# caught in windfall



## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

and in total contrast to the nice, open country we walked through on Sunday here's our adventure during one training hike with the whole group a few weeks back, just about 5 kms in the other direction.






we had a heavy storm night in June and some areas of the state forest are still not cleared. We were following an older trail and got caught in the windfall so extensive that we had no way of crossing it but had to turn back and partially circumvent it, going cross country.


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

I wish I had a goat with 2 foot long hair. Thats a pretty cool looking goat.

So about your herd; Are they all males? And you have a couple sheep mixed in. You have quite a few. Are they just pets or...


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

this long-haired goat is a Swiss Blackneck goat. But the long coat isn't very practical when packing. He's retired now but when he was actively packing I would clip his coat down to about 2-3".

Our herd is a mixed one: 8 females, 12 wethers and the two sheep (which are the remainder of a small group of sheep that I had for training the dogs when they were younger).

All together are a brush clearing group. You can see some of my original packstring: the blackneck, the red, horned wether and the white wether with the horns that curve outwards. These are 10 resp. 11 now and only the white wether is still packing actively as a mentor for the upcoming packstring. I milk one goat, she produced an udder without kids this spring and I took advantage of that. The sheep are pure sentimentality. The white one is about 12 or 14, nobody knows for sure and I keep her and her companion as long as she can follow the herd.

I might slaughter two or three of the older goats this winter, the ones that are still not tame and refuse to be trained/tamed. It's no bother having them in the group but I can't tend to them when they are sick or injured or simply trimming their feet without causing them distress and this isn't something I want to keep doing. Also might have to make a decision regarding Donald, the big, white one with the peculiar walk. He keeps up with the herd and holds a high rank but I'm not sure how much pain he's in with his hip deformation (x-ray confirmed last year).


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## Saltlick (Jun 12, 2011)

Wow, that's a lot of goats to go on a hike with! Some nice looking ones too


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

wouldn't be possible without the help of the dogs


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