Sunday, 6 October 2024

Encounters While Herding the Goats


         Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, I had a herd of Angora goats.  The fences around my pasture were not in very good shape, so I couldn’t just put the goats in there and walk away, so every day, I would herd the goats down from the barnyard, and into the pasture.  I would hang around with them for 45 minutes or and hour, while they grazed.  It was very relaxing and a good way to unwind after work.  The photo above shows my father, who had come for a visit, herding the goats back to the barnyard.

            One day in the first week of May, after I got home from work, I herded the goats out to the pasture.  As they were grazing, and I was standing around watching, I saw a deer walk out of the neighbor’s woods.  It was very curious about the goats, but then it turned and walked back into the woods.  I was getting bored at standing there watching the goats, so I lay down in the grass to rest.

            As I lay there daydreaming away, after a while I noticed that instead of eating, all of the goats were just standing there, with their eyes on me, at least I thought their eyes were on me.  When I looked in the opposite direction, I saw that the deer had again walked out of the woods, curious about the goats, and was standing there, just 20 feet away from me.

    Exactly a week later after work, I again walked the goats down to the pasture to herd them.  When we got down there, I noticed that there was black bear eating dandelions beside the pasture.  I was initially concerned when I saw it, but when the bear saw me and the goats, it quickly got up ran into the shelter of the woods.


View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

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