Minto-kun's new roof, and how useless it is in a typhoon

It seems that Minto-kun will stay on our farm for a little longer (a few more years). This is great news, but it also means that Minto-kun needs a permanent shelter.

Ideally Minto-kun would stay with other goats in their Grand Goat Shed:

Grand Goat Shed

Grand Goat Shed interior

But Natchan, the senior goat, doesn't like Minto-kun, and Minto-kun always makes his "I'm going to cry" face when Natchan is around. Conclusion: Minto-kun needs his own place.

So we started building one right next to the tool shed. It already has a roof!

Minto-kun's freshly built roof, occupied by Natchan and Momo-chan.
Minto-kun (left) is waiting gloomily on the side.

Our masterpiece of two pillars and a two sheets of plywood was completed despite the goats' best efforts to help.

Goats being helpful.

Goats being more helpful. 

Roof is ready! Minto-kun (left) is sipping water while waiting
for Natchan and Momo-chan to leave.

... still waiting...

If this was a fairy tale, Minto-kun would be Cinderella, suffering from all kinds of injustice but finally winning it all. And there would be a happy end, Cinderella moving to the castle.

Happy end!

But this is not a fairy tale and the happy end was in fact just an intermission.

The tale continued and a typhoon came, last week, and the roof was absolutely useless in protecting its dweller against the wind and the rain. 

Dramatic typhoon twist

Fortunately, the dramatic twist had a happy end too: Minto-kun was evacuated to the chicken coop, all complete with a temporary goat bed and a heap of fresh grass, and he and the chickens spent the typhoon in safety. The most rain-soaked character from this adventure was me. 

Typhoon from chickens' perspective. Please note the pool outside. 

MInto-kun and the chickens

The storm passed and everyone and everything survived - including Minto-kun's new roof! That was a second happy end in a row. Maybe it was a double fairy tale after all. 

... and they lived happily ever after.

... and after.

Minto-kun (new goat on the farm)

Our farm has a new resident: Minto-kun.

Minto-kun!

Minto-kun is a frail, sickly and utterly adorable baby goat that came to our farm about a week ago.  
Before coming here, Minto-kun lived with a group of goats in another place.

Minto-kun's previous home.

Minto-kun's previous home was not bad, but it wasn't suited for an orphaned baby goat weakened by sickness.

Goats, like chickens, dogs, humans and many other animals, have hierarchical society with little compassion for weaker members. The rule is simple - big and strong individuals get most of the food by pushing away the weaker ones. If food is scarce, goats at the social bottom have to survive on leftovers. Minto-kun, after losing his mum and getting sick himself, turned out to be the smallest and weakest in the group. This meant that even if he had the will to recover and the appetite to eat, he had no chance to get enough nutrition among goats that would (literally) kick him away to get more for themselves. So he would just sit and breathe, with his sleepy eyes and dreamy smile, waiting for the end to come. But when you gave him some fresh clover (making sure other goats were busy eating elsewhere), he would eat with surprising appetite.
It was clear that if only Minto-kun was in better care, he would get well. With the owner's consent, Minto-kun came to our farm to recover in a stress-free environment with unlimited access to pasture and no bossy goats around.

As expected, Minto-kun is doing great. He's already put on weight, his hair is whiter and he eats more.

Minto-kun spends his days with chickens.

Goats and chickens don't talk much but they get along well.

Minto-kun is also quite fond of people and keeps us company whenever we are at the farm, mostly by eating clover nearby or napping in safe places.

Minto-kun apparently trusts humans more than goats. After the bitter experiences with his previous herdmates - no wonder.

The goats on our farm (Natchan and her kids) rejected him, too. They chase him away whenever he happens to be around. So it seems that Minto-kun had no choice but to befriend people.
With his gentle manners and irresistible smile, Minto-kun is now a candidate for a new weed-eater position on our farm

Minto-kun's absolute favorite is clover. 

But he also switches to other weeds of his choice.

Some people say, you should leave it to nature. If an animal is not strong enough to survive on its own, you shouldn't help it survive artificially.
This objection would count if it was 'real' wilderness, but it isn't. Minto-kun's mum died because of human error. Goats in Minto-kun's previous home live in a fenced area which is quite big as a pasture, but it's not exactly a hundred-square-kilometer patch of national park with unlimited food options (and with natural predators that would swiftly take care of unfit members).  These goats live in conditions set by humans, so they should be taken care of by humans - not only when they are well but also when they get sick.

"You're absolutely right."