Last week, I told you about a brave goat named Sergeant Bill, who served in France in World War I as part of Canada’s 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion. Another goat to serve his country was Air Commodore William de Goat, DSO DFC, of the British 609 (West Riding) Squadron, a Royal Air Force fighter squadron.
Mom sent in the manuscript for her sheep book the day before yesterday. Now she isn’t as grouchy and harried. In fact, she’s been telling us some of the things she wrote about, including a sheep named Private Derby.
When I told Ishtar, our donkey, that I wrote about Feyza and livestock guardian dogs in my blog, she tossed her head and said, “Humph, donkeys guard, too!” Uzzi and I looked at each other. Ishtar hangs out with the horses and sometimes even chases the sheep.
Nine years ago, when Mom and Dad bought this farm, some new friends gave them a box of guinea keets. Mom and Dad raised them in a brooder in the house. When they got old enough to come outdoors, Dad made them a coop and a covered guinea-fowl yard.
Last week, when I wrote about our livestock guardian dog, Feyza, David from Omaha left a nice comment about general purpose farm dogs. (Thank you, David.) We have one of those, too. His name is Steve.
You know how much we goats love yummy acorns, but did you know oak leaves are us goats’ favorite summer treat? That worried Mom for a long time because many toxic-plant lists say oak is poisonous.
A sad thing happened to one of Mom’s friends this week. Her sweet, orphan bottle lamb was attacked by her neighbor’s dogs and killed. That’s a shepherd’s worst nightmare. And dogs can kill other livestock, too.
Yesterday, Ursula brought little Dixie over to meet us. She’s tiny! We told Ursula what a pretty lamb she is. That made Ursula smile.
Ursula really fooled Mom this year! She still looked just like in the second picture when Mom and Dad went to bed last night.
Friday was the day Ursula the ewe was supposed to have her lamb. But she wasn’t ready, so Mom and Dad were scratching their heads. “Is she pregnant—or just fat?” they asked.
