Before their eviction from the hormonal zone, Rodney and Macho were decreed to have a manicure….whether they liked it or not…and they clearly DIDN’T. At first sight of big bad Greg and his John Wayne lasso it was patently obvious that Macho was not going to surrender to single status without at least putting up some resistance. Both Acorn and Alicia were easily bribed by a few carrot morsels but "Macho the Man" wasn’t going to sell his soul or his freedom without at least a token display of defiance. Clearly no amount of bribery and sweet talk was going to entice him onto the manicure table without a fight…..and it was only after some serious ducking diving and wrestling that Macho found himself with his head in a noose, on the wrong side of the goat pen fence and on the sharp end of Greg’s nail clippers. Rodney the big Barbados Blackbellied Ram was either much more trusting than his goat counterpart or his tolerance for his hormonal harem was exhausted and he surrendered to the inevitable with only a nominal fight.
With newly manicured hooves and a minimal loss of self esteem Macho the buck found himself alone in a new girl free pasture and a very loud and resonant protest commenced…. and continued until he was unceremoniously joined by Rodney the ram…when they jointly bewailed their new bachelor status.
As with any species, typically an overdose of testosterone meeting with another overdose of testosterone inevitably leads to trouble and Macho and Rodney weren’t about to challenge the inevitable. Fortunately the goat jousting statute book and the ram fighting manual clearly follows different rules and it took some time for either to work out exactly what his opponent was doing or how he was going to successfully challenge and defeat his adversary … (by which time they would have re established the friendship and camaraderie of last Spring anyway.) Head down, aggressively, Rodney the ram faced off Macho the buck and threateningly backed up…. and backed up and……Macho, the big Boer goat, unfamiliar ( and unconcerned ) with sheep tactics didn’t appear intimidated by the impending attack and launched into a counter offensive which only deflected the impact of Rodney’s intended head crunch and confused all the rules of sheep warfare. Macho was supposed to be intimidated but clearly wasn’t.. ….Rodney was supposed to be threatened but wasn’t . Rodney continued to back up and Macho continued to attack so Rodney never stopped backing !! End result….both combatants and battlefield were quickly turning into a comedy sketch and a potential Almost Daily entry.
As darkness fell both Rodney and Macho, earlier differences either forgotten or forgiven were seen grazing together in their bachelor pad and had apparently bonded into an inseparable pair. Doesn’t it makes you wonder if we can’t learn something from our animal friends ?
Got to go, bed time, take care, keep safe, M