Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Onion was a lot better today. Her swollen neck was less puffy although it feels quite hard still suggesting there is probably more fluid in it than there should be. She has been eating and drinking as normal (although she raises her head more than normal presumably to help her swallow) and the wound from her lump is healing fast. Best news of all was that we got the result from the second test and that has also come back clear - so it looks as though the lump she developed was just a very nasty abscess or similar rather than an unpleasant disease! The vets did tell us that no test was ever 100% definite mind you... (And by the way, the blue on her neck is a special antibiotic spray to help her wound heal.)
We had 'isolated' Onion with her kids Chestnut and Silver Birch whilst we were waiting for the test results. This meant they were all on their own away from the rest of the pygmy herd. Our vet had advised this in case Onion DID have a nasty disease that the other pygmy goats might catch. They had been worried about one particular disease called CLA which is highly contagious (very easy to catch!!).
So good news all round, except, in returning Onion to the main barn and back with the other goats we were somewhat shocked to see that not everyone was pleased to see her... Pepper (her son from last year) definitely WAS, in the first photo he is happily sniffing 'mum' and welcoming her back although as you can see she is looking a little anxious. The main problem was with Nutmeg, Thyme's daughter from last year who had been below Onion in the pecking order before we took her away. Now Onion has returned it seems that Nutmeg is not happy to drop back down a place in the group. To prove her point she challenged Onion to a head-butt or two and eventually Onion backed away as if to say Nutmeg had won! We are not sure how this will resolve. Nutmeg may keep her new position in the pecking order or Onion may reclaim hers. Time will tell. We need to keep an eye on the situation especially as Onion is not quite back to full health...
As for the kids, Chestnut and Silver Birch, they seemed to slot back in to the group with much less drama: in the second photo Chestnut is sniffing Garlic who is quite happily letting him. As soon as Garlic jumped up to join him on the shelf though, he moved away. The kids are still at the bottom of the pecking order so it is easier for them to be re-accepted as they know their place!!