’ll be more comfortable but now his eyes are focused on the horizon and the tree line, scoping it out, sizing up danger. Milking however was slightly chaotic, to be expected. Everything is different. The walls have moved out, the stantion is not where it was before, and I’m milking on the opposite side as normal. I think the goats actually did better than their milk maiden. It felt as if I had never milked before. By just sitting on the opposite side I was totally thrown off. I still have a lot of rearranging to do, need to find to flow. Hopefully this morning will go smother.
The chickens come next. Their coup is all ready for them. Then, the bucks and Rams. Then the dogs, Ginger and Cosmo who will have a lot of work ahead of them. Looking forward to the whole family being together again!

It truly is so magnificent here. I’ve never lived in a place so beautiful and so full of mystery. I cant wait for some calm winter days of exploring with the goats.