Old Fashioned Mowers: Pro-Mow

The Jujube trees are beginning to ripen! The horses worked on mowing the grass down yet his week.

Always love getting out the old hand held mower with the pull string!

RAIN!!!!

Rain! We got some!!

The Upper Jujubes were completely drenched!

The Far Jujubes were too!

Dog had a blast running through the water...

Dad works the water flow at the Bridge Jujubes...

The entrance to the Bridge Jujubes as the flood eases up...

Walking down the road from the Bridge to the Far Jujubes.. new silt covers everything..

about 3 inches deep

The road is awash... 

and a waterfall!

Good thing the weeds were hacked out!

A foot of water still flows through the Far Jujubes..

The desert is thirsty and eagerly soaks up the sweet rain water.. 

I measured a little more than an inch of collected rainwater in the wheelbarrow out back of the horse pens. 

We have not had such a downpour since 2005!!

Playing in the rain August 2012!

And the toads will sing all night long...!

Putting Goats to Work

Putting Goats to Work

Check out the link above!!
This is an informative video showing a project employing a great number of professional weed-eaters in Northern California where the hillsides are steep and the brush thick...

Goats are being used far and wide these days on areas vast or small.

The idea will be normal and not novel in short order as more people look at the goats working and see the health of the land, the beauty of the pastoral scene and the sustainability of working in tandem with nature rather than against natural order.

In Today's Yard: Moya Loop, Eldorado

(Please note this yard was actually consumed on Friday August 3, 2012)

Today the Goats Ate:

Cheat grass
Ragweed (last year's dry and green in flower ahchew!)
Yellow Asters
Blue Gramma
Globe Mallow
Mistletoe
Rabbit Brush
Gumweed
Four O'clock
Yucca (pods, nibbled banana leaves)
Sagewort (took most of the day to develop this food variety in their mixture, they went to it after a            rumination break



Not Eating in this yard:

Snake weed (in flower)
Purple aster ( in flower, few plants)
Sagewort (developed a taste for it by the end of the yard, trimmed about 1/3-1/2 of the bushes)
Prickly pear
Cholla
Juniper


~This yard was in Eldorado on Moya Loop. All vegetation eaten or not eaten is based on in season qualities of vegetative growth, flower, seed set, weakness of individual plant, temperature and time of day. The predominant feed available to the goat now and in the immediate past also plays a role in what other plants are stacked inn the rumen and how. After a cud-chewing session goats receive feedback from their gut as to what should be avoided and what should be devoured.

The Mustang and the Rattlesnake

When I got to Leslie’s place I still hadn’t seen any horses so I kept an eye out as I walked in from the road where I had parked. Coming to the barn I could see parts of three shadowy mustangs moving idly about, and in Mick’s stall stood Billy next to his feed tub which solved the last two mysteries. After dragging Billy’s tub back around the corner to where it was yesterday I led billy out with a nudge or two... and let Mick into his stall. Mick went right over to his feeder and waited to be served, but something about his mouth made me take a closer look at him. At first it was only a little swollen, but hard and he was drooling a little foamy bit. In the light I saw two distinct bloody holes about an inch apart, almost in line with his nostrils. 

So I walked around the yard but found no signs of people about. I called dad to get his opinion and a phone number for Leslie as my contacts have not all been transferred to this new phone... I walked down to Leslie’s house and knocked on the door. 

The still and quiet erupted with two dogs that came charging out of the dog door. They were acting tough and a little scared maybe, aggressive.. but I’d been there before and didn’t really worry too much, though I was glad to see movement in the house because these were dogs acting in such a way as I didn’t want to turn my back on them. Then suddenly the intact male came and bit me on the ass! Just then the door opened and Ray came out telling the dogs to behave in some fashion. I was pretty startled at having been bit, more in shock than hurt. I have a little 1/2 inch bruise below my left cheek, a little dog hicky is all...  

Anyway, Ray apologized for Leslie’s dog and made sure I was ok, then came up to the barn to look at the horse. He was already much more swollen and serum was dripping from his nostrils as well as more wet in the more swollen mouth which now drooped a bit. I grabbed up some Snakeweed I spotted just outside the pen, which was flowering, on the way down to Ray’s truck via Leslie’s house to get her number from his phone. I called her and she said she was in town, but would be there as soon as she could, about a half hour... 

Ray got me a pan to simmer the Snakeweed in and a towel to apply it. When the brew was ready I took it up to the water trough to cool down. When it was still warm but not too hot I took the towel and held it to Mick’s bite. He reared a little at first, but after a few attempts he stood and appreciated it, leaning into my hand a bit. I stood and added more tea now and then until Leslie arrived. She came in and assessed the situation directing Ray to find some spent hosing and cut it into two strips about 8 inches in length. I stayed with Mick continuing to keep him calm while Leslie went off after some supplies. He is a very good boy, and trusts his people, a few times he got agitated, but I was able to calm him back to standing still. 

When they returned Leslie first injected Mick with some antihistamine pain drug and then inserted the hose into each nostril while Ray and I held Mick. The hosing was taped to his halter and his breathing was immediately easier. The oddness of nostril tusks was balanced by the ability to breathe. Leslie then lanced his nose and face in about 6 or 8 places. These bled some, and more bloody serumy liquid came from his mouth and nostrils. Leslie went off to find some cold packs which came in the form of frozen blueberries. These she put into a bag and taped it onto the front of Mick’s face with one on each side above his nose. Even this he took with little fuss. A touch to the face from Leslie sent him turned on a dime and facing the opposite side of the stall. Impressive move! But then he was fine and seemed to appreciate the cold on his swollen face which now swelled to just below his eye with the top lip very big and hard. 

A little later Leslie gave him a shot of some tougher pain medication. I am really glad I was able to spot it right away, it was a nasty place to get bit, but it looks like he will be ok. It is a good thing I had both my dad to confer with on best available aid and what to watch for and Leslie as a Veterinarian to be there before long to stabilize his breathing.

Goats In the Parks

Dad and I represented the Horned Locust GoatScapers at a board meeting last night for the Santa Fe City Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission. At the end they took public comment and dad explained our connection to the city of Santa Fe and a little of our attempt to contract for Ecological Restoration work on the Santa Fe River, Frenchy's Field, and the Arroyo Chamiso. We were received with much interest and appreciation and they want us to deliver a presentation for them at their next Board Meeting on August 21.
We look forward to working with the City to determine the best projects to start with where the employment of goats will further them in their goal of a Sustainable Santa Fe.

Yard Goats: In Santa Fe!

On the way to work!

The goats drive into town to mow their first Santa Fe yard...

These goats know what to do!

They get right down to business...

The professional tree trimmer crew works above as everyone else works below.

They even came to appreciate Cheat Grass as they shortened the green around this bench...

Fencing was put up to protect house and rock work from goat washing..

These new girls from Lindrith are beginning to understand their new world.

Tree trimmers move on to Silver Lace, trimming along the fence line while the rest 

work on the weedy (MMmmmmm) lawn.

Toward the end of the day the herd makes some last passes through...

The benefit of yardwork by goat:

They are quiet. They are pleasant and do not harm the environment as they work. Indeed! They IMPROVE the tilth, the very essence of the soil, so that quality and quantity of vegetation is improved.

The Air, the Earth, the sights and sounds are pleasant with the goats hard at work in your yard.

Imagine more beauty like this Swallowtail Butterfly in your life- it is a reality when replacing chemical or internal combustion style maintenance with the pure and simple GoatHerd.