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Sunday, 7 July 2024

Kids will be kids!

Kids be they the human kind or the animal kind can sometimes find themselves in a fix, as 'King' discovered! Read on to find out more ...

If you should have the opportunity to visit the UK seaside town of Bournemouth you could well see a herd of 50 goats grazing the steep cliffs between West Cliff and Southbourne. In fact the goats have become something of a tourist attraction since being introduced in 2009 and even have their own social media accounts.

They live on a seven-mile (11km) stretch of cliffs year-round to graze back the invasive plants on the steep inaccessible cliffs.

Before the herd was introduced to munch the vegetation, BCP Council had to foot the cost of using specialist cliff teams to clear the cliffs.

The goats are part of a Environmental Stewardship agreement between the council and Natural England, and the agreement and arrangement seems to work well.

There are occasionally problems with the goats, but they do have BCP rangers and their own grazier, Mark Jackson, who helps look after them.

Recently firefighters were called to the cliffs when a goat got its head stuck in a fence. However Tom Bennet, BCP ranger said, "It is important that people do phone BCP council and report issues with the goats rather than the emergency services. "If a young one pushes their head through they do need releasing... just call the council they will alert the countryside team and we will take action."


Kid goat King
who got stuck after popping his small head through the fencing to explore the grass on the other side


King has now been fitted with a contraption to his horns to stop him getting his head through the fence

Tom added King was fine after popping his head through the fence. Kid goat, King, was freed by the goat's grazier and has since been fitted with a dowel between his horns to stop him getting stuck again. After having a contraption fitted to his horns: "He's happily grazing and he can't get his head through the fence again."
Story from here

I have written about these goats before, more to read here

Talking about goats, have you tried this Super Omelette, with a goats cheese twist!
See recipe details here


You will find a variety of articles and recipes within this blog, and not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e., use your meter. If you have any concerns about your health, it is always advisable to consult your doctor or health care team.

All the best Jan

28 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

A lovely story - and a great way to control weeds.

Katerinas Blog said...

The omelette will be fantastic,
the goat cheese is very tasty and nutritious!

Tom said...

...I thought that King had handlebars!

Anonymous said...

Have heard about grazing goats and the benefits of that. -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Good to know he is now happily grazing.

Tina

Mary Kirkland said...

Om my gosh they are so cute.

Mari said...

Glad King is ok! I think using goats is a wonderful idea. They've been doing something similar in our area. They bring a herd of goats to hiking parks along the river near us and they clean out the vines and long grass in no time!

Granny Marigold said...

King looks a little odd but hopefully this will keep him out of tricky situations.

J.P. Alexander said...

Pobre cabra. Te mando un beso.

Margaret D said...

I've never hard goats anything Jan. Don't think I will start either.

Teresa said...

Me encantan las cabras por aquí hay bastantes,me encanta el queso de cabra. Me alegra que el cabrito esté bien. Besos.

jabblog said...

That's wonderful. I love the contraption on King's horns.

Sami said...

I love the contraption on the goat's horns to stop him getting stuck. Ingenious!
I made myself an omelette for lunch today but just with Parmesan cheese. Will have to try goats cheese too.
Have a lovely week Jan.

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Good idea to have goats for grazing inaccessible places.

God bless.

eileeninmd said...

The goats are great animals to have control the weeds.
The omelette looks yummy!
Take care, have a great day and a wonderful week!

Valerie-Jael said...

Poor King, that must have given him a fright! Good idea with his dence-protection headdress! Your food looks wonderful. Hugs!

DrumMajor said...

Those are beautiful goats. Looks like the kid who got stuck has a handle on his situation now. Linda in Kansas

Back2OurSmallCorner said...

That was a good idea to keep King safe in the future. I hope he has a happy life munching on the hillside plants.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Goats are notorious for getting into things, my daughter has goats and they can get into more trouble...lol
Your omelotte looks delicious as does your salmon plate from your previous post, I am trying the salmon tonight !
Hugs,
~Jo

Bill said...

A wonderful story. The omelette looks delicious.

Jeanie said...

Poor little guy. I do like goats, although I know they can be a bit of a pill! But what a beauty there. And goat cheese is wonderful!

Nas said...

Thanks for the recipe. Looks great. Good idea to fit the contraption to help not trap him in fence wire. I showed the pic to my husband.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I loved the story about King and his new contraption/dowel.

Conniecrafter said...

It's great they can do it naturally, poor thing getting his head caught, I wonder if that dowel feels weird to him, guess better than getting stuck again.

Linda said...

Years ago, I happened upon a young goat with his head stuck through a wire fence. I fetched my partner, and he found a baseball bat to use as a lever to spread the wire further apart. The goat got free and went off with his mother, who watched the whole thing very closely.

Ananka said...

Cute and good idea for the goats! Hopefully helps them a lot :-D

Lorrie said...

What a lovely story. Goats can be so much fun! The omelette looks delicious!

Phil Slade said...

I sometimes add chunks of feta to an omelette mix. It works a treat in making the omelette a little tastier. Goats are great to watch where we go in Greece, a large herd that provides cheese and milk for many families. And lean meat of course.