Not My Favorite Part Of The Job . . .
So this afternoon we called a man who expressed interest in "goaty" flavored meat. We had a buck that was almost 4 months old but he had never been castrated. At this point his milk is tainted with hormones so it will have a taste that can only be described as, "goaty." Also, we would probably have to get a vet to castrate him which would cost too much money. So we decided to sell him to this man.
Jocelyne called and asked if he would be interested. He sure would be interested! So interested that he wanted to pick up the kid TODAY! We got to the pen at 4:30pm, let the herd in, and fed them. Then the man came up in his pick-up and asked to see the goat. Jocelyne only asked for $40 for the kid and then said, "Actually, this one is smaller than the last one you bought, so he really should be less." D=< The guy ended up paying $40, but I was a bit surprised that she would back down on the price of a kid she raised.
He looked at the kid and then asked if any of the other animals were for sale. He inspected all the wethers and even some of the dry goats and asked what the price of each animal would be. Jocelyne kept having to tell them that they were not for sale at this time and that she did not have a price for them currently. Finally, he said that he would pay the $40 for the kid. Jocelyne carried it out of the pasture and let him have some grass while the man and I chit-chatted about so many interesting facts. Like his uncles (illegal) cock-fighting business, and that he had to resuscitate a goat to be slaughtered because he told his brother to hold the goat's mouth shut (because it was screaming) and his brother accidentally suffocated it while trying to muffle it's cries. O.O
Then he and Jocelyne put the kid on the ground. The kid continued to eat grass as he lay on the ground by the truck, but the man began to tie his front legs together and the kid started to struggle. We calmed him down, but after he tied the rear legs and then began to tie the rear legs to the front legs the kid started screaming and thrashing and would not stop. Finally, the man dumped the kid in the back of his pick up (moving several hack-saws and broken beer bottles to the side) and asked if he could buy some goats milk. D= Jocelyne said, "Jess, you can do that right?" I could tell she was trying not to cry and the guy could too . . . so I said that I would do it. I road in the pick-up down to the ed building while the kid screamed and thrashed the whole way. Then I took the man in and he purchased 1 half-gallon of goats milk and a dozen eggs. He couldn't add $4.50 for the milk and $3.50 for the eggs so he asked me to do that for him. Then he thanked me and left. As he drove away I could hear the kid screaming (really screaming . . . it sounded like a child) all the way down the road and I could even hear the kid struggling and slamming himself against the sides of the pick-up (and probably bits of broken glass and one of the few hacksaws in the bed). I'm pretty proud of myself for not breaking down or anything. Poor Jocelyne was trying really hard to hold it together and even the guy said to her, "Don't cry this time, ok?" . . . of course I did not raise the kid myself . . . I will probably feel different in that situation. But I'm never selling goats to this man again for obvious reasons.
This is the kid we sold. Saxon's kid, #20.
#20
When the man left I went to the dairy to make sure that Jocelyne was ok. She looked severely bummed, but was talking with Chris about the dairy goat, Gracie. I noticed the other day that it was difficult to get milk out of Gracie and also that her teats felt a little hotter than usual, but Samson didn't think that it would be a problem. Well, it's 5 days later and Gracie's milk is practically like cottage cheese (bloody and rheumy). AKA: she has an udder infection called mastitis, I would bet it's the same virulent strain that Falsie has . . . virtually impossible to treat, so our vet says. These does are two are great milk producers . . . we need to get them well ASAP!!! I'm getting up at 5:30am to milk Gracie out and treat her for the second time with a product called "Today." It's what we used on Falsie initially . . . it didn't work. When Falsie's meds come in on Thursday I will treat her at 6:00pm and then 6:00am on Friday because you need to treat once every 12 hours in a 24 hour span with both meds. I hope "Today" works on Gracie . . . otherwise the really bad strain of mastitis might be spreading throughout the entire herd. That has definite potential to be catastrophic =(
Oh! Then there was a skunk UNDER THE CHICKEN COOP when I went to close them up for the night!!!!! D=< Tomorrow night I'm going up with a .22 and pumping that sucker full of led . . . . . . . and I'm only half kidding about that ;)
Edit: Not kidding at all about taking the rifle . . . actually I may just take the shotgun instead and head up around 6:30pm and wait for nightfall so I get a descent shot >=)
Jocelyne called and asked if he would be interested. He sure would be interested! So interested that he wanted to pick up the kid TODAY! We got to the pen at 4:30pm, let the herd in, and fed them. Then the man came up in his pick-up and asked to see the goat. Jocelyne only asked for $40 for the kid and then said, "Actually, this one is smaller than the last one you bought, so he really should be less." D=< The guy ended up paying $40, but I was a bit surprised that she would back down on the price of a kid she raised.
