Temptation

These are my sweet goats, Mary, Faye, and Madison. They are about six years old, definitely mature goats in the world of goats.
 They haven't had any babies for quite a while because I got rid of the fence jumping billy. But back when they were having kids I was very frustrated. The frustration came from the inability to keep the kids in the fence. These are Nigerian Dwarf goats, so the babies are a little bigger than a puppy.
Not only are they the size of a puppy, they also come in numbers of puppies. One mother can produce 3-5 kids at a time. I used to have four nannies; yes that translates to a sudden increase of twelve or more kids in a week during kidding season. It was insane!
After a few weeks, the kids are able to run the entire field and look for trouble. They always found it in the form of my grapevine.

 I have tried to raise grapes for at least as long as I have had the goats, basically without success because the kids would eat all of the new leaves and grapes. I tried barbed wire around the fence, penning in the kids, and covering the grapes with netting. It was all in vain; somehow they would eat those grapes every year.
So once I got rid of the billy- which is another story in itself- I thought my problem was solved. But temptation is not a respecter of age, and the big goats want those grapes just as badly as the little ones did.
I know it shouldn't be a problem, since the grown goats are unable to slip through the fence to get to the desire of their heart, but sometimes I feel sorry for them, stuck in one fence and field for life. So often in the spring, I will let them out of the field to roam the yard and surrounding area. I did it again this spring, just as the grapevine was leafing out.
The leaves are so small and I don't think there are any fruits on just yet, it should be fine, I thought. Surely the goats will head for the new clover instead of the tiny little buds on the branches. You know the answer to that already, don't you?
That's right, they headed straight to the grapevine, looking over their shoulders to see if I would notice. Honestly! They know they are NOT allowed to eat the grapevine. Even goats have a sense of right and wrong.

 And just like humans, goats give in to temptation. So I shooed them back into the fold and locked the gate. They weren't happy about the gate, but I wasn't happy with them out of the gate. Someone has to be in charge when they go astray, and I am that one. Who is in charge of you when you stray?