Saturday, August 14, 2010

LESSONS LEARNED

I stepped out the back door this morning, and caught a whiff of something on the breeze that made my heart sink and the lump of panic to start to grip my throat again.  It was the scent of a buck in rut.  OMGNO.

This was the first year I bred a goat on my own.  Everything went smoothly, but Salsa delivered two bucklings, which I knew would be difficult to find homes for.  They are absolutely gorgeous boys, one black, one cream.  We named them Ebony and Ivory.



 For four months now, I have struggled with making the decision of whether to neuter them or not.  Wethers (neutered male goats) are easier to home, but often end up in the freezer.  These two are beautiful goats, and I really wanted them to be able to make beautiful goat babies.  By the time I knew that I wanted to neuter them, they had grown too large for me to band them.  The only other option was $150 to $200 to have the vet do it surgically.

I've had them posted on craigslist.org for sale for two weeks now, and not a single response, other than a message from the local goat rescue to be careful because goats listed on craigslist often end up as food.  I've been reducing the price, knowing that I didn't want to just list them for free without at least having a shot at recouping some of the expense of caring for them.

Now we are in a more difficult situation.  With them in rut, I need to separate them from their mom, which is going to be a heartbreaking thing to do while they are still close enough to call to each other.  They are still nursing, too.


I've modified the ad and will give it a couple more days before contacting the rescue.  I hate to do that, because I feel like it was my poor decision-making (or lack of quick enough decision-making) that created a problem I'm going to lay at someone else's door.  They are a rescue, however, and this is something they've chosen to do, so ... I guess it's not like abandoning them or bringing them to the animal shelter.  If I home the bucklings with the rescue, I will contribute to their upkeep through donations, too.

So now I know - when "blessed" with bucklings, just go ahead and wether them as early as possible.  It will save us all a lot of trouble.  And STINK.

If anyone knows of someone that might be interested in these bucklings, please let me know, or send them my email address or the link to this blog post.  Also - if you are looking for a charitable organization to help out, Goat Rescue of Sonoma County (they don't just rescue goats, but all large farm animals) is a very worthy cause.  They prefer non-cash donations, and one way to help is to put money on their account at Larsen's Feed in Cotati.

2 comments:

  1. hehe...the things you have to deal with, daily, compared to most of us. My proverbial hat is off to you, daily.

    Take care, and may the school year be a good one.

    Love,
    Bob.

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  2. Bob, I am tickled pink that you read my blog so faithfully, and love to read your comments. :-)

    Here's hoping for a smooth school year for us both!

    Love,
    Laura

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