Sergio, the Goat Whisperer
Travel - Destinations
By David Hoban, Special to SantaCruzWire.com
CINQUE TERRE, ITALY (August 2010) - First the tinkling of bells. Then the clatter of hooves. Around the bend comes a herd of goats, fifty strong. Behind and in front two dogs. Behind the mass, Sergio in his jeep.
I stand aside as they come to the bivio, the junction of three roads at the passo, overlooking the sea on one side and on the other, a blue-green vista of mountain chains blending with clouds in the distance. Sergio tells me from the jeep that he’s going to milk the goats. Where’s the barn I think, the stalls?
Sergio gets out of the jeep and wades into the center of the mass of concentrically rotating animals, carrying a bucket. He kneels and all I can see is his scrufty hair and the profile of his beard. The dogs are lying under the Jeep in its shade, alert but relaxed.
I expect the goats to be vigilant in my presence but they too are calmly alert, relaxed. A few goats stray to the rocks to mount the promontories.
“Huy,” Sergio says in a low throaty voice. The dogs come to attention but do not move. The goats come down and once again circle around Sergio. “Huy,” a word, a sound instantly understood by dog and goat and me. Not a command but a request. No coercion or threat in the tone. “Huy.”
A goat in the center feints as if to bolt and Sergio simultaneously grasps its hind leg. No struggle. The goat understands. Is this a game they are playing? I hear the high pitched squirts of milk hitting the side of the bucket. A rhythm the other goats seem to sway to in their circle dance.
Another hind leg is grasped. “Sta firma” (stand still) Sergio says conversationally, and the goat listens as his equal, in cooperation with the whistle of breeze in the pines and the Sun filtering through.
The kids at times hop up vertically, all fours at once leaving the ground. They practice butting and sudden sprints up the mountain only to return to their circling mothers who are silently gossiping about their latest sensualities. “Grazie per lo spectacolo,” thanks for the show, I say, and walk on. “Huy.”
Sergio and the herd. Photo courtesy of David Hoban ©David Hoban
Santa Cruz resident David Hoban spends his summers in Italy. Click here to see David’s other contributions to SantaCruzWire.com
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