Flagging Interest

Goats, like dogs, are friendly creatures and like dogs, they wag their tails to show they're glad to see you or when they've found a tasty tidbit to munch.  When people say of another that their interest is flagging, it means that person has lost their enthusiasm for the project at hand.  In the caprine world, it means the exact opposite.  Cooler nights and shorter days have brought the girls into cycle and at the peak of estrus, their constant, furious wagging is one of the best indicators that they are ready to mate.  This is called "flagging," and it's the come-hither sign to the buck.  Flagging interest in a goat shows she has intense enthusiasm and the subject is sex.  Six goats and six tails on speed; it's a wonder they don't stir up a whirlwind.  Bending close to wash the udders becomes precarious.  Getting too near could get me whapped and getting hit in the face with a tail is like being whipped with a rope.  With no release for their tension, the girls get cranky and start fights.  As they get older (some are downright old), I notice they do more pushing and shoving than butting and I'm glad.

After thirteen years of nearly daily milking (time off for good behavior isn't an option), I don't think I will breed any of the goats again.  I don't know how long the three remaining milkers will continue to produce without freshening, but after they dry up we'll all retire.  It isn't that my interest has flagged; it is that time has come.

Miss In-again Out-again Pearl has become the family alarm clock, prowling around the bed in the dark and telling me it's five o'clock and time to get up.  We then begin the morning ritual of me opening the door again and again; sometimes she comes in, walks down the hall, and immediately wants out again.  She likes to order her staff around, for sure.  Just light enough to see now (excuse me, Pearl wants in), I found the deck wet from a slight rain.  The early morning sky is heavily overcast, so perhaps we'll get enough today to do some good.