Last week we extended the goat paddock into the back meadow. Remember this lush view?

This is what it looks like today, one week later.

Yes, it looks decimated, but the goats were quite fussy. They didn’t just mow it down. The golden rod went first, eaten with gusto. Cleansing nibbles were taken on the ferns. Then the leaves on the thorny bush were savored, but not all in one sitting. It’s best to tear off the leaves, wander off and then come back. The tops of the clover were eaten, and the leaves ignored. Now, they are doing gleaning forages through the pasture, looking for morsels they’ve missed. They are not much interested in the black-eyed susan, so I might have flowers bloom again next year.

I’ve ordered more fence so that they can browse further back. I’d hoped that the meadow would give them forage until the first snowfall, but at this rate, it will all be gone in a month. Fortuitously, there’s an overgrown meadow across the street. It’s conservation land and mowed only once a year. It could use a good tidying along the edges by the stone walls. I know just the boys for the job.