Over a year ago we experimented in pasture management. We added a small herd of male goats to graze with our cattle at the Rocky Branch Grass Ranch. The theory is that goats eat weeds that cattle will not and together they provide forage balance without having to use chemical herbicides. Multi species grazing is a somewhat new concept.

It worked pretty well, except several just up and died during the summer. I assume it was from too heavy a load of internal worms. We started to round-up the ones that remained and have a regular chemical worming schedule.

Last month, we took out all the young males from our herd at home. One-by-one they disappeared. Yesterday morning we were there unloading alfalfa hay off an 18 wheeler early and saw a coyote out in the middle of a paddock eating. I then noticed we had no more young goats running around.

Having taken the rifle out of the truck, I called a neighbor to see if he could get a shot off. The coyote scented that danger was near and ran away. Since it is a few days from the start of calving season, taking out that coyote is a priority.

Javier has a rifle with scope and will be stalking every morning for a few days to see if we can make out farm safe for goats again. I hate to kill anything, but I can not be in the business of feeding a coyote.