Summer's warm and dry grip lasted extra long this season. So, here we are nearing the end of October with a burn ban going on and a few record warm days, when suddenly out of nowhere (except for the predictions by the local weather people) come rain, wind and a significant drop in temperature. We woke in the middle of the night to high winds and pounding rain. We were grateful for the rainfall! I immediately remembered our little herd of dairy goats that do not like to be indoors and wondered if they knew enough to get inside out of the rain. Since there hasn’t been any significant rainfall in two months and our matriarch dairy doe, the leader of the pack, had recently gone to live at a goat dairy farm, I knew there was a good chance that they did not know what to do in the storm. All four does are young and not even mothers yet, so they are still waiting to decide who is going to be the leader (the one aggressive enough to use common sense). I jumped out of bed to go and check on them.
Sure enough, when I shined the flashlight out in the dark stormy night, there were all these bright eyes looking back at me from the corner of the pasture behind the house. I scurried to get on some outdoor gear and headed towards them in the dark. Only by then, I found out that the light bulb had clicked on in at least one of their heads and they had all just gotten into their little stable. I was so proud of them, even though they still looked rather confused.
I knew they would be fine in their newly remodeled, painted stable which had been cleaned out, fresh bedding down and fresh hay in their wall hanging mangers. Clean water and minerals were available and a little pen out the back door if they wanted to see the night sky and still feel safe. I locked them in knowing they might try to “escape” out into the weather when the wind and rain slowed down a bit. But knowing ahead of time that the temperatures were going to drop as the front moved through, I knew they did not need to get damp and then cold.
This morning all was well. They were very happy to be “released” and anxious to be frolocing around again. I noticed this afternoon in the drizzling rain, they have opted to stay inside. Again, I am proud of them! Maybe they will get used to their little barn after all. It’s so cute and cozy, they might even find ME in there all curled up asleep in the hay, one of these gusty autumn days!
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES
