The Spring Menagerie

Springtime in Lancaster County, PA means new life...We've been watching the horse mommas through the winter and were rewarded in the past week or so with these lovely little foals... I believe, just as the greens getting greener every spring, the babies get even more adorable.

Our own additions are from the goat family. Years ago, before we moved here, we had a small herd of pygmy goats.
My husband and son decided it was time to have pygmies again and prepared a lovely fenced in area on a hill so the goats had a built in climbing area to play in. Unfortunately, the fence they built didn't work to keep the goats in - in fact they walked, or should I say ran - through it as if it didn't exist. So, the first few hours of goat ownership was spent chasing goats through acres of Christmas trees.

We caught one of them - well, she walked up to our son and he just picked her up. We tied her in am enclosure and the other two came to join her... much easier than the fruitless chasing!

The guys corrected the shortcomings of the fence and we released them again into their lovely new home. They were much happier - and we were relieved. The black and white ones are still a bit skittish, but the tan one, who we have named Martha after our favorite goat for the first herd, is very friendly and sweet. I'm sure I'll be getting some better pictures when they are more confident and come out of the shadows to see us!

Of course, we can never forget the banties...
They are still around, although a number of them were lost to a hawk over the winter. When we realized what was happening, we made an effort to protect them more carefully and those that are left have thrived.

I suppose I should be sorry to tell you that "The Captain", our nemesis, was one who fell to the hawk, but I'm not and the remaining roosters seem to be happy to share their area with us and the goats.