Farming is not easy.  There is a direct connection between life and death.  We raise animals for food.  Animals that we raise from a baby and then end up butchering.  That is not easy, but we understand from the beginning what the animal is used for and you are always emotionally preparing yourself for that.  Even those animals, if they die before the butcher day, it is very upsetting.  We have some animals on the farm that have a purpose, but are not going to be butchered for food.  Our whethered goats are an example of that.  They are spoiled rotten lawn mowers.  They keep the milking goats company and they keep the back pasture mowed. Other than that, they have no purpose.  All of our goats were hand raised as bottle babies.   It makes them so much easier to handle and overly friendly.  So yes, they are basically pets that eat grass, but they are cute pets that eat grass.

We had a family situation that pulled us away from the farm for 8 days.  Luckily we have amazing friends that took care of the farm and the animals.  However, while we were gone one of the goats became ill.   No one is sure what happened, but the vet believes that he has a broken jaw.  We have tried everything that we can do here, and we now have to take him to a hospital for x-rays and sedation.  There is probably less than a 10% chance that he is going to make it.

Searching for answers and trying to save a life and not torturing the animals while going bankrupt at the same time if a fine line.  We want to do everything that we can, but we want him to have a quality of life too AND he is just a lawn mower!  We don’t have thousands of dollars to put into this guy.  BUT, we raised him from a baby and he is part of the family.  No matter how you look at it, it just stinks. I hate having to make the decision to end a life, it just stinks.  I will keep you posted about what happens today and what we find out.