Sunshine and Fresh Air For Everybody!

Getting the Goats out and about!

 We believe in sunshine, fresh air and exercise for everybody!  Vitamin D is a good thing from the sun, for cats, dogs, chickens and goats, as well as us humans.  When the weather is extremely cold here in Manitoba, say -25 C (about -18 F) or colder we won't even open the doors to the chicken coop or barn.  Chickens might freeze a comb or even a foot, goats are susceptible to drafts and since our girls are pregnant....it's just not a chance we're willing to take.  I've got to tell you, though: we feel bad for our critters when we can't get them out for some fresh air!  We can't imagine a life where the animals never get outside, never get to prance and run.....never get to waddle and cluck and peck.

So, we woke up this morning and it was 0 C - that's right: a warm and balmy right-at-freezing zero at 7:30 AM!  That's about twelve degrees warmer than our usual daytime high this time of year!  Farmer Man had no appointments until the evening so we took the opportunity to get some chores down.  First on our list, and our minds, is that Randi needs his own pen.  As our Mamas get closer to delivering (expected March/Aprilish) Randi the Buck could inadvertently hurt them or the babies.  Last year we had the spare pen, but this year the boys Marty and Mervyn are occupying it.  Randi does not take kindly to the young bucks, so a new pen had to be constructed.  The biggest part of that chore, as always, is cleaning out debris!  The barn becomes a bit of a dumping ground in the fall, as we close down the vegetable operation.  We needed to re-organize the shelves behind the pens, clear out some space and put together a new pen.

Mabel and Goldie compete for pumpkin. That kept
them busy for a while!

Since the weather was so lovely, and we wanted to work around the pens, we decided to let the Mamas and Randi out.  Farmer Man led the little herd over to the trees beside the chicken coop, where the snow isn't very deep between the rows of trees.  The Goats could snack on the evergreens, forage for some dried leaves and just generally roam and relax.  Problem is: goats just want to hang with their people!  They all returned pretty promptly to the barn and preceded to get in the way.  When Randi tried some head-butting with Farmer Man, the buck ended up back in the pen!  To distract the Mamas, I  ran back to the house to grab the last pumpkin - their favorite.  We proceeded to tidy up, finding new places for tillers and grass catchers and saw horses and all the accumulated stuff!

Randi's new pen!

The goat Mamas and our little girl Marble probably tried to eat everything we moved.  Well, not eat but they will mouth everything to see if it is good to eat.  Choco wanted to chase Marble, Mabel just wanted to get at the stacked hay and Goldie really, really wanted to know what we were doing.  It was a bit of a gong show.  But, eventually, we got it done and got Randi ensconced in his new pen.  Whewwwww.......