Akio-kun died

This was supposed to be a happy post about our goats Minto-kun and Akio-kun and their newly found friendship - a sweet, heartwarming story. But yesterday Akio-kun died. How easily a heartwarming story turns into a heartbreaking one. Most of the world doesn't care, but here in the microuniverse of our farm this was a very sad event.

Akio-kun was one of the triplets that Natchan the Mom brought to the world 7 months ago.

Akio-kun, standing on the mom's back. April 2016.

Goats, just like dogs or cats, have a personality. Akio-kun was a happy-go-lucky goat, playfighting with his brother but kind to everyone, both people and goats. He was the one who did not bully Minto-kun when he came to the farm as a malnourished orphaned baby goat. If Akio-kun was a human, he would be the kind of a gentle and easygoing friend that people like to have around.

Whenever I came to the farm, Akio-kun and I had our ritual: He came over to say Hello! and I would give him a bunch of his favorite grass over the fence. His siblings wouldn't bother to come all the way just to say hello to me, but Akio-kun always did. We were friends.

Akio-kun leaning over the fence, munching on a leafy treat.

Then in August, Akio-kun left for a new family. The family wanted a goat, so they got Akio-kun. I wasn't happy (I wished the triplets stayed on our farm) but these goats are not ours - we just provide space for grazing - so I have no say in the questions of their fate.
Akio-kun was gone and all I could do was to hope that he was lucky in the lottery of life and got a nice, caring family. Now I have a proof that hoping for the best is the most useless thing in the world.

About two weeks ago Akio-kun came back to the farm. Neighbors of his new "family" complained that he was crying too loud, so the family "returned" him. I wish the neighbors started to complain earlier.
At first I didn't recognized him. In less than two months he changed so much in both appearance and behavior that he was unrecognizable.

I don't know what exactly happened in his new home but Akio-kun looked like he didn't eat and  didn't get any attention for two months. He was badly undernourished, with a posture of a shrinking old man, passively standing and barely showing interest in his surroundings.

Akio-kun, October 12, 2016. 

Natchan the Mom rejected him, and would kick him badly with her horns, so Akio-kun moved in with Minto-kun. That's where the heartwarming story began. Akio-kun and Minto-kun became good friends.

Grazing together in the back of the farm.

At night. Minto-kun squeezed himself into Akio-kun's bed.

Together on the road...

... Akio-kun busy grazing, Minto-kun coming to check
the edibility of my camera. 

On a rainy day 

I hoped Akio-kun would recover, the terrible two months would be forgotten and Minto-kun and Akio-kun would happily live on the farm, friends forever, or at least until they die of old age. But that wasn't meant to be.
Minto-kun looked similarly miserable when he came to the farm, but recovered as soon as he had enough food and rest and attention. We made sure that Akio-kun too had all he needed, but natural recovery never came. It was too late when we called the doctor and found out that Akio-kun wasn't just underweight, he also had severe anemia, weak heart, bad blood circulation and ascites - accumulation of fluids in abdominal cavity. He got medicine to take but never got the chance to see if it helps. On Sunday morning we found him unable to stand. He died two hours later.

Good bye, Akio-kun.

Akio-kun was buried in the back of the farm.

My advice is, if you ever think of keeping a goat, think twice, and then again. Goats require everyday attention and care. In summer they might be able to live off the pasture (if you have a big one and make sure it has the right grasses on it), but in winter you have to supply huge amounts of feed (at least partly grass or hay based) every day. Goats don't have the concept of toilet and relieve themselves anywhere, including their bed, so it must be cleaned pretty much every day. This might be tiring if you don't really like the animal. Goats are social animals, they need company. Keeping just one goat in most cases means keeping an unhappy goat. No more heartbreaking stories of neglected animals, dogs, cats or goats.

A goat's moral integrity / New chicken Columbuses

In September I was on holiday. It was very enjoyable but then I had to return to Japan.

Holiday (Rackovo sedlo, Tatry, Slovakia)

Now I'm back in Tsukuba and what a surprise, nothing changed, chickens and goats are here, as cute as ever, doing the same things as when I left a month ago. The only change is that the rice fields around were harvested and the grass and weed-trees on the farm switched to autumn mode (= slightly withered).

Sunny autumn mode.

