So this goat walks into a bar.....

Good morning,

Yesterday was a clear sunshiny day with a high of 2 degrees. That I believe was the coldest, but for a while now it's been so cold and snowy that we've left the goats and chickens inside. A few days ago I let them out into the field. The snow was so high it reached their bellies and they were there for all of 10 minutes before escaping just to get back into the chicken house. I open a door during the day for them to get fresh air and at least see some outside. Although the house is big enough for them, there's no separation between the goats and the chickens. The chickens sleep in the rafters and poop on the goats. The goats frantically eat all of the food and the chickens go hungry and scramble around for their share between the goats' legs. (I haven't yet found a trampled chicken but I feel like it's only a matter of time)

Unhappy chickens pick on each other and when one gets weak from the picking, they don't stop. Yesterday I wrapped a featherless bloody chicken inside my sweater trying to bring her back to life. I don't know if she would have preferred if I had just killed her - it felt pretty hopeless right from the start and she died within a few hours.

Everybody's loud. The chickens squawk and the goats climb over everything to get to more and more food.....each other, chickens, crates and barriers, me, whatever. They seem eternally hungry.

This morning it was 1 degree outside but the high for this afternoon is 20. I walked out to the field (the snow was about 8" above my knees), shoveled out their outside shelter and filled it with hay. When I brought the goats out, one (one of the little boys with the horns) was so psyched that he leaped and bucked and bounced and twisted in the air as he went along. I left them there, scrambling around a big container of chicken free grain, knowing that after they had devoured that, they would discover their clean, hay filled shelter and be happy.

I went back and fed the chickens, goat free. It's not something I would have thought, but when many chickens eat, they make a noise quite similar to munching. It was such a nice feeling - watching everybody after such a long time, eating all they wanted. No scrambling. No noise. Nobody feeling desperate enough to kill anybody else. No chickens being goated and no goats getting chickened. And the sun is shining and the quiet was surprising and lovely.

Ian left this early for the city and Cassidy's at school. I came in to feed the fire and tell somebody about how nice it was to do the animal chores this morning. I hope everybody's day is as sweet as a goat bouncing to a pasture full of grain, hay and sunshine.

 

here's the day after - snow storm number 37