We Forgot...Goats Like To Climb

Tom finished the new fence, with two lovely gates, so the whole eastern side of our property with the main hayfield and small woodland is fenced with goat fence.  Goat proof...or so we thought.  But, we forgot about this.

This is a small nook between our nearly chicken-proofed back yard and the vegetable garden pasture; the place that the chickens have almost completely dug up because of the bugs that are attracted to the night light; the place where the woodshed and the well house are, along with stacks of wood that won't fit in the woodshed.

I let the Nubians out in the new field this morning.  Rather, I forced them into the new field.  They didn't want to go.  They like their routine and their little fenced pasture even though they've nearly eaten it bare.  The new pasture is, well...new.  Nubians don't do "new" very well. 

Anyway, I thought they'd either hang around the gate where I put them in or make a beeline for the woodland where all those juicy trees, shrubs, and woody weeds are.  I mean, what goat wouldn't want to be out there with such a smorgasbord of goodies?

But, no, the neighbor's dogs barked and the goats ran directly for the little nook with the bare ground (because the chickens have dug everything up).  The nook that is right next to the very places I do not want the goats to be...my landscaped back yard and my vegetable garden.

And what did they do when they got there?  They hopped right up on this stack of wood to eat the leaves off the tree.  One little hop, skip, and a jump and they would be over that fence and into the garden.

They didn't try this, but another hop, skip and a jump onto this tarp covered wood pile and they'd be over the fence and eating my hydrangeas.

So, back into their little pasture they went.  And they were very happy to go, I might add.

Completely unrelated to this story is this pile of rocks.  These are the rocks that were in beds across the front of the house; the ones that contained the rock that flew up from my mower, found Meagan's finger, and crushed it this time last year.  I hired our handy-dandy teenager to dig them all out and  pile them there. 

Next up, a bit of front yard landscaping.  Not just because I want to, but because it is necessary to keep rain from flooding into the house.