Here are some recent happenings.

1. Minto-kun kindly keeps weeding neighbors' plots

When I'm at the farm, Minto-kun is allowed to go out of the chicken run. The intention was to have him help with vegetation control in the back of the farm, which is not part of the chicken run so the weeds tend to run wild.
Alas, there's a gap between intentions and reality. Instead of showing some integrity and helping on the farm, in 9 cases out of 10 Minto-kun strolls away to the neighbors' plots. We tried to explain that that's not what's expected of him, but Minto-kun has hard time understanding the puzzling human concept of dividing land into mine and yours by imaginary lines. "There are no boundaries. Follow the grass," is Minto-kun's credo.
Then he has to be carried back to the farm.

"I want to break free" (The white dot in the middle.)

"I want to break free" Close up.

One of Minto-kun's favorite locations is the road.
Drivers are not happy.

But the flowers taste good!

2. New Columbuses among chickens

Right now there are two chickens who noticed how easy it is to fly over the fence. Interestingly Christine, the very first explorer on the farm, is not among them.
This time we haven't panicked as we did last year when Christine started her exploration journeys. We've been hardened by a year-long experience, and it seems that our neighbors too. Now I rarely get calls from strangers telling me about chicken-strolling-on-the-road emergency.

The two chickens spend most of their days out of the run, but always keep close to the farm and none have gone missing yet.
When it's mealtime, they shamelessly come back and ask to have the gate open so they can have their lunch, please.

Runaway chicken in the back of the farm. (Acceptable)

Runaway chicken in the rice field. (Somewhat acceptable)

Runaway chicken near the road. (Unacceptable)

That was about the news.

Btw I found this video of our chickens from about a year ago, when they were much younger and much inexperienced. It's all complete with an interpretation of the chicken's mental processes. You'll enjoy it.

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."

1. New chicken enemy, 2. State of the grass report

1. New chicken enemy

Spotting a snake, on a pitch dark night, inside the coop right next to the sleeping chickens, just as it's trying to swallow a sparrow, still alive and screaming, is not the kind of experience you want to have very often.

Of course you can't leave the snake there and go home. You have to get rid of it, which means a lot of direct, prolonged engagement.

A snake of this size would not dare to attack a chicken, but it would scare her and it would go after eggs. And it would make the whole farm a traumatic place for humans, frightened to walk or enter the coop because there might be a monster lurking in the grass or under the roof.

Snake in the daytime. Pretending to be invisible.

But we are not that naive.

Snake was evicted and weeds around the coop were cut short short very short,
to make the snake comeback harder.

I will skip the details of our first, second and third encounter with this huge, menacing, sparrow-eating creature. No amount of harrowing detail would convey the subjective psychic force of this near-death experience. (I just paraphrased Tim Kreider in "We learn nothing." One of the most relatable books I've ever read.)

I've always considered myself a nature-lover. I used to complain about lack of nature in my everyday life. I will never complain again. The lesson learned in the past few months is that sometimes there can be too much nature around. I admit to my own hypocrisy. When I thought I was a nature-lover, I was just being picky about what kind of 'nature' I preferred: the mountain views and sunlit forests and thundering waterfalls. I'm less enthusiastic about too many and oversized snakes, centipedes, spiders, mosquitoes, egg-stealing crows and dead sparrows. But they are all part of the same set. You can't have one without the other.
So I realized that although I do like nature, I also appreciate the benefits of snake-free lifestyle. And no more dead sparrows, please.

2. State of the grass report

To end on a more positive note, here's an update on the state of the grass. Weeds inside the chickens' run have wildly surpassed our expectations. The farm basically turned into a jungle.

Chicken Jungle

Chickens' playground, July 2016.

For comparison, this is the same place four months ago:

Chickens' playground, March 2016.

Back to now:

Inside (right) and outside (left) of chickens' area.
The weed-trees on the right are 2 m high
(Chenopodium album. Edible weed, by the way.)

You have to look very well to find the chickens. 

If you find any, they will probably be busy dust bathing in the shade. 

Sometimes the rooster would be around.

There are also savannah-like areas, so chickens can choose what kind of terrain they prefer.

Chickens never had this much privacy before. (Nor did the snakes.)
I'm happy for them all.