Last night was a big night for us. We moved our 51 goats onto their new land. We have kind of done this whole "homesteading" thing a bit backwards. We got the goats and guardian dogs before we had any land. And then we had to move our dogs to another piece of land, leaving the goats where they were for almost a year. So we have been working on moving the goats for a few months now. And, no, neither piece of land has been our own. We have been blessed to have friends who offer up their land for us to use while we work towards owning our own property.
Now our pups and the goats are all on the same land, but not together just yet. It will take a little bit of time to get them all situated to where they can all be together as planned. Like I said, we have been doing this whole thing backwards.
We had a bit of a late start last night, due to our hard working guys and their work schedules. So we weren't even able to get things started until 5-6 pm. All 3 of my guys went to the new land to check the new fencing and finish preparing it. Then my hubby stayed behind to finish up while our boys went with our friends to pick up the goats in their horse trailer. By this time, sunset was quickly coming. Thankfully they were able to load ALL 51 goats into the trailer. Then they made the 15 mile drive and safely delivered them to their new home.
As if that isn't exciting enough, we realized that some bales of hay needed to be moved OUT of the fenced in area. So, after dark, after the goats were unloaded, it was time to move the hay. In the process, the goats got out...maybe all of them, I'm not really sure...I just know there were a lot of goats to get back into the fence. One of them, called Skittish (rightfully so), wouldn't come back. She hid off somewhere in the tall grasses.
We decided to stay close by the area the goats were in to make sure they didn't escape again while the hay was being moved. When it was time to go, I drove slowly back down the drive. Thankfully we found our missing goat! She was just outside the fence, between the fence and the hay bales, looking for a way back in. My two sons corralled her using the bales of hay and she found her way back into the fence and headed towards the rest of the herd.
When the hay was all moved, the fence was tested and seemed to be working fine. So we took a chance and left them for the night. Our friends live on the same land, but a ways off. We live about 15 min in another direction, so we certainly weren't close by to keep an eye out on them. Our youngest son works out on the same ranch and thankfully, when he went to work this morning, the goats were all happily inside the fence where they belonged. I call that success!
Next up, acclimate our pups and the goats so the pups can finally enjoy roaming free and keeping an eye on their goats. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!
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