Jake & Elwood
May of 2006 we purchased two Pygmy goats, so cute, so adorable so much potential for destruction, who knew? I will point out at this point that friends mentioned this, but did we listen? Nope.
We had a coop already constructed for the chickens and a pen with a four foot fence. Jake & Elwood frolicked around the pen for a few weeks and then one day they were out. Interesting. We'd put them back in, they'd jump out, they'd climb out, they got out any and every way they could. They ate everything, the Japanese Maple, lilies, Rhodie's, evergreens, hundreds of dollars in landscaping converted into raisinets all over the yard. Elwood was small and pleasant, Jake was larger and we believe this was due to incomplete castration - in happens to the best of us.
We tried electric fences, built higher fences, 9' to be exact. Didn't work. Finally I broke down and went to the farm store and bought tethers and collars. We tethered them each to a tree and the rule was, do not let them overlap, no overlapping. Having them secured to trees was wonderful, no one was getting horned, the eating frenzy ceased and you didn't have to chase them out of the garage morning and night. It was a very good thing.
I came home from work on the first day of spring in 2009. There was still about a foot of snow on the ground, but it was starting to warm up. I went inside, changed, started dinner and walking down the hallway past the front door I looked out and saw Jake and Elwood tangled. They overlapped and as you'd expect, it wasn't pretty. Elwood suffered a fatal injury and died. Poor Lauren was crushed. My immediate thought was "What the hell are we supposed to do with a dead goat?"
The next day I called the animal control officer, explained the situation and waited for her to say, "I'll be right there for your other goat, dogs, cats and children." Instead she referred me to the Department of Agriculture. I called them and the very nice man on the phone said, "You got hay and manure?" Well, why yes I did! He said, "Here's what you do.. you go in the woods and find a nice level spot, downhill a bit, put down a foot of hay and manure. Place the goat ontop of that and then cover with two feet of hay and manure. In eight weeks, it will be completely decomposed." Hmmm, seemed like a plan.
I went home after work and explained this to Lauren. I also explained that I could do it and it wasn't necessary for her to help, but she wanted to help. We went out in the woods, found our flat downhill spot and loaded the wheelbarrow with hay and manure, spread the layer then off to gather Elwood. I jumped into the bed of the beater pickup and started to shove him out with my foot. Lauren said, "Do NOT kick my goat." I jumped down and we gathered him up. On the way through the woods in a foot of snow, we were talking loudly and complaining about this task and Lauren said, "Mom we couldn't be in the mob, we're too loud." Yeah, that's why. We completed the process and then had a small ceremony afterwards. Lauren, myself, Jake (out on bail), Gabby, Gordon and Rose the chicke were all in attendance. Lauren made a nice speech, I said a few words and then we stood there quietly. After a few seconds, Rose looked up and chirped, "bok bok bok bok, bok bok, bok." I looked at her and said, "Rose that was lovely and thank you for coming." This mad Lauren laugh and that was needed.
That summer I stood in the kitchen looking down the back hill when I saw Gabby running through the yard with something. I asked, "What does Gabby have?" Lauren was walking by, looked out the window and said, "Oh, that's a piece of Elwood." Seems like it worked okay.
We had a coop already constructed for the chickens and a pen with a four foot fence. Jake & Elwood frolicked around the pen for a few weeks and then one day they were out. Interesting. We'd put them back in, they'd jump out, they'd climb out, they got out any and every way they could. They ate everything, the Japanese Maple, lilies, Rhodie's, evergreens, hundreds of dollars in landscaping converted into raisinets all over the yard. Elwood was small and pleasant, Jake was larger and we believe this was due to incomplete castration - in happens to the best of us.
We tried electric fences, built higher fences, 9' to be exact. Didn't work. Finally I broke down and went to the farm store and bought tethers and collars. We tethered them each to a tree and the rule was, do not let them overlap, no overlapping. Having them secured to trees was wonderful, no one was getting horned, the eating frenzy ceased and you didn't have to chase them out of the garage morning and night. It was a very good thing.
I came home from work on the first day of spring in 2009. There was still about a foot of snow on the ground, but it was starting to warm up. I went inside, changed, started dinner and walking down the hallway past the front door I looked out and saw Jake and Elwood tangled. They overlapped and as you'd expect, it wasn't pretty. Elwood suffered a fatal injury and died. Poor Lauren was crushed. My immediate thought was "What the hell are we supposed to do with a dead goat?"
The next day I called the animal control officer, explained the situation and waited for her to say, "I'll be right there for your other goat, dogs, cats and children." Instead she referred me to the Department of Agriculture. I called them and the very nice man on the phone said, "You got hay and manure?" Well, why yes I did! He said, "Here's what you do.. you go in the woods and find a nice level spot, downhill a bit, put down a foot of hay and manure. Place the goat ontop of that and then cover with two feet of hay and manure. In eight weeks, it will be completely decomposed." Hmmm, seemed like a plan.
I went home after work and explained this to Lauren. I also explained that I could do it and it wasn't necessary for her to help, but she wanted to help. We went out in the woods, found our flat downhill spot and loaded the wheelbarrow with hay and manure, spread the layer then off to gather Elwood. I jumped into the bed of the beater pickup and started to shove him out with my foot. Lauren said, "Do NOT kick my goat." I jumped down and we gathered him up. On the way through the woods in a foot of snow, we were talking loudly and complaining about this task and Lauren said, "Mom we couldn't be in the mob, we're too loud." Yeah, that's why. We completed the process and then had a small ceremony afterwards. Lauren, myself, Jake (out on bail), Gabby, Gordon and Rose the chicke were all in attendance. Lauren made a nice speech, I said a few words and then we stood there quietly. After a few seconds, Rose looked up and chirped, "bok bok bok bok, bok bok, bok." I looked at her and said, "Rose that was lovely and thank you for coming." This mad Lauren laugh and that was needed.
That summer I stood in the kitchen looking down the back hill when I saw Gabby running through the yard with something. I asked, "What does Gabby have?" Lauren was walking by, looked out the window and said, "Oh, that's a piece of Elwood." Seems like it worked okay.
Comments
Post a Comment