Goats +2

During my recent trip, I picked up a couple goats, a 2 or 3 year old female and a less than a year old male.  Sticking with the goats-are-named-after-Gilbert-and-Sullivan-characters theme, their names will be Fredric and Mabel (from the Pirates of Penzance). We now have 3 females and a male.  He's probably too young to produce any kids this year (though I have caught him flehmening after sniffing the female), but next year we'll be ankle deep in pygmy goats.

As soon as I let the new goats out of the truck, our other two goats came over to investigate.  Almost immediately the new, larger female started trying to dominate the two sisters.  And then along came our elderly ewe, who quickly set the goats straight about who's really in charge here.

It will probably take a while before the newcomers fully integrate themselves into the flock.  They spent last night sleeping on the deck, rather than in the barn with the others.  The temperatures overnight were quite mild, though it rained during the night, but there's a table on the deck which they could shelter under.

Photos eventually.

A few pics

Is it me, or does this kind of look like one of the rabbit masks from Bioshock?



Get a brain, Morans!



Walmart brand dog food?  It's not so good, actually.



The soy has turned brown.  The farmers can't start the harvest until the soy beans are sufficiently dried.


 
Center pivot irrigation is fairly rare around here because this area usually gets enough rain for growing corn and soy. 

A long pipe, equipped with sprayers and supported by wheels is connected to a water supply at one end.  An electric motor slowly drives the pipe around the center pivot, watering all the crops in a giant circle.  Some center pivot systems are a quarter mile (400 meters) in length.  You can easily spot center pivot irrigated fields from the air; they appear as giant circles.



Rudolph out for a drive.  The next day I was talking with a Costco employee who mentioned she saw someone driving around with a Rudolph plush in their car.  That was me!  :)



Now it's a party!