I am not a summer person. I really, really don't like the heat & humidity of summer. I only tolerate it because I love fresh veggies & fruit, & I know the plants need the heat to grow.
It's like that weird question you get asked as a child, "If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?" Ever get asked that question? Just me? Okay. Well, I would be a cool weather crop like spinach. Spinach loves cooler temps & dies off when the heat becomes too much for it to bear. You can replant spinach again in the late summer for a good fall stand.
Yep. I'd be spinach.
I have this saying about summer & winter, "You can always put more clothes on & more wood in the fire during the winter, but in the summer you can only turn the air conditioning down so far & take off so much clothes before it becomes obscene."
Ahem.
You know who else finds this August scorching to be too much? My goats. Even though goats originated in dry arid climates, they are not happy campers right now. They are miserable. The nights aren't cool enough to give them a break from the perpetual baking they are enduring.
We are filling their water buckets up multiple times during the day ensuring that they have a constant supply of cool water to quench their thirst. I have been adding some vitamins & electrolytes in the buckets to help them out. They have plenty of shade to hide from the midday sun. We don't have a fan for them in the barn because there is no electricity down there. It's basically like Little House in the Big Woods
in the barnyard.
Goats are pretty resilient. They sleep during the hottest part of the day. That's their plan for surviving the dog days. They eat, play & mosey during the early morning & cool evening. Eating raises their metabolism & the body temperature. Aren't they smart?!
"Why don't you just hose 'em down to cool them off?"
"Uuummmmm.... Because they will freak out!!"
Really. They will run as far away from spraying, dripping, flying water of any kind. Remember that they are from DRY climates. No hosing of the goats. They will stop being your friend because of that kind of nonsense.
For now I keep close tabs on their well-being. Checking their noses for snot. Yep, I'm a goat booger-checker. Snot indicates that their lungs my be getting some fluid in them which could lead to pneumonia. I check their breathing to make sure it's not rapid or labored or open-mouth breathing. They will slow down a little on their eating during the middle of the day. Which is not a concern, only if they stop eating altogether.
The other thing, & the most hopeful, is to reassure them that fall is around the corner.
