Fun with Livestock
November 22nd, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming
We love having our sheep and our Jersey heifer and our goats all grazing together. And we love socializing with our animals. But sometimes this arrangement can be problematic.
We are now feeding the heifer four pounds of high-protein grain mix each day, half in the morning, half in the afternoon. Emily’s a growing girl, so she needs her protein and the carbs in the grain help keep her warm in winter. But sheep love grain, too, so they are always looking for ways to get their heads into Emily’s feed bucket. And the goats–well, they’re used to get a handful of grain as a treat when they’re in their own enclosure. So they expect nothing less when they’re on pasture with the rest of the crew. They’ll chase the sheep away to get in line behind Emily.
Emily, for her part, doesn’t want anyone else touching her grain. She’s more tolerant of the sheep. She’s bonded with them. But if the goats get too close, the heifer will put her head down and chase them off.
The trick for us humans is to maintain order, which means finding a quiet corner where Emily can lap up all her grain while we keep the sheep at a distance. We also try to sneak a handful of grain for the goats without ticking Emily off.
Somehow, we usually manage to pull this off. But not without some excitement.
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.