We did a farm tour today with an extremely nice couple from way over yonder on the other side of town. Farm tours always make me a bit nervous before hand because I really don’t know what people are expecting once they arrive at the farm. I much prefer to do tours in the winter and early spring when there are lots of babies to ooh and awe over and freshly planted gardens that show promise and hope. Anyway, here it is the end of August following a horrible drought. The gardens are burned up, the babies are six months old and there is just not a lot of exciting activities happening on the farm……and we are giving a farm tour.
The reason I am writing this is that, of the all the questions they had, the husband asked a question and then made a comment on my response that has had me reflecting on my response since they left. Well, after much thought, I stand by my response. Don’t get me wrong. He wasn’t derogatory in his statement to me. He was just stating a fact and I completely understand where he was coming from on that. Now….below is the jest of the conversation and then following that are some of my additional thoughts.
NOTE: Conversation is not verbatim.
Question: What do you do with goats that are no longer producing.
My Answer: Some will be sold, but some will stay here forever. We will basically have a geriatric ward.
His Response: That kind of hurts the bottom line.
My Answer: Yes, it can but some we have had since the beginning. They take care of us and we take care of them.
Now….. Here are some of my additional thoughts on this subject.
· S Some of these girls have been with us from the very beginning. We raised them from babies, bottle feeding them and tending to their every need.
W We have had one or two get severely ill and have spent nearly 24 hours a day for days on end doctoring and nursing and finally seeing health return to our beloved friend(s). Likewise, we have had a couple attacked by “stray” dogs and nearly killed. We kept vigil beside them for literally weeks while they mended.
· W We have braved the cold as well as the heat to take care of girls (and boys) because we could see that they were struggling. Did they thank us? Yes. In their own way. :)
· O Our “original” girls have taught US how to be goat farmers. They have endured it all while we learned! When we first started, we didn’t have a nice little barn. In fact, we didn’t have a barn at all. We were using one end of my dad’s barn for housing. We finally did get a barn (it was originally a kennel and low and behold is now actually our milk barn), but had no electricity ran to it. We milked for a full year by flash light. We finally got power to Chrys’ shop and then we ran an extension cord to the “barn” so that we could hang a drop light to milk. I think we milked that way for at least a year, maybe more. We finally got power ran to the barn and followed that with hot and cold water. :) They have taught us when to medicate and when to “wait and see”. They have taught us that sometimes it IS serious and sometimes they are just faking. LOL Yes, they DO have that thought process.
· T They have taught us that they are not just a herd of goats. They are each individuals with their own personality and their own funny (and sometimes frustrating) quirks. We have the bullies, the whiners, the loners, the tattle tails (That’s right! I said tattle tails!), the busy bodies. The personalities run the full gauntlet and although some can be frustrating from time to time we LOVE them ALL!
· W We have an old girl now that came to us last year. She is beyond her production years, but she will stay here until she crosses the rainbow bridge. Why? Why not! She came to us with her “family”. If she were to have to move to a new herd at this point in her life I believe that she would very soon die. She’s old. She eats slow and she is moving slow. To have to endure a move and go through the brutal hierarchy rituals that goats go through, I fear, would be too much for her. So……..she stays. :)
· W We don’t buy and sell and buy and sell and buy and sell goats. The goats we have are members of our family. Yes, some don’t work out, for whatever reason, and need to move to another home. Most, though, are literally members of our family. We care for them. They provide milk for us. When the time comes we will continue to care for them until the end. That’s what families do.
There are so many more reasons that some of these girls will never leave Canyon Ridge Farms and when I think of the time when some will be gone it brings tears to my eyes.
In conclusion, YES, Canyon Ridge Farms WILL have a geriatric ward providing love and nurturing care until the very end. It is the least we can do for some of these girls who have done SO much for us.
……..I may add more to this later, but right now my brain is running in a hundred different directions and my body is tired and says it is time for bed.
