It was 13 degrees when
the sun began to set on the eve of what was a very cold night. Late January in
Indiana and it was minus 13 when I last checked the weather channel, with overnight
wind chills predicted between - 20 to – 40. I trudged out to the barn for the 4th
time that day carrying buckets of hot water to top off the goat’s buckets.
Water freezes incredibly fast at these temps and I have one goat that was due
to kid three days ago and one due to kid in two days.
Typically,
I go to the barn closer to dusk, but the wind had significantly picked up and,
well, to be honest, I just wanted to get them all tucked away before dark. Cold
is one thing, wind is another and cold and windy, well, not a combination I
crave. I just wanted to be back in the house in front of the fire.
The
goats and I have gotten into a pretty standard routine and I am pleased with
the way the barn work runs smoothly and efficiently. Everyone knows who goes
into what stalls, and for the most part they are patient while I refill water
buckets and hay feeders. The three yearling does who are not bred are probably
the unruliest, but nothing outrageous. More like kindergarteners stuck in the
house during a long day of cold rain… too much energy, nothing to do.
In
years past, my goats have sort of controlled me and even though I have been
able to push through it, I really prefer a quiet barn. There are those who say
it isn’t possible, but I disagree. I now have a relatively quiet barn. That is,
until something changes…The first change is that I am there early. I have been
in and out all day and no big deal, but when I started the night routine early,
oh man…. Suddenly, we have problems. It is like someone flipped the idiot
switch. No one had any idea what they were supposed to do. The flow was broken,
and I wasn’t getting it back. I have had to begin using a bucket heater for the
water at the evening feeding to try to ensure the water lasts as long as
possible before it freezes. Goats, or perhaps I should say, my goats aren’t big
fans of cold water. I would imagine drinking cold water would not help maintain
their body temperature. This, of course, is not imbedded in scientific fact to
my knowledge, but just what seems to happen in my barn.
So, I have the water ran, the heater placed, I am shooing
all the chickens out of the barn, the goats are zipping around like it’s the
first warm spring day, and the chickens don’t know what to do or where to go
because the goats are running back and forth. To avoid the goats, the chickens
keep trying to run back into the stall I just shooed them out of. I am walking behind
them, waving my arms up and down to shoo them out the front door, but the goats
are dead set on not only getting in my way, but in the way of the terrified
chickens who don’t want to step foot on the snow just outside of the barn.
Eventually I get every chicken removed from the barn and shut the door on them.
They stand there, turning their heads from side to side, looking at me through
the crack, first the right eye and then with the left, wondering, I’m sure, why
they are out in the cold.
Once the barn door is
closed, I open the door to the empty stall. Silly me. Everyone zoomed inside.
Man oh, Man! Where did all this wonderful loose hay come from, they seemed to
say looking at me with huge mouthfuls of the green fluffy stuff. I stood there,
leaning on my pitchfork, not believing my eyes. Goats, or maybe just my goats,
are the darnedest, pickiest eaters on the planet. That very hay, the hay that
they were chowing down on, was in fact, hay they wouldn’t touch a week ago. I just
shook my head and walked away. Back to the water. One bucket warmed, so I moved
the heater to the second. With the goats happily eating hay, I left the barn
and went to the greenhouse to get the remainder of the water buckets that were
frozen from last night. A day in the greenhouse at 40 degrees has melted them
to the point that I can throw out the ice and head back to the barn. Obviously,
the only reason the goats were in that stall eating that hay, was because I
wanted to lay new bedding in there for the buck and wether to bed down in for
the night. Normally the boys are separated from the girls and have their own
living space out behind the main barn, but with tonight’s less than stellar
wind chills, I felt it prudent to bring them indoors. Needless to say, the
girls had abandoned the previously delicious hay and had found the piles of
straw that I had deposited in their stalls to rifle through. I finished laying
the bedding in the boy’s stall and began the task of separating the girls into
their respectful stalls for the night.
The rest of the process
went along smoothly. The three most pregnant does are housed together for the
night so I can keep an eye on them with my barn camera, with all the other
girls using up the majority of the barn. Once the hay was distributed, the
water buckets filled and clipped to the walls to avoid buckets being dumped in
the night, it was time to go get the boys. These boys are yearlings, so they are
on the smaller side. One is the herd buck, used for breeding all the does this
year, and the other is a castrated male that is his pasture mate. Goats don’t
like being alone and I really like only having one buck on the property at a
time, so Bacchus and Eli are a pair. They don’t often get to come to the barn,
so I assumed they would run like crazy once the gate was opened. But, no. No. They
just stood there at the edge of their enclosure looking at me. Waiting, I’m
guessing. Waiting for me to come back with the hay ration and fresh warm water.
I didn’t come back… And the yelling began. At first it was just a bit of
tentative bleating from Eli, and then a bit louder and more urgent by both the
boys. I waited inside the barn for them, not so patiently I might add, watching
the door. And then I got tired of waiting. They must’ve gotten tired also,
because when I rounded the corner of the barn and they saw me, they ran towards
me.
Goats have a very
distinct run when they are approaching an area that they are unfamiliar with.
Or in a situation where they feel cornered or away from the rest of the herd.
It reminds me of how a rocking horse would run, pitching forward and as the
back legs meet the front, a slight pitch backward, followed by a couple of antelope
hops. I can’t help laughing, and as I do, I let down my guarded watch of where
I’m putting my feet on the path back to the barn. A little slip on a patch of
ice brings me back to the task at hand. I finally get the boys into their stall
for the evening and double lock the doors, so they stay put. I make a quick
check to see if all have water and enough to eat to get them through the
evening. Satisfied that all their requirements are met, I turn off the light,
close the big door and hook the latches. One more farm chore done.