He looked at the kid and then asked if any of the other animals were for sale. He inspected all the wethers and even some of the dry goats and asked what the price of each animal would be. Jocelyne kept having to tell them that they were not for sale at this time and that she did not have a price for them currently. Finally, he said that he would pay the $40 for the kid. Jocelyne carried it out of the pasture and let him have some grass while the man and I chit-chatted about so many interesting facts. Like his uncles (illegal) cock-fighting business, and that he had to resuscitate a goat to be slaughtered because he told his brother to hold the goat's mouth shut (because it was screaming) and his brother accidentally suffocated it while trying to muffle it's cries. O.O
Then he and Jocelyne put the kid on the ground. The kid continued to eat grass as he lay on the ground by the truck, but the man began to tie his front legs together and the kid started to struggle. We calmed him down, but after he tied the rear legs and then began to tie the rear legs to the front legs the kid started screaming and thrashing and would not stop. Finally, the man dumped the kid in the back of his pick up (moving several hack-saws and broken beer bottles to the side) and asked if he could buy some goats milk. D= Jocelyne said, "Jess, you can do that right?" I could tell she was trying not to cry and the guy could too . . . so I said that I would do it. I road in the pick-up down to the ed building while the kid screamed and thrashed the whole way. Then I took the man in and he purchased 1 half-gallon of goats milk and a dozen eggs. He couldn't add $4.50 for the milk and $3.50 for the eggs so he asked me to do that for him. Then he thanked me and left. As he drove away I could hear the kid screaming (really screaming . . . it sounded like a child) all the way down the road and I could even hear the kid struggling and slamming himself against the sides of the pick-up (and probably bits of broken glass and one of the few hacksaws in the bed). I'm pretty proud of myself for not breaking down or anything. Poor Jocelyne was trying really hard to hold it together and even the guy said to her, "Don't cry this time, ok?" . . . of course I did not raise the kid myself . . . I will probably feel different in that situation. But I'm never selling goats to this man again for obvious reasons.
This is the kid we sold. Saxon's kid, #20.
#20
When the man left I went to the dairy to make sure that Jocelyne was ok. She looked severely bummed, but was talking with Chris about the dairy goat, Gracie. I noticed the other day that it was difficult to get milk out of Gracie and also that her teats felt a little hotter than usual, but Samson didn't think that it would be a problem. Well, it's 5 days later and Gracie's milk is practically like cottage cheese (bloody and rheumy). AKA: she has an udder infection called mastitis, I would bet it's the same virulent strain that Falsie has . . . virtually impossible to treat, so our vet says. These does are two are great milk producers . . . we need to get them well ASAP!!! I'm getting up at 5:30am to milk Gracie out and treat her for the second time with a product called "Today." It's what we used on Falsie initially . . . it didn't work. When Falsie's meds come in on Thursday I will treat her at 6:00pm and then 6:00am on Friday because you need to treat once every 12 hours in a 24 hour span with both meds. I hope "Today" works on Gracie . . . otherwise the really bad strain of mastitis might be spreading throughout the entire herd. That has definite potential to be catastrophic =(
Oh! Then there was a skunk UNDER THE CHICKEN COOP when I went to close them up for the night!!!!! D=< Tomorrow night I'm going up with a .22 and pumping that sucker full of led . . . . . . . and I'm only half kidding about that ;)
Edit: Not kidding at all about taking the rifle . . . actually I may just take the shotgun instead and head up around 6:30pm and wait for nightfall so I get a descent shot >=)