…All new except this one, this is a “before” photograph:
I can’t even tell which goat that is, I think it’s Holly.
It’s not warm enough to give them a proper shear, but they had so much hay lodged in their coats that last weekend we decided to give them a trim around the face so you could at least tell which end is the front. They also needed their hooves trimmed, so we did that. Although a professional goat wrangler could do the whole job in five minutes we’re amateurs, and it required all three of us to work for two days (ok, only one hour on each day).
As you can see, while we’re preoccupied with giving Holly the full treatment, Misty seizes the opportunity to nibble someone’s trouser pockets:
Holly seemed to love the whole thing.
Afterwards, she looked less like a sheep and more like a goat.
I think this is what they’re supposed to look like.
I took lots more pictures, so I’m going to put some more up – but I’ll do it over the next few days, so it doesn’t take hours & hours to load on your computers…
A Bad Guide 
We are charmed by the fetching new “look”.
That Misty should be afforded Taxman’s Privileges seems fair enough.
After all, let’s face it, by now these goats are global media stars, and are they even getting union wages?
give them a trim around the face so you could at least tell which end is the front
Ah, Arthur, you definitely know how to make me laugh à gorge déployée. :D
I also think the light is great in this picture: https://abadguide.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/smallholly05.jpg
You also know how to take a photo.
Lovely, as always and now recently groomed, more lovely.
I have an off topic question:
My cat injured a dove (a little type of doves that we call “torcazas”). It has a wound under one of its wings. I clean the wound and put the dove in a jail (the cat’s travel box, paradoxically). Any advises?
Alma says eat it.
But now she says you have to take it to the vet. Dyveke says to give it hard-boiled egg yolk to eat and also (very important) water in a saucer.
They have experience* with looking after wounded birds.
*(partly successful)
Sig, thank you very much. The credit for the picture goes mostly to Photoshop’s “Shadow & Highlights” feature that enabled me to emphasise the light.
If I google Taxman’s Privileges, I find nothing. That means you’ve invented this name for picking someone’s pocket, Tom. It’s a very good one.
They look a bit short-sighted: I recommend spectacles. (The idea of contact lenses would be absurd.)
What were IN those pockets? I carry dog treats everywhere. Goat Treats?
Lovely to see them a bit groomed, and in the sun!
Alma says eat it??!! Tell her she disappointed me… But perhaps this is truly the best advise.
I came back home after working as taxi for my girls (that’s one of the most common jobs mums have) and I see that its wounds looks nastier. The vets where I take my pets told me they don’t treat birds!!
¡¡AGGGHHH!! What am I going to do??!! I don’t even have my mother: they’re flying to Russia right now, she also have (partly successful) experience.
I’m going to prepare a hard-boiled egg, I’ve already give her water. Thanks!
But tell Alma from me: “debería darte vergüenza” ;-)
Around here there are places where injured wild animals are cared for. We (i.e. my wife) have found them by contacting the Audubon Society, I believe. (I feel a bit like the Wizard of Oz now: “Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila… er, phila… er, yes, er, Good Deed Doers.”) We once took a mourning dove, found with a broken wing by the side of a country lane, to someone who specializes in bird rehab, and we seriously considered taking it home as a pet later: maybe it could live in a great big cage, so that the cats couldn’t get at it? But it seemed like a crazy idea. And then there were the baby squirrels.
I wonder if there is anything like that in Argentina.
Thank you, empty. I haven’t found yet anything like this. I put it some yolk and water and kept it in a safe place, but it didn’t eat yet. I hope at least it feels safe and calm.
Of course I agree with dearie, contact lenses are ridiculous for them, but my daughter uses prescription glasses made of silicon that have an elastic band for the neck. Those would be perfect for the goats, and they come in different colours so they can choose which one they prefer.
And now, I’m going to be a taxi again.
Alma can’t have meant it, Julia.
Muy triste, the tale of la gata y la palomita.
Over the years our cats have proudly presented us with a small host of badly stunned birds as well as numerous wee cowering battered mice and the occasional rat (though for her depredations against rats our most avid hunter, a game little female tortoiseshell, herself hardly larger than a rat, and after expeditions in the rain greatly resembling one, once suffered the karmic revenge of a near-fatal dose of rat poison, after consuming part of a rat which the neighbours had thoughtfully poisoned) . To speak here only of the birds, each of these conquests proved terminal for the victims (one a tiny Ana’s Hummingbird, seemingly too swift to be caught, woe is the day)… save one, that is. On that occasion we attempted humane assuagements and palliations much along the lines of those you have described; and finally, with not much hope, left the poor wounded creature in a small box on an exposed porch.
The next day it was no longer there. We would like to believe it miraculously recovered, and flew away.
(I realize this may not help much, but it seems that in some quarters prayer is brought into play on such occasions.)
Thank you, Tom.
I also have many many stories of cats and birds… Only a few ended well. For instance, my mother saved a “zorzal” last year and she says it keeps visiting her (I don’t think is the same bird, of course…). The most terrible/hilarious story happened some years ago: they have saved one little bird and put it in a room safe from the cats and with an open window. The next day the bird wasn’t in its box, so they imagined it had flown away. Later this same year, my mother was looking for a book in that room, introduced her hand in a shelf and ugly was her cry when she found a bird skeleton among the books… There has been no smell nor any sign that could have announced that the bird was lying there. Uggh, creepy.
And going back to this dove, I think she ate some of the yolk, but her wing looks awful. There’s nothing more we can do now, so I’m prepared, and now my children also are (they didn’t know what happened until an hour ago when they came back home).
Ah, I forgot!
these are my daughter’s glasses, show them to the girls and tell us what they think
I’m no expert, but those are incredibly stylish glasses. How interesting, I’ve never seen anything quite like them. I will show them to the others later on today. Alma was only joking, she’s developing her sardonic repertoire. I agree with Empty, isn’t there a bird society you can ask what to do? Everything you’ve done sounds right, though, and unless its wing is broken, there’s probably nothing more to do. There’s one special vet for birds here, but he’s very expensive. One day there will be a free health system for birds & animals (and fish & insects, but not germs).
Yes, of course I know Alma was joking! I was joking too pretending to be so outraged.
I hope we live enough to see those wonderful days…
If you equipped the goats with optical swimming goggles, they would not only see better, but could enjoy a swim in that lake.
They’ve never expressed any interest in swimming, but they’ve never said they don’t like it, either. We could try taking them down to the lake, I suppose. See what happens. What they really need now is sunglasses, tinted goggles in other words. There’s no wool in their eyes any more and there’s tremendous glare from the low sun and the reflection coming off the snow. Most people wear goggles these days, chefs in case they get a bit of eggshell in the eye, golfers, anyone using tools.
Now then, do goats suffer from what the Aussies call “dags”?
Julia (this may be too late, but it might be useful on another occasion and to other cat owners)
I asked my son-in-law whose specialty is saving birds (especially in oil spills), and he wrote:
it is very important that the dove receive medical attention… cat saliva is highly toxic to birds and the dove should be on antibiotics as soon as possible… a couple of days delay could be too long.
Thank you, m-l!
I found today a pet-shop that treat birds, but the vet wasn’t there. It’s holiday here today and tomorrow. Things looks difficult. To be true, I’m also afraid of the costs of all the intervention. I clean the dove’s wound with a disinfectant, it seems ok, apart from the broken wing. Let’s see what happens.
Thank you very much
Bad ending again: dove’s dead. At least she died calm and quietly in the cage, and not in my cat’s jaws. Thank you all.