Looks like today will be the last day for the goats. They're down to the english ivy, which is tough and less palatable. Alix (the goatherd) sprays a solution of diluted molasses on the ivy to encourage them to eat it. She said, "which would you rather eat: shredded wheat or frosted shredded wheat?"
They're going to eat as much ivy as they can today, and then we'll wait and see if they need to come back. That gives the ivy a chance to spring back and start to grow again. That way they do much more damage to the ivy, than if they came back tomorrow and continued to work on the bedraggled, trampled vines.
It took Jane 2 days to get used to the goats; by yesterday morning she could not have cared less about them. She spent the morning laying in her usual spots, watching for squirrels and staring at the road. Occasionally she would walk over and sniff at a goat; the goat would sniff back and then both would go on their way. Alix said that the goats aren't usually so tolerant of dogs. Apparently Jane is so laid back that they don't see her as a problem.
The girl next door had some fun with the goats when she came home from school. They were already standing up against her fence to eat some wild grape vines which grow along the top of the fence. The girl started feeding them leaves from a tree branch which had fallen in their yard. The goats loved it, and it was so cute to see them gather around her. After awhile though, I started to become a bit annoyed. She fed them so steadily that they were all clustered around her and weren't bothering with the ivy. Eventually Alix moved into a different part of the yard, the goats followed her and went back to work eating the ivy.
We had some excitement yesterday, when Alix found a copperhead snake in the yard. She had it trapped under a stick but it got away into a pile of leaves. This was right as she was getting ready to go. She said that in general she did not favor killing snakes, but that she didn't want one of her goats to be killed by the copperhead. So she wanted to know what we did about the snake.
I called my vet and the Piedmont Wildlife Center. Both said that a goat (or a dog Jane's size) could be killed by a copperhead, but that it's unusual. My vet said she'd only ever seen one dog killed by a copperhead, and that was because the owners were on vacation and it took several days for anyone to notice the dog had been bitten. They said that copperheads like to nest in piles of brush or rotten wood. Of which we have plenty in the yard! The goats must have disturbed the snake's home and driven it out, and that's why we saw it.
To add to the excitement we had a brief but intense rainstorm just as the goats were getting ready to go. After the rain ended Georg and I beat the brush with a broom but the snake was long gone. After the goats go we'll break up that rotten wood (making sure to protect our ankles!) and I hope we'll drive the snakes away. We used to have a big black rat snake living in the yard, which was great. I'd much rather have them than copperheads.
Here's another set of before/after photos. We moved the red car so it looks like it isn't the same view; if you look at the two slim trees on the left, and the white shed behind them, you can see the perspective.
Leave a comment