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The world of the Dear Farmer and Family is opened to you as we share our daily experiences.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

The "Loaded" Goat

Last year Honorable Son No.1 bought a milk goat.  The idea was that he would have milk to sell to people who would request the product.  However, Honorable Son No.1 was not able to do any of the work.  So the work for the milking, feeding and watering was divided out among the siblings, with the agreement that the family got to keep milk first, the rest could be sold.  Everything was going good...then the Farmer's Daughter and Honorable Son No.2 were given male twins.  They were so sweet, the three goats.  Alas, tragedy struck when the one runt male died, and just one of the twins remained with the milk goat. Being a family that has a maxim "Only profitable pets"  the remaining buckling had a job to do. As the buckling grew it became clear he had plenty of testosterone...maybe too much?  Honorable Son's new-to-him Cadillac was getting butted and defiled by the buck. Children were running inside crying because the buck bit their fingers, coats, mittens, etc. When the buck ripped Honorable Son's new jeans with his horns and gave son a nasty bruise; it was decided the buck would be better as sausage.
Never fear, with the buck into ground sausage, the milk goat was not lonely.  With ten pairs of hands to pet her, and bowls of oatmeal willing to be shared with her, she was being loved and loaded with treats.  She actually acted more like a family dog.  She'd go on walks with the children, play in the yard with them, and cut the grass.  All with the benefit of a quart of milk each morning (not bad production in the winter).
About February Dear Farmer (who had previously raised goats, so this isn't his first go-around) said to the Wife, "I think that goat's pregnant."
"How so?", said Wife.
"About three months.", replied Dear Farmer.
A goat's gestation being five months, that would be there should be a kid in two months time.
Two months went by with no kid.  The next time Dear Farmer brought up the possible pregnant goat he was quickly squashed by the Wife, "The goat's just loaded with oatmeal." , she said.
For the rest of April and into May it has been the family joke:
Honorable Son No.1's goat looks like it swallowed a tic tac sideways.
The goat's loaded (with oatmeal).
She's not over-weight, she's under height.
Well, today came.  It's the Farmer's Daughter's duty to milk this morning. She's running behind schedule and had to be gone in two minutes.  Out she ran with the milk bucket, and back in she skipped with a smile on her face.  "Won't be milking for a while!" She happily exclaimed.
Dear Farmer, the Wife, and the Farmer's Daughter all ran out to the goat pen where they found...
Two dear little kids and one proud mama goat.  The kids are both female, one looks like the buck and one looks like the milk goat.
With tongue-in-cheek the Wife laughing said, "Well, I guess she was loaded with a little more than oatmeal."
Honorable Son No. 1 will not have any milk to sell this summer, we have a nursing mama goat. But NEXT year, we could have THREE loaded goats.

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