Billie Goat's Bluff
Plugging up the Hills’ Face on my bike tonight, I saw a small mob of sheep being chased by black and white. Despite the undergrowth interrupting my view, it was fairly obvious that a Border Collie was out on its own, exercising the sheep, which is a serious issue. I began calculating which was the most likely small holding to be the sheep’s owner, so I could alert them to the situation. Too much attention from the Collie could lead to the sheep dying from exhaustion, or even being savaged.
As I cleared a patch of roadside trees, and came closer, I realised I was completely wrong. That black and white flash I had seen through the wattles and weeds was no dog; it was a Billie Goat.
Billie was trotting back across the paddock to his castle, which is a high patch of dirt that seems to have once upon a time been an embankment for a trail bike track. He had been removing the sheep from a second embankment at another end of the old track.
It seems that the sheep are not allowed in the high places in this paddock. They belong to King Billie.
Unfortunately for King Billie, the old trail bike track was triangular. As he returned to his favourite high point, the home castle, at the top end of the paddock, a group of the sheep purposefully climbed up on the third embankment, turned around, and stood looking at him. The challenge was unmistakable. I realised that it is not the sheep who are being harassed, but the goat!
