Goat rescue

Remember how we used to have floods two or three times a year before last year's drought? Well, after a year of not having pastures full of water or animals stuck in flooded pastures, we'd sort of become slightly complacent about the idea of floods. We had quite a bit of snow a week ago, and then temperatures started to warm up over the past couple days. It really warmed up last night, and it started to rain. When we woke up this morning, we were greeted by the old familiar site of flooded pastures and a creek out of its bounds.

As the day went on, we continued to watch the radar, and we started to worry. The goats across the creek are in a pasture that will flood with enough rain, especially when combined with melting snow. The radar was looking pretty scary, so we decided it was time to get the goats to higher ground. Crossing the creek was out of the question, but luckily we have a neighbor who said we can go through their property to get to the goats when the creek floods.

Mike hooked up the trailer to the pick-up, and because the cab of the pick-up was full of "stuff" he'd recently picked up at his parent's house, Kat and I had to ride in the trailer. 

I've never walked that route through the woods, however, and when Mike, Kat, and I were about halfway through the woods, I started to think that this was the craziest idea we'd ever had. How on earth would we get sixteen goats to follow us through the woods with only a couple of them on leads and two buckets of grain? I was imagining a confusing comedy of errors and us chasing wayward goats through the woods for hours.

I always say that goats are smart, and I'm happy to say that this time they came through with flying colors. In fact, I'm pretty sure this proves that they really are psychic. I've been saying for years that they can read my mind because as soon as you walk into the pasture with the intent of doing anything remotely unpleasant, such as trimming hooves, they won't come near me. Well, this time, they seemed to completely understand that we were taking them to a better place. As soon as we got them started on the path through the woods, they actually got ahead of us and started running -- in the right direction.

In fact, I'm glad that Mike and Kat are runners, because they got way ahead of me! It's kind of demoralizing to have a 14-year-old goat out-run you! Mike and Kat had the goats completely loaded into the trailer by the time I caught up.

And when we got home, they hopped out of the trailer and followed Kat to their new pasture and dry shelter!