I am writing this after an unusual Labor day weekend. Not only was yesterday an absolute deluge where it rained all day, but my parents long time labor day picnic was canceled and replaced with a canoe trip and fireside picnic as just a family. We planned to be gone the entire day Saturday canoeing, picnicking and visiting. Knowing this we kept all of the goats in the barn to keep them them safe, contained and so we did not have to worry about them. We had a wonderful time canoeing down the river. We headed back to my parent's house and I enjoyed looking at their new barn structure, seeing my childhood home and spending time with my family. After a beautiful meal, we were picking at a charcuterie board and I realized I need to seriously work on my hard cheese skills as a goal for next years milking season! Out of nowhere Rob looks at me and says, check the camera, I have a bad feeling about the goats.
Guys, I don't know if you know this but Rob's 6th sense, or whatever it may be is literally ALWAYS right, so I pick up the camera, locate everyone safely with the exception of MJ. She is able to scoot in and out of the pens, so it is not a surprise that she may be out of the camera view. As I am looking closely, I see legs up by the fan, and I said to Rob, hey there is MJ we are good. Then I looked closer and I noticed those legs were too big to be MJ's and they had a beard with them!! It was Branson!!! This is where the concern started to creep in. If Branson was there, where was Turbo?! How had he escaped?! I left them in their house and run and had not put them out in the net fencing that day because I knew we would be gone! Did Turbo get out and get attacked? Was he injured and stuck somewhere? Was he in the chicken side of the shed getting sick eating chicken food?! I immediately called my farm sitter to see if she could swing by and see what was up, since she is just a few minutes down the road and we were over an hour and a half away. She was just leaving from a wedding and was unable to come over, so Rob and I grabbed our stuff, said quick goodbyes and jumped in the car to get home as quickly and safely as possible.
On the way home we were agonizing and worrying about Turbo (we located MJ safe on the camera earlier). We decided to call our amazing neighbor John to see if he could come down and check on Branson and see if he could locate Turbo. We are so lucky to have a neighbor like John, who although is not a farm/ animal person is willing to help in our time of crisis! He wrangled my stinky buck into a pen without a collar and located Turbo thankfully! Branson had created a hole big enough to fit his whole body through in the chicken wire separating the chicken side from the buck side! He then pushed through the screen door on the front and went about his business! We have no idea how long he was loose, but thankfully, all of the girls were locked up out of his reach! Turbo was able to go through the hole in the chicken wire, but could not figure out how Branson had managed to escape the chicken run!
Thankfully, neither of them seemed like they ate any chicken feed, but I dosed them with a baking soda slurry just to be safe, and put them in the back stall of the barn for the night. This reminded me why I moved them in the first place, they fought and banged things around and beat each other up, since they were so close to the girls! Needless to say, we spent a good chunk of the next day fixing the buck enclosure! I did fail at the first piece of advice I give people when getting goats, I always tell them, good fences make good goat experiences! Thankfully, everyone was fine, and we were able to rectify the situation, but I will not make the mistake of thinking chicken wire will keep bucks in again! Hope you have a wonderful week!
Happy Goating!!!
