IMG_8214g

how long has it been?  maybe since November?  give or take?  that i have needed to reintegrate the seperated does?   a long time.   but i was afraid.  Today it's done.  and it was not without some comotion,  but everything is just ok.   This morning early, i undid the gate that was seperating the two front pens.  and it was sudden.  Sudden could not be avoided.  opening a gate is opening a gate.

so there was a great rushing back and forth through the Corridor behind the Albatros.  there was some "shock".   the two little ones (who really aren't so little anymore) had finally gotten their wish and were amazed and calling for their mothers.   but Goat mothers can't really do a lot for their kids.  They can stand with them.  but that's about it.  it's the kid's work to stay close to the mother.  interesting.  and the big Surprise of the Day was that it seems that Snowbunny has abdicated her position as Enforcer of the herd.   I never guessed.  and amazingly, it's not OOna,  second in line.  She was not a player today at all.  It was Onday.  who Was 3rd and is now First.

 

IMG_8213g

here,  taking a break, she looks so innocent.  Not.  she was rough.  she was relentless.  while they were all in the Front Pens,  she battered Lucky Star.  would not let her move from whichever corner Lucky Star ended up in.   No Moving.  Stand There.   and interestingly enough, Magic was her right hand Goat.  Who would have ever guessed that.  no one.  there is mystery in their minds.   But also, the good thing to see was that no one was into stressing the two young ones.   i'd worried about that.  But it's a non issue.  Good to Know.  Carolyn,  the other seperated doe met with very little attention.   

 

IMG_8211f

Just Lucky Star.  Once i'd moved all of them to the Back  (an Event) (but not as hard as i'd imagined)

Lucky Star had to stay away.   She could not come to the food bowls.

 

IMG_8206g

 

she could drink water.  but not come to the food bowls.   as we see here, she is not a small Goat.  and the only reason for her position in this herd i guess is that she was Brought into it,  not Born into it but it has been YEARS.  you'd think they'd get over that.  Not.

 

IMG_8207g

the Enforcer, who looked so innocent in the pic above,  Enforced.  Period.  No food bowl.  i fed her by hand.

 

IMG_8235f

 

IMG_8242f

the little girls love it back in the Way Back.  Room to Run.  Fast.  really really Fast.  and they did.

There are a lot of things to record in Each Goat's Ethogram.  i'll do that tomorrow as i watch them more.  

 

IMG_8201ff

and amidst it all,  the final scrap was added.   a setting Moon.  just right.  just perfect.  now for those Crows.

Posted in

16 responses to “357 things take time and that’s just ok”

  1. Tracy Leppold Avatar

    Which ones do you seperate and why? I know nothing about the goat realms, but it seems very tribal. Interesting about the boss goat. Is there a female boss and a male boss? Do you always keep the males away from the females unless you want to breed them?

    Like

  2. Dana Avatar

    Yes! That setting moon scrap is just right. Its darkness connects the top to the bottom and the shapes of the flying crows echo the blue floral print down on the right. The piece really works well as a whole. Lovely. The goat interactions are so fascinating and mysterious. You have bred all of these goats except Lucky Star? Wow.

    Like

  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    I’m watching too…under a setting moon (only at your cloth, here still no visible moon,though a waxing Gibbous moon is 56% full out there somewhere above the buildings.

    Like

  4. jude Avatar

    the yellow balanced the color

    Like

  5. beth Avatar

    It would be so hard for me not to step in. Not to try to equalize what I perceive as unjust treatment. I was a bit of a Lucky Star as a child. But we all have to make our own way in the end I guess. I was wondering… Did you breed any of the does this season? Or will you?

