To pot, or to pasture ? To pasture, of course ! (You can see by the photo that he is a really handsome fellow !)A couple of days ago, my husband came home for lunch with a surprise gift on the back of his pick-up ... a live goat ! A local Maasai had given it to him as a thank you gift, for helping him out last year with free bean hay for his starving herd of livestock (who are now doing well). The goat is an adult male, a prized member of the herd and my husband was honoured to receive such a gift – a Maasai’s wealth is judged by the number of livestock he has, so for him to give my husband this goat, was something very special indeed.
The goat has been walked for miles to the bottom of our farm road, where he was put onto the back of the pick-up and brought up to the house.
The house and garden staff, on seeing the arrival of the goat, started grinning and chanting “Nyama ! Nyama !” (“Meat ! Meat !”) Well you know me - I am a sucker for any type of animal and there was no way that goat was going into the pot, so I quickly set the record straight on that one !
Now this poor goat ran around and around our garden, bleating (do goats bleat ?) … making a huge noise, trying to call all his friends (who are now miles and miles away) and Tessa, one of our silly cats, followed him all around the garden (until the goat sniffed her face and she dived for cover under a nearby shrub). The dogs were also amused by it - Dibble tried to get the goat to play with him, and Zonde just stood there and barked at it.
It was quite a sight, as you can imagine … a cat chasing a goat, followed closely by a 3 year old with 2 dogs on either side of her, and me with my camera and all the garden staff standing watching us, wondering why on earth we were making such a fuss over a stinky old goat !
When the goat started eating my bougainvillea hedge, and then proceeded to follow my daughter into the kitchen (yes, you read that correctly – the kitchen !) my husband and I decided to have a little chat. We agreed that we could not keep the goat (it is not used to the dogs, it would eat everything in my garden, it would be lonely without other goats to keep it company etc etc) and offered it to Justin. He has a girlfriend in a nearby village who keeps goats, so this goat could join her herd. (Justin promised me that he would not eat the goat !)
My daughter was, understandably, upset as she was rather hoping that the goat would be a new pet. So my husband (not me - can I just stress that here !) promised her that we would get her a baby goat soon, to rear ourselves and get used to the dogs, which we could fence off a section of the garden for etc … so, all I can say on that one is …. watch this space !
The goat has been walked for miles to the bottom of our farm road, where he was put onto the back of the pick-up and brought up to the house.
The house and garden staff, on seeing the arrival of the goat, started grinning and chanting “Nyama ! Nyama !” (“Meat ! Meat !”) Well you know me - I am a sucker for any type of animal and there was no way that goat was going into the pot, so I quickly set the record straight on that one !
Now this poor goat ran around and around our garden, bleating (do goats bleat ?) … making a huge noise, trying to call all his friends (who are now miles and miles away) and Tessa, one of our silly cats, followed him all around the garden (until the goat sniffed her face and she dived for cover under a nearby shrub). The dogs were also amused by it - Dibble tried to get the goat to play with him, and Zonde just stood there and barked at it.
It was quite a sight, as you can imagine … a cat chasing a goat, followed closely by a 3 year old with 2 dogs on either side of her, and me with my camera and all the garden staff standing watching us, wondering why on earth we were making such a fuss over a stinky old goat !
When the goat started eating my bougainvillea hedge, and then proceeded to follow my daughter into the kitchen (yes, you read that correctly – the kitchen !) my husband and I decided to have a little chat. We agreed that we could not keep the goat (it is not used to the dogs, it would eat everything in my garden, it would be lonely without other goats to keep it company etc etc) and offered it to Justin. He has a girlfriend in a nearby village who keeps goats, so this goat could join her herd. (Justin promised me that he would not eat the goat !)
My daughter was, understandably, upset as she was rather hoping that the goat would be a new pet. So my husband (not me - can I just stress that here !) promised her that we would get her a baby goat soon, to rear ourselves and get used to the dogs, which we could fence off a section of the garden for etc … so, all I can say on that one is …. watch this space !
