By Jean Brody

I know you all remember my talking about my goat, Willie T for Trouble.  He earned the Trouble part when he decided to run away down Flanagan Station Road and me running right behind him, calling him every name I could think of. Have you ever been behind a running goat? It is one of the funniest looking things I have ever seen. Had I not been so blasted mad at him, I would have died laughing.

That was just one of the many “moments” we had with Willie T for Trouble over the years. He trumped them all when we bought a herd of cattle which we let graze next to the area next to the field we enclosed for the three goats I rescued. Up until then, Willie T. had been pretty content in the goat area as long as I came out to play with him daily.  But, like I said, after we had cows, not so much.

Now, I could not tell one cow from another cow but apparently not so for Willie. There was a heavy wire fence between the two areas. One day when I went out to feed and play with the goats, two were eager to see me but, God bless Willie, he was not interested. I looked around for him and found him around the fence talking to this one cow who had come to her side of the fence. I do not know what they were saying to each other but they sure seemed to know. I mean, it was hot and heavy. Something just told me to watch this little budding friendship.

So the next day, they were talking back and forth. And the next day and the next. Willie even had lost interest in food, which, for a goat, is rare. All that goat wanted was that cow and vice versa. That night I said to Gene, “Tomorrow I want you to have “the talk” with Willie before this goes any further and one of them finds a way to get together!”

“Well, Jean Sweetie, he is your goat so why should I talk to him?”

I gave him “the look” and explained simply that  he was a boy and so was Willie and he could better — um — explain things.

One day shortly thereafter,  my good husband reluctantly went out to the fence and, I guess, explained why the relationship our Willie wanted would not work with this cow, ANY cow. I was proud of Gene and assumed  that Willie got his “drift.” Boy, was I stupid!

You know, the life-rules we humans abide by are quite different from those in the animal kingdom. I know I am guilty of attributing my own feelings to my dogs, cats, horses, etc. but let me tell you the ending to this story.

After the “man talk” and believing Willie understood, one day I went out to the field and got the shock of my life. I guess the idea of a love affair with a cow and a goat would not work but old Willie had to see for himself. He decided to take matters in his — um — hooves. His feelings were so powerful, he butted his hard head against that fence until his hard head went right through the fence and GOT STUCK! You never heard such a commotion. The cow was bawling and trying to free her — um — good friend and Willie was about to unscrew his head from his neck, yelling his head off.

It took quite a while to free him but, by cutting the fence, we were able to pull him back to his side. I’ll swear, he looked at the cow and then at me and trotted back to the barn to think things over. I guess he concluded that maybe his lady cow was not the love of his life after all and went back to playing and feeding like it never happened.

In spite of all the turmoil my goats gave me, I learned to love them. They are funny and have super personalities. And, if you ever get the chance to run behind a running goat, do it! The sight is worth the trip. Oh, how I miss living on my farm on Flanagan Station Road.

The view from the mountains is snowy, lovely and wondrous.