Conniving Little So-And-So's......

Here we have the "Trouble Twins", Sally and Annie. These two were the main culprits in the "Bowling for Goats" incident from yesterday:



Even when they aren't the ones IN trouble, they are likely the ones CAUSING it.

Take this morning, for instance - I have begun feeding Mabel a "half flake" of Alfalfa at each milking. She enjoys it, but I have to get her eating it before I put any grain in the trough, or she goes for the grain. So, the fist thing I do in the morning, is check the puppies, then toss the morning Alfalfa ration into the stanchion feed trough.

Then I feed the goats, and open the door for Mabel (and Belle) to come trooping in. I have been keeping a watchful eye on the Trouble Twins (especially the Black "Sheep", Sally), because they like to try and sneak through the gate while I have my hands full of hay for them.

Usually, I catch them with nose, or half a head out of the gate. Most of the time, I can tell they are just messing with my beadie little mind, but every-once-in-awhile, they think I've let down my guard enough to let them zip through.

They have NO IDEA that they are "marked" goats and I NEVER let my guard down when they are near. Problem is, they are adept at coming up with new, different and exciting ways of irritating me.

So, there I was, hay in hand, coming through the gate - keeping a watchful eye on the Demo-Duo (short for Demolition...). They KNEW I was watching them closely. I could almost hear them whistling into the air, doing their best "Who, ME? I ain't doing nothing...", innocent look. They even stood about 8' away from the gate acting like perfect little Angels.

I shoulda known.

If they are acting THAT innocent, some diabolical plan was afoot.

All seemed well, nothing was amiss - or so it seemed.

It took me a few minutes, but on the next trip into the milk room - I saw the results of their plan:



They kept me busy while SASSY snuck out the gate.

By the time I found her, she'd eaten a pretty good sized hole into Mabel's hay. It was odd, too. Instead of standing at the stanchion like normal - she climbed onto the goat stanchion, then bent down to get the hay.

I chastised her, took a couple photos and sent her back to the "hoosegoat".

Mabel came in, and pretty much 'demanded' extra rations - WITHOUT goat spit. I don't know why, but Mabel has decided that she has to get EVERY last leaf of hay, and kernel of grain. It must be "good to the last drop" (speck), because she leaves her feeder polished, and wet with slimy cow spit.



When she is done, she heads to Belle's pan to see if she left anything good.



From there it's a slow trudge out the door, down the hill and to the hay feeder, where she stuffs her face all day.

The life of a cow....

I also found Shadow's "Security Blanket" in and odd place this morning.

Over the past few weeks, he has taken to sleeping out in the driveway, or up by the house. I think the warmer weather fooled him into thinking it was Springtime. This morning, I found him a tucked into the hay in the barn, snoozing away.

Since he's "on the prowl" all night he has kept the coyotes at bay, even the ones who have thought it ok to venture into the yard. They have quickly learned to make a hasty exit.

I guess it's a boredom thing. He's found his way over to the burn pile where I put a skin from the last deer we had this year. I haven't been able to burn the pile yet, so he figured the skin was fair game.

We woke up one morning a couple weeks ago, to find said skin laying in the middle of the yard. It changes places from day to day, and several times DURING the day. He doesn't chew on it, just carries it around and lays by it.

With the weather turning colder, and the wind blowing harder - the wind chills have been down into the single digits - Shadow probably figured that it would be more comfortable to lounge in the barn, and wanted his blanket with him. Since he comes and goes to the barn as he pleases, and I feed him in there, I made a hole under the door so he could get through. It's not much bigger then he is, but works.

Evidently, it's not big enough to get a stiff, frozen, security blanket through:



Ultimately, he must have decided that snuggling in the hay was more important then snuggling his blankie, so he left it where it was and napped without it.

Poor guy, he'll probably be scared for life....