Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider
|
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48144 is a reply to message #48143 ] |
Sun, 05 February 2012 20:55   |
|
That was a delightful story; thank you for sharing!
FairyTales - http://xkcd.com/872/
|
|
| | | | | | | |
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48159 is a reply to message #48143 ] |
Mon, 06 February 2012 12:37 |
 |
 HorsehairBraider
Messages: 161
Registered: August 2009
Location: New Mexico |
Senior Member |
|
|
Thank you! To answer some questions:
The farm no doubt did have kid raising equipment, but I did not know where it was. The family was in Mexico camping so I could not call them or anything, just had to wing it.
By the time I had the horse hitched and was ready to go to the store, it was dark... Knocking on someone's door after dark, holding a goat, and asking for a baby bottle? I don't think they would have gone for it... they weren't even pleased to see me in the daytime since I was not a member of their church. Makes me laugh to think about knocking on doors though!
Zoe was the foundation of my original herd. My original herd of dairy goats were "grade", to put it kindly, and Zoe was the closest thing I had to a purebred. She was also my best producer, and was a very sweet goat to the end of her days.
I did not take over the farm... curses! Foiled again in my attempts to take over the world!  I just got my own farm instead. Much easier. 
As far as Zephyr taking Zoe back: these days I could get that to happen. Back then, I did not know how, and my mentors were gone for another two weeks. But at the risk of TMI... as the milk goes through the kid (so to speak), the mother checks the back end of the kid for her own scent in the dung, one of the ways she recognizes her kid. Well, not knowing this, I was feeding Zoe from a pool of milk from all the does, so her dung would have smelled strange to her mother. (There was a sheep stamp issued by the US postal service showing a ewe sniffing the nose of her lamb, and we all laughed heartily over it because that is NOT the end that the mother sniffs!) But actually I never tried to get Zephyr to take her back. I was having too much fun having a little white goat as my constant companion.
They say princes learn no art truly, save that of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom. Ben Jonson
|
|
|
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48160 is a reply to message #48159 ] |
Mon, 06 February 2012 13:20 |
 |
AJLR
Messages: 2565
Registered: September 2008
Location: England, UK |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
|
|
| HorsehairBraider wrote on Mon, 06 February 2012 17:37 |
But at the risk of TMI... as the milk goes through the kid (so to speak), the mother checks the back end of the kid for her own scent in the dung, one of the ways she recognizes her kid. Well, not knowing this, I was feeding Zoe from a pool of milk from all the does, so her dung would have smelled strange to her mother.
|
The things one learns on this forum..! Can't you just imagine the sight in a hospital creche of newborns, if human mothers did the same thing.
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
|
|
| | |
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48166 is a reply to message #48165 ] |
Mon, 06 February 2012 21:35 |
|
HorsehairBraider
Messages: 161
Registered: August 2009
Location: New Mexico |
Senior Member |
|
|
| MichellePar wrote on Mon, 06 February 2012 21:04 |
As someone who finds the intrusion of strangers into one's personal space without asking infuriatingly rude, I laughed so hard about the woman who, clearly without asking, decided she had the right to disturb the baby. Hopefully it made her think twice about touching people she didn't know without asking, but I have a feeling I'm hoping for too much.
|
It was quite a moment. I had not noticed her at all because I was so busy concentrating on getting my stuff and getting out of the store... and when I saw her, she was too close. FAR too late to say anything at all to her.
At the time, I was just grateful that she walked straight out of the store without screaming or saying anything to management. But over the years I've wondered... did she need to get right home and change her clothes? Was she simply shocked out of her mind? To me, goats and animals are SO normal and expected. It was the first time I really realized that OTHER people do not think that way. That OTHER people don't bring goats in their house, even if they are tiny and need help. It was a real eye opener for me.
They say princes learn no art truly, save that of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom. Ben Jonson
|
|
| |
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48171 is a reply to message #48143 ] |
Tue, 07 February 2012 04:05 |
 |
equus_peduus
Messages: 437
Registered: September 2009
Location: France |
Senior Member |
|
|
| Quote: |
Have you ever tried to pick up an adult goat who has gone limp?
|
No, but this reminded me of the time we had to pick up an adult alpaca...
I was on my 4th year veterinary student equine emergency rotation (the equine services handle camelids at my school). An alpaca came (I no longer remember what his problem was, nor what the outcome was, so don't ask). We had to get him from receiving to radiography, and then from radiography to a stall. He decided he was not coming with us (which is the bit that your goat story reminded me of).
Ultimately, we ended up having three veterinary students and a technician, one at each corner of the alpaca, pick him up and carry him. This is when I learned that alpacas not only spit, but they spit wads of partially chewed up hay at people they don't like, and as I recall, with considerable force and accuracy. The resident then manned the head of the alpaca to aim the alpaca-spitwad-machine-gun in (mostly) harmless directions.
Of course, he decided, once he was in his stall, that his legs did work after all.
Apparently, it takes five people to successfully carry an alpaca. It has since occurred to me that it might have been easier if we had gotten a gurney...
|
|
| | |
| Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider [message #48182 is a reply to message #48160 ] |
Tue, 07 February 2012 14:27 |
 |
Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
Senior Member |
|
|
| AJLR wrote on Mon, 06 February 2012 18:20 |
The things one learns on this forum..! Can't you just imagine the sight in a hospital creche of newborns, if human mothers did the same thing.
|
You've obviously never been to a toddler group, then - the one I take my grandson to, it is normative to pick your child up and sniff his or her bottom - admittedly, in order to find out whether he or she needs a clean nappy, but even still.... it makes me giggle every time I see it happening, and I have been known to do it myself!
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
|
|
|
| |
  |
Goto Forum:
Current Time: Tue May 21 09:36:33 EDT 2013
Total time taken to generate the page: 0.02349 seconds |
Members
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
Re: My First Goat and the best-selling paperback, guest post by HorsehairBraider
)