Acting the Giddy Goat

Sunday 2 March. Although the sun is out, a promising amount of grey cloud is starting to accumulate overhead, with a slim possibility of some much-needed rain later in the day. Everyone is holding thumbs.

Our neighbour (‘Mike’, we’ll call him) from across the way arrives with his tractor-trailer and sets up a water pump and pipes so that we can transfer 3,000 litres from the garden tank to the household supply, which is dwindling at an alarming rate.

That’s not the end of the story.

Its actually not even the start. Its a different story, a “trailer” prequel if you like. A while later, Mike cum-tractor-cum-trailer-cum 5 little girls on the back plus a goat-house arrives back in the driveway!

Goat-house. Yes, goat-house, not dolls house or guard house, as you might expect.

Mike is the proud owner of a pair of Billy goats and previously offered there services as scrub/weed/gorse removal agents. It looks like this is the day when that promise gets fulfilled.

(Above): Tyler and Clayton walk around Goat Hill, surveying for a good spot to locate the goat-house, a piece of level terrain with a bit of cover from the elements.

(Above): The goat-house proves to weigh far more than can be handled without some sort of crane over any distance. Getting it over the fence into the Goat Hill paddock is well-nigh exhausting, and the building comes to rest in a convenient spot under some undergrowth (which, we understand, in all likelihood, will be devoured in due course.)

A short while later, Mike and Clayton arrive back, with two obedient-ish goats on leashes. Enter Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber. That’s the names given to these creatures by Mike’s three pre-8 little daughters. The black and white boy is “Mike” and the brown one is called “Justin.”

The new tenants enter the Goat Hill precinct and sheepishly (pardon the pun) inspect their surroundings, mostly along the (level) top of the steep incline adjacent to the length of the fence. It is soon evident that Mike and Justin are by no means “wild” – they, in fact, appear to crave company. Mike has a healthy set of horns, while Mike sports a pair of rabbit-ish floppy ears. He has strange dopey eyes.

(Above) The physiques of the two buddies is rather dissimilar. While Mike is plump and pregnant-looking around the gut, and has a stocky purposeful gait, in contrast Justin is quite skinny, with a protruding spine, and seems to weigh about the same as Bennie (about 35 kg). Every now and then, Mike head-buts poor old Justin, just to remind him who is the Alpha-goat in the paddock. The butting doesn’t seem to bother Justin in the least.

Time to introduce them to Labradors Sophie and Bennie. This should be fun.

(Above): Sniffing through the bars: Bennie and Sophie did some “we’re boss here” barking spells (and still continue to do so now and then), and then started settling down to the serious business of sniffing these new and very strange-looking dogs! The goats are in no way phased by the hounds, and we’re hoping that everyone will soon be living happily ever after…

Bennie, you Bunnyhugger!

Rabbits were brought to New Zealand and released for both food and sport at various sites as early as the 1830s. Once rabbits became established, their population increased to plague proportions several times. The first rabbit plague began in the early 1870s and petered out about 1895. Another increase occurred in the early 1920s. There was a major irruption in the 1940s, and the most recent began in the late 1980s.

This evening, there was a terrific commotion with dogs scattering across the floor in the direction of the front gate. There stood Mike, our neighbour from across the way, with two little gifts – one for Sophie and one for bigger brother Bennie.

 

Sophie, looking all chuffed with her delicacy for the evening.

Bennie is quite an expert

Sophie has less finesse, but ends up finishing her meal quite sometime before big brother. Now for the veg…

Before anyone starts the ‘Oh shame, cute-little-bunny thing’, please bear in mind that folk all round the world have hare on the menu. Besides, practically, rabbits have cost New Zealand many millions of dollars, through the direct cost of controlling them, and the loss of production from farms. Their impact on the drier areas of the South Island has been little short of an ecological disaster, as the vegetation grazed off by rabbits has never recovered. The worst affected areas – once well covered with tussock, grasses and small shrubs – now have very little vegetation cover, which has led to soil erosion by wind and rain. The loss of soil has left areas where only the hardiest colonising plants will now grow. Burrowing by rabbits in some soil types and on steep slopes has also led to soil erosion.

Full tummies, and sound asleep. Snoring describes Sophie…

How to differentiate between HARES and RABBITS:

Hares are generally larger and faster than rabbits, and consequently have larger feet and longer ears than rabbits. Hares have black markings on their fur.

Rabbits are altrical (their young are born blind and hairless. In contrast, hares are generally born with hair and are able to see (precocial). Young hares are therefore able to fend for themselves very quickly after birth.

Hunters say that hare has a much stronger “gamier” flavour than rabbit (which actually does taste like a milder version of chicken.) I checked this out with Bennie, who is considering the matter.