Goats are smart animals. Like any animal, they seem to possess certain senses that allow them to be keener than a human.
Three goats were penciled on the calendar for wormings today.
The first goat was Chandra, as with most of my herd, no problem. The old gal stood for her nasty tasting wormer.
The second goat was a kid. I knew my only recourse was to catch her while she was eating. As I walked out the barn’s side door she saw me. I pretended to look elsewhere. Pretended that I was going to handle a few other does. Too late. She was already heading up the hill. Silly me, I followed, insanely thinking she would just stop. Of course she didn’t! No worming this morning. I would have never caught her in the lot.
The third goat was a grown boer doe. As I walked through the gate, there stood dozens of does happily munching hay. Like something possessing super-radar abilities, how did the ONE know that I was going to worm her? Again, I attempted to not make eye contact, and pretended that I was heading into the crowd to tend to the other does. I could see the ONE move out of the corner of my eye, move away from the herd. At that point the cause was already lost. In and out the barn we went until I decided I had to move on. There were more animals to feed.
Just how do they know? It makes a person wonder, can they see the images in our brains? Seriously! They seem to sense our moods, our minds, our thoughts, and our movements mean everything to them. And actually, I am very much aware of their movements as well. Amazing animals they are!
By the way, the syringes full of wormer are ready. I’ll catch them this evening when I distract them once again with feed. Right?
Annies Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps 
Oh Mary…. I am seeing the visual. You gingerly roaming around the lot, eyes rolled up, whistling…
tweee….tweee………..tweeeeweeeweee….
Using your peripheral vision to keep a bead on the ONE as she scampered out of range and kept her distance. So funny!
I just love you and your goat stories!!!! Hope the worming goes well when you catch those crafty gals.
Annie:
Thank you for your writings. I just posted about you in the Blog Bits section of AllThingsGoat.com and have you in my Google Reader so I don’t miss anything.
Hope this finds you well,
Martha Ann
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Good luck, Mary! lol
one thing I’ve learned about goats, if they don’t want to be caught… good luck. When you say syringe, what kind of wormer are you using?
I am reporting in…still have not caught the remaining two goats.
I remember one doe that ended up being on watch the entire season after I attempted to catch her. As soon as I showed up, she would move to a spot advantageous for her, certainly not me!
Joanna, I use Ivermectin Plus (cattle injectable type). I use Cydectin as well, but prefer the Ivermectin. I use a large needle (16 or 18 gauge) to pull the liquid up into syringes.
All Things Goat – thank you for the mention on your site.
PS: Horses don’t particularly care for the Invermectin either. They try to spit it out even though it goes down their throats in similar fashion.
Poor things.
But worms are worse, I guess.
And the chase is on…..
Can be annoying or fun. Or both. It’s just in how you look at it. tee hee
I love it when I can outsmart one of my critters.
I love to read about what’s going on with your goats.