While Dad's away ...

The goaties will play ...

David is very busy baling hay and straw at the moment (hurrah!) and so I am left home alone with the goatie girls for feeding and milking.  As you will know from reading previous blogs, there can be some bad behaviour in the milking parlour at times, but it does seem to get worse when they know I am on my own.  They call it 'character' I think.  And that is supposedly why we love goats so much.  I must remind myself of that ....

I'm sure that you don't get this problem with a flock of sheep ... A herd of goats is 300 individual little goatie people, each with their own personality and character.  And here is one of tonight's characters .. Florence.

At 5 years old, she should know better.  For some reason she was being especially naughty tonight and kept on running back up the 'out' ramp.  I have said it before and I will say it again - naughtiness is genetic.  Her mum, the lovely Fig, was an exceedingly naughty goat.  We used to see her at least 6 times every milking ..  She would push open any gate and just come strolling back into the parlour.

However, compared to Beanie, Florence is a saint.  Here's Beanie ... Spot anything wrong??

Yes indeed.  Beanie was actually the 10th goat into the parlour.  When she had finished milking, she decided that she was bored with being near the end.  So she lay down on her stomach and crawled all the way along the parlour under the other goats ....

Never a dull moment ...  They must think that I need entertaining when I am on my own.

It was a glorious hay-making day today.  Lots of mist around this morning as the sun rose

but it soon burned off to leave a very warm and breezy day.  Ideal hay-making weather. 

Balham Market was very 'August-ish' today ..  Everyone on hols or at the Olympics.  Certainly not at the market.  Never mind .. there's always next month!

Day off tomorrow!!  I use the phrase loosely of course, as there's no such thing as a day off when you have a herd of dairy goats.  It just means that I haven't got to go and make cheese or go to market.  I have a feeling that my day may well be spent throwing bales around in the barn!