Work was going along and then Becca was cooking a late lunch which included some for me when I noticed Moonshine was on the driveway outside the slider.
I went to investigate and he walked back to the pen in front of me. About half of the fencing was down and he was leading me to Salsa, who was very well tangled up.
Salsa was really tangled up in there.
I got her out and then set about putting in the replacement fencing that had arrived a week ago that I've been putting off installing because it's a pain in the ass. I discovered that I ordered less fencing than I had expected - misremembering how much I'd ordered when I got the fencing that's in place now (nearly 12 years ago). It's a much smaller area.
I replaced the battery and Salsa knew right away not to test the fence anymore.
I went back inside to eat. I looked out the front window as I got ready to sit down and saw ... a BIG COYOTE walking down the driveway toward the house. In the freaking daylight. I opened the window, thinking the noise would scare it off, but it kept coming. I yelled. And yelled. And yelled again. It finally took off down the hill away from the goat pen but I was shaken. Becca came out to see what was going on. Then she yelled, "Mooney! No!" And Moonshine jumped over the fence.
She booked it out without shoes, I threw the crocs on and followed. We caught him and put him back in. I put in some extra posts to make it look taller so he wouldn't breach.
I got inside, got my food again, looked out the window, and he jumped the fence in a different spot.
We again caught him and put him back and I put more fence posts in to create the taller fence illusion.
I got inside, got my food again, and then saw Moonshine and Salsa on the driveway at the slider. I notified Bex and grabbed Salsa and put her in the barn early. Then Bex helped me catch Moonshine and get him inside. Then we looked at the fence.
They broke the clip off of the battery connection and it was snapping. The clip had been flung to the middle of the pen. We turned the battery off. Fencing was down but not broken. I lost it then and started to cry. I was tired from putting the fencing up by myself, hungry because I hadn't eaten a real meal all day - just coffee and a handful of nuts, and befuddled by this problem. There is no other safe place to easily put the goats.
I called Tammy later to let her know that I felt dispirited and beaten. I had even contemplated turning the goats over to someone else to take care of. Talking it through with her helped. I got on the phone to my fencing supplier (closed for the weekend) and my feed store (they didn't have the connector I need) and they referred me to a couple other places. I called a ranch equipment company in Cotati and was told they probably have the piece I need. He seemed to understand exactly what I was talking about. I'll go down first thing in the morning to get that. Then need to take Bella in for an overdue nail trim. Then will figure out the fencing situation.
In hindsight, the goats might have been getting out because they knew that coyote was around. All they wanted to do was get away from that area of the property. I might be able to use some of the old fencing to make the area bigger but it's going to take a lot of work. I might also be able to put fencing at the barn, which is something I've wanted to do since we moved here but couldn't block the pasture area where my landlady used to keep her horses sometimes. She's not keeping them there anymore and has a better place for them set up. So I can use that area.
I'm pretty beat and frustrated but will hopefully be able to use this a means to a solution for issues I've been having with needing to move the goats across the property from pen to barn and back. The goats are creatures of habit though and they might not take kindly to being moved, even if it's to a better shelter area. We'll see.
We are all safe and well. I hope you are too.
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