I‘ve blogged enough in the past about my continuing battles with the weeds in our fields. In spite of all the hand weeding and repeated spraying last year, they returned this spring as though nothing had happened. I went through the routine again and sometime in early summer, we had three acres free of thistles. That’s two acres of our land, plus one next door to prevent the seed from blowing over on the wind and putting us back to square one. I felt good.
That lasted a few weeks until a second species of thistle suddenly bolted some time in early August. I was on the verge of giving up, but my husband had last week off work and he helped me to clear it for the second time in a few months. We now have a huge pile of dry weeds waiting for a bonfire. As we worked, we wondered if there was an easier way and I thought back to the time when we used to keep a few pygmy goats. We started with a brother and sister, but sadly Floyd died at the age of three. Then we got two brothers to keep Penny company and they all lived happily until we started to lose them from illness and old age about ten years later.
Penny was the last to go at the grand old age of fifteen and as we weren’t getting any younger ourselves, I just assumed we wouldn’t get any more. What we hadn’t realised was just how they contributed to keeping our fields clear of weeds and the land must have been seriously under grazed for at least the past seven years. It’s not that we are up to our armpits in greenery, but rather the llamas leave the tougher plants in favour of the tender grass. Having decided that I simply couldn’t spend one more year weeding by hand, we agreed to look for some more goats and I turned to the internet.
We loved our pygmies dearly, but they were very playful and I felt they wouldn’t be appreciated this time round by our elderly pig. We needed something more docile and I found it in four Guernsey wethers (castrated boy goats) living on a community farm in Southampton. It was a long way to go, but I was sure they were the right pets for us, so while hubby rented a small horse-box, I made the other arrangements and we set out bright and early last Friday to bring them home.
They have now been with us for a few days and they are certainly earning their keep as far as the weeds are concerned. Even the largest and toughest thistles are no match for the boys and I have high hopes of being weed-free by the spring. They love cuddles too, as I found out when I sat down in the yard the other evening. Within moments I had two goats on my lap, with their heads over my shoulders. Chubby pig doesn’t seem to mind them at all and the llamas bonded with them almost instantly.
All is well.
