OT Goats [was: RE: [TheForge] Beware the quiet welder]

[Jeff & Leslie]

My girlfriend and I had  dairy goats about 35 years ago and kept em in a 
three strand electric fence.  It kept em in pretty well but one doe would 
get down her knees and slide the hot wire down her head and back and crawl 
out.  Never could break her of it.  The pen was naturally too small and we'd 
take the tiny herd for walks in the woods most evenings and they'd have a 
big time eating oak leaves, blackberry vines and assorted other hard plants, 
really didn't care for grass or hay unless they were quite hungry.  They did 
like kudzu and I'd stop on the way home from work and load the trunk of the 
old 58 chevy with kudzu vines I'd cut with a machete.  They'd gobble up the 
kudzu except for the very bottom of the pile, as they are too picky to eat 
the part that was touching the ground.  That's when I discovered that kudzu 
has a beautiful purple flower that just doesn't show above the flowers much. 
Kudzu is known for making the milk "ropey" , but we didn't notice such, 
perhaps because it was only a small part of their diet.

Around here herds of sheep are rented out to control kudzu and clear 
underbrush.  The city uses em in a couple of places near me.  They come in 
and set up an electric fence and leave the herd for a few days and move it 
to the next place.  Fun to watch.  They have a huge dog that stays with em 
and barks ferociously when you get too close.  Poor dog carries a heavy 
weight around his neck to keep him from jumping the fence

Jeff Valentine