Goat Land

The land behind all these heavy-with-kid does will be the new goat pasture. It is brushy and rough, just the way goats like it. Goats are foragers, not grazers, and prefer bushes and rough grass. Bark is a real treat for them. This land also has an old apple orchard and a pond. Whenever I rescue a turtle from the road I bring it up to that pond. There are many streams that run down to old cisterns previous farmers built. I would love to start a bottled water company just for the heck of it. I have the best water I've experienced in my adult lifetime. The well water I grew up on was good, too. Some water I've had was so awful I couldn't drink it from the tap. Matt says our water is slightly sulphurous, meaning there is natural gas underneath the ground. Sure enough, we saw someone drilling for it on the other side of Brookfield. We have plans to dig a bigger pond behind where the goats are standing in this picture. Ponds are great for wildlife and livestock, and are so picturesque. I am always thinking about photographs. No goat births yet today...one lamb has torn her scrapie ID tag right through her ear. I think it is Dora or Thea. Matt has gone to get hay so it will have to wait until he comes back to get cleaned up. I'm not going to replace it. The tear will be enough of an ID.