Another week flies by ..

I was full of good intentions to write you another post last week but the days just seemed to slip away.  My blogging time (as you can see from the time stamps) is usually late at night, after milking and deliveries ... when all the little goaties are in bed asleep.  But last week, there just seemed to be so much to do with deliveries and getting cheese ready for weekend markets, that I just didn't get a chance.

Feeble excuses, I know ..

On Friday we had to say goodbye to our dear Cora goat. 

At 9 years old she was not particularly elderly but had not been looking at her best for several weeks.  Last week she seemed to be having real problems eating and drinking and, even when we separated her off and brought her endless yummy treats, she still could not eat.  It almost seemed like she wanted to eat but was not able to swallow. 

I spent a lot of time with her last week, just sitting with her and talking to her as I suspected that there may be something wrong with her throat that could not be fixed and that we would have to say goodbye.  Seems that we were right - the vet confirmed that it looked like some kind of abscess or tumour in her oesophagus and there was really nothing that could be done. Cradled in David's arms, dear Cora went to the goatshed in the sky.

But everyone else seems to be doing OK at the moment, even though they were a bit grumpy when they were temporarily evicted from their new field.  As the Gracie Moos have now finally gone out for the summer, David has been mucking out the cattle yard and needed to dump the muck at one end of the field.  With everything fenced off, he was able to run back and forth without having to worry about goats getting in the way. 

The girls stood on top of the hill in their old field and watched his every move ...

Valerie's little white man is getting very brave and can often be found well away from mum.  What a brave boy!  Here he is (front of pic) playing with some of the milkers.  Mum is nowhere to be seen!

Husky is also getting more adventurous especially as we have had the big front doors of the barn open in the warm weather.  She is a very good girl and will usually stay in the barn but only until a human appears.  Then she comes running out and follows you around like a small dog. 

The perfect pet goat!