"Board" Kid and Ignorant Goats

2 eggs.

Goats, as you know, may be smart, but even Darwin would have a problem evolving them into something less... clumsy. For example, I came home today and, of course, heated up the formula for our orphan, then took it out to it. At this point, I can't find the kid and think that the bleating I'm hearing is coming from it, so I call it. "Come here, dingbat!" ...and call... I didn't see anything in sight... Where was it? Why was it so loud and not seen? The two nannies were in the far field with the billygoat, but the kids weren't there. I looked behind the barn and finally discovered the cause of the noise which, in fact, was NOT the orphan, but one of Nanny Goat's kids -- stuck under the pallet I had propped up for them to play on! It was flat on its side, between the middle board of the pallet and the outside board... Of course, it had been raining all day, so who knows how long the kid was under the pallet. I can imagine that the other goats would have also stepped on the pallet to assess the situation, thus squishing the poor kid. If the kid had been even a week older, it would have gotten out by itself due the matter of growth. In this case, it fit PERFECTLY under the pallet. When I removed the pallet, it stood up on shaky legs and didn't stop shaking until Nanny Goat, far in the field, came running back with the other goats. The kid was a filthy mess, with dirt on every inch of it. Nanny Goat only came running back because I was holding the orphan, not hers -- that was bleating loudly... maybe they'd heard the particular bleat of the kid that was under the pallet all day and decided just to ignore it from that kid... but when the orphan started screaming, here come the goats as if there was a house on fahr (that's 'fire' in Texas-ease)!

Anyway, the kid was fine and sucking with enthusiasm when Nanny Goat came around to the barn.

Mike said that I locked the orphan into the tack room after feeding it. I tried to kick it out a few times while I was getting feed for the chickens, but it was insistent on trying to get past me. Apparently, it did without me knowing it.

All the animals, including the peahen, but excluding Barbecue (contained in the backyard) were inside the barn when Mike came home. Every day's an adventure. We live on a farm!

I didn't get a chance to check the plants in the greenhouse today. :(