Farmyard news

Goodbye to Mabel

Sadly we say goodbye to Mabel, the old goat who passed over/on last week. She was a feisty character who had something of an adventurous life by goat standards, and was at death’s door quite a few times. Once, after a bout of something neurological which made her walk incessantly in circles, we paid for what we thought was her euthanasia, only to drive past the vet some days later and see her munching on the lawn outside the surgery.   That same day she made the front page of the Swartland newspaper, and so many people phoned in to adopt her, that she ended up being given away.   But if we thought that was the end of Mabel and Fynbos, we were wrong.  Some 5 years later, when we went in search of more goats, who did we accidentally discover at a nearby farm? Yes Mabel!  We brought her back home where she has lived out her remaining years uneventfully, if stubbornly.  Truth was she listened to no one except Mr Ching, the Chinese goose, who pecked at her if she got pushy.  And she was particularly fond of eating camera straps. We think that overall she a fine life, and we wish her well wherever she has gone.

Lambertus Basson and Bahbara are fat and almost weaned.

At 7 weeks, the orphan (hanslamnmetjies) Lambert (the Merino) and Bahbara (the Dorper) have bulked out and are down to one bottle of lamb formula at night.  They are not yet old enough to join the rest of the circus, so we try to balance their grazing by themselves, with excursions out with us. We do sometimes even end up taking a walk with his strange flock in tow (2 dogs 2 sheep and 3 cats (out of shot)). We have begun tethering them, to get them used to earning their keep by doing a bit of mowing. 

The expansion for the website by one and a half

You may remember that a few months back we were given Goosy Lucy as a mate for elderly Mr Ching. This put an end to the 12 year twosome of Mr Ching and Molly the Peking duck, leaving poor Molly as the tag along.  But matters soon improved when Loni, who helps us with admin, gave us a duck she was re-homing called One-point-five (Duck for short). Duck was so named because an accident took off half of one of his webbed feet, but this hasn’t affected his behaviour at all.  Initially the geese were so fed up at the duck newcomer, that they stopped him from eating. But everything has settled down now in the expanded feathered department, and are all happy to hang out together.

Donkey doodles

On the donkey front, Rupert has almost lost his childhood shag, but all three quirky quadrupeds have grown winter coats.  Rupert’s fringe is especially long in order to keep that handsome head warm.