The Goats in Our Park

We have goats in our park! They stay all summer long, grazing as a means of natural weed control. Everyone loves stopping by the goat pen to pet and feed these cute critters – especially all of the children. When the goats have grazed down an area, they are extremely eager to move on to the next. This evening we witnessed what can happen when the goats get a little too eager to move on to fresh food. Somehow one of the bars in part of the fencing had bent back or down and the hole was just the right size for many of the goats to leave the pen! We saw just one or two goats outside the pen at first, then we noticed that many more goats were taking advantage of this opportunity for freedom – or more importantly – more grub! We alerted the caretaker to the problem, and he set out to fix the situation. He got the next pen readied for the goats, then had them all move over. When the group realized that new greenery awaited them, they moved in one large mass to the new pen. One little goat was still hanging around by the opposite side of the pen, being petted and fed, when it realized that it had been left behind. Everyone laughed as the poor little thing went running as fast as it’s legs could carry it to rejoin the herd.