    Like

  6. grace Avatar

    yes. tribal.
    yes. males and females seperate. the bucks are pretty
    much totally devoted to sex. they would drive the does
    nuts if they were together. all their behaviors, the
    pushing (gentle), the snorting, the love talk. it would be
    more relentless than anything imaginable. in a wild herd, one buck would drive the other bucks away or fight them till
    eliminating them. this would be the Herd Sire. he would be constantly challenged by young bucks to keep the herd
    genetically strong. and soon enough defeated.
    i am incredibly lucky here. Gideon who is the Elder, was
    the strongest and the boss. he had all the moves. but he was also old and then developed a bum leg from arthritis. in the wild, he would be dead by now. Buckwheat, the one that is now gone, was very MALE. he constantly challenged Gideon and actually hurt him. that’s when i seperated him and found some where for him to go. in Buckwheat’s case, it was his natural horns. Gideon is very gentle. he was a bottle baby. his son, Sonny Ray, now the second in line, is gentle also. as is Tenzin, who just seems that way by nature. Nogal…too soon to tell. he is Buckwheat’s son.
    but i spent a lot of time with him from birth. he is 7 mos old and still would like to be a lap baby.
    The breeding takes place in a single day. You watch the doe for certain signs and when all are in place, you put her and a buck together. if she is ready and if she is WILLING to breed that particular buck, it’s done in moments. they will repeat. but within an hour or so, it’s a done deal. there are signs that it’s “Good” with the doe, she hunches her back which is a goat sign of a “climax”. she loses interest and no longer listens to his verbal love directives, wanders off to eat.
    i seperated the two does that i bred when they kidded. i did it because i was so unsure about it all. i would not do that again. from here on out i would leave them with the herd. i also did it because i thought it would be easier to take them out to milk. which in a certain way, it was. but in the long run, not. and i have learned so much since then, that now, i could take them out for milking and still leave the herd intact. That is the most important. not my fears, but their Needs.

    Like

  7. grace Avatar

    my Daughter did.

    Like

  8. grace Avatar

    i want you to have the Moon over your house. maybe tonight

    Like

  9. grace Avatar

    it’s just a constant amazement what will be the exact
    Thing…waiting is the key

    Like

  10. grace Avatar

    there is no use to stepping in. Goats are feral more than
    domestic. the Herd instinct is Supreme. over all else.
    and today, Lucky Star is good. All is Well. She is who
    she is. and it’s all ok today. and i am thinking too that
    she was a bottle baby…taken away at birth and fed by her humans. she didn’t have an opportunity to learn from her Goat herd. her babies however, exhibit none of her passiveness. they thrive in the Herd energy.
    i did NOT breed any. i need to come to terms with what to do with the babies born. I CANNOT keep a single goat more.
    CANNOT. and i don’t know, the will you part. i want to make cheese. so…it’s a huge dilemma.

    Like

  11. grace Avatar

    yes. Crows. they flew overhead today. low. looking down.

    Like

  12. Tracy Leppold Avatar

    You were talking about the does fighting. Pecking order, right? All mammals seem to have it. Was it because you’d seperated some and putting them together again upset the balance? Or would they do it anyway?

    Like

  13. grace Avatar

    yes. i DID upset the balance, for my own imagined need.
    OR my own perceived CONVENIENCE….milking ease.
    the herd needs cohesion. if they are threatened, it is
    critical they act immediately AS ONE. which requires that
    in times of No Threat, they are AS ONE.
    left to themselves, they are all good. peacefull. no sweat.
    the Goats to me are fascinating. they KNOW. they are prey.
    they are really very feral as opposed to domesticated. i watch them drink. they drink from tubs of water that i provide with a hose. they stand. wanting water. but they stand. long. over the tubs. they listen. they watch. they lower their heads to the water but then pull their mouths away…listening, watching, when it seems safe, they drink. i watch this over and over. NOTHING here can hurt them. yet, they follow this genetic protocol. over and over and over.
    Who knows? it might become necessary again

    Like

  14. Tracy Leppold Avatar

    The cats too. Can you compare them? They’re predators, but they’re vulnerable to dogs, other cats, mean humans, cars. Now that I can read their ears I can see how scared they are. I never open the door to let them out without a lot of looking and smelling and deciding. Ears forward means they’re confident. Ears halfway back means they’re not sure. Lelu looks outside ears forward, oh I want to go out there. Then an ear goes back, is that crazy neighbor cat out there? She wavers for a long time, and a loud sudden noise will have her safe inside in a second.

    Like

  15. grace Avatar

    yes. you CAN compare them. and you CAN compare US even.
    not sure
    but wanting to GO. wanting to just go. yes.
    it’s all comparable.

    Like

Leave a comment