Intentional Tonic
Goats Galore! (8-9-15)
When we arrived home from our Glacier National Park vacation, we were welcomed by a few hundred goats! What a great welcome home! Well, Scarlett wasn’t too crazy about it, but JR and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The goats were there for “natural” pasture weed control. We got a bit of an education and learned that goats like to eat weeds more than grassy plants. Because goats have four chambered tummies (who knew?!), the weeds get processed enough so that they don’t grow right back out of the goat droppings.
This is the goat herding dog, not Scarlett!
It was true. The goats stuck, as far as we could tell, to the weeds.
Some were babies just a few months old. I had this little brownie picked out to keep, but for some reason, neither the herders or JR thought that was a good idea!
The goat herding family consisted of a super nice young couple and their young daughter. They also had an “intern” herder with them for a few weeks. The intern slept outside with the goats in case the dog indicated any goats were going rogue.
The goats were penned in by movable electric fence. Oddly enough, neither JR or I could feel the charge. This really freaked out the herders.
The herding family has enough customers with connecting properties, or with neighbors who don’t mind the goats walking through, that they walked all summer and never had to truck the goats anywhere.
The next morning was a beautiful Montana bluebird day. JR and I sat on the deck with a cup of coffee and listened.
It was quiet but for the bleating of the goats. Turn up your volume and enjoy. There’s something oddly calming about watching these guys go about their business!
Loved this video! Wish I could’ve been there in person! You are so blessed to have experienced all that Montana has to offer. Love you both!
It must have been fun watching the goats do all the work for a
change!
So nice!