Monday, December 15, 2014

Goats in the snow

A few postings back I mentioned that the goat girls weren't all that thrilled with walking in the cold, wet snow.  Even though they've been in and out for several weeks now, they still step slowly through.  If you listen carefully, you can hear them muttering to themselves as they gingerly put one foot before the other.
Each day when I put their snacks outside, I've been placing the hay barrel and Christmas tree snacks a little farther away from the barn.  The girls begrudgingly follow me out, are delighted with their reward.  Still not happy with standing in the snow, they'll pull hay out of the barrel just to stand on it.  The best happened yesterday afternoon when Fluffy dumped out the Christmas tree snack tray so that she could stand inside the tray and continue to eat the snacks spilled out onto the snow. 

The snow is beginning to melt and come off the buildings.  One has to be careful when working or walking beside one of these hazards.  A sudden avalanche can knock the wind out of you or worse.  When putting the girls outside during the day, we make a special effort to keep them away from the sides of the buildings.  A snow slide could easily kill one of them.
It's a little hard to see, but this wall of snow is what came off the roof Saturday afternoon.  Three feet deep, 30 feet long, and about 15 feet away from the side of the barn, the bulk of the snow came flying off to land out here with only a smaller amount landing closer.  Consider this: one square foot of wet snow can weigh as much as 21 lbs.  This single load weighs about a ton and a half.  No wonder buildings give way under their load!  (Read more here)  If you find yourself needing to clear away the snow, please be careful...and keep an eye out for what may be lurking above.


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