I awoke early on a past Tuesday morning, as the weatherman had forecast a 10 C rise in temperature, with the January thaw doing a double take before the end of the month.
At the time, it brought our elected government officials to mind. Could it be that Mother Nature wanted to jump on the undisclosed perks-granted bandwagon as well?
It was my wish to grasp the opportunity of cleaning the show bantam cages housed in my birdie bungalow. As this includes multiple door opening and closing, I wanted to take advantage of the warmer weather, as drafts are not good when you have a dozen canaries sitting snugly on their eggs and babies.
It was still quite dark outside, but I could tell by the large raindrops clinging to the outer pane of the window that it had rained quite heavily during the night.
As I sat on the stool by the desk at my upstairs window, which overlooks the eastern portion of the farm, I watched the daylight brightening the sky. As the darkness shifted to that peculiar pre-dawn glow, I thought for a moment that I saw something moving along the outside of the far paddock fence.
I was not wrong; there were three of them following closely in each other’s tracks. They flanked the fence so closely that I am sure their fur coats were brushing the five-foot, two-inch by four-inch predator-excluding wire fence we erected the previous summer.
I am not so sure predator-excluding fence is the expression I should be using. There had been at least a foot of crusted snow the day previous upon which they could have been travelling. Though I could see only a short distance of fence beyond the barn from my window, their silhouette shape could be seen against the remaining snow. Several times I saw one or the other of them rear up on their hind legs as though testing the fence for height.
Had the crusted snow from the day before remained I am sure their heads would have shown, when they reared, well above the top wire. I felt comfort in knowing our goats were all housed inside. I also felt more satisfied in having enough post left above the fence to allow an electrified barbed wire to be added. If our goat population increases as expected, it will be necessary to give them, as intended, free access to exercise in the large paddock during the winter months.
I suppose you have already read between the lines sufficient to gather that the coyotes have returned to our whereabouts. I have not seen or heard them yodeling since last fall, nor have I seen any tracks nor, as the two years previous, have I found a coyote kill set of antlers to mount, as before, without bragging rights, on the outer board and batten wall of my beautiful birdie bungalow.
But crusted snow gives coyotes a greater advantage. When spring comes and I can once again poke around hidden corners of our back 40 on my little lawn mower tractor, I’ll probably come across another set of antlers to polish and add, too, to my now two collection.
In the meantime, in between time, I think my thoughts should dwell on encouraging higher paddock fencing. What say ye? I think the mamma goats that are expecting twins and triplets will agree with me.
Take care, ‘cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-986-4105