The Goat Report

Nellie has gotten over trying to kill me or at the very least maim me. She seems to have accepted us as her people. I thought that meant we were pals of a sort; she follows us into the fields on walks, doesn't mind being brushed or my playing with her kids. Turns out she may view me as one of her kids. 

The driveway is about half a mile long to the main road and my mail box. It cuts through a strip of thick woods along the way. 

One day I left the goats happily destroying a hop vine that had gone through the garden fence and went off down the road to the mail box. About half way along I heard the sounds of thundering feet and the calls of an irritated goat. Nellie and the girls are running down the driveway after me. 

Side note - ---- anything equipped with an udder should not run; it's very undignified and frankly looks uncomfortable. 

So I stop and  wait, figuring they just wanted to come along. They're like big dogs that way. Rose and Violet stop and rub against my legs like they haven't seen me in a week. Nellie continues to snort and  nicker at me in the same tone she uses when the kids get into trouble or stray too far away from her. I talk to her and  try to go down the driveway. Nellie blocks my path and pushes me back up the hill all the while scolding me and snorting. So I guess the woods are off limits and I'm not so much the leader of the herd but a third kid she's looking after.  

After spending most of the first month with Nellie worrying she would never bond with me, I'm not sure this is really what I was hoping for. Maybe this why they call female goats Nannies.