Had to euthanize a kid last night. :(

[()relics]

...Some of you aren't going to want to read this...SO DON'T...though it is always hard to lose any animal under your watch, Its a fact of being an animal owner. Farm animals as well as pets die and have to be dealt with. In this case we are talking about a farm animal and as hard as it is to imagine it, this little buck kid was more than likely destined for slaughter, probably later than sooner, but none the less.
What I would have done differently? I would have skinned the little guy and put him in the freezer.he was a market animal that met his end before he should have and there would be no sense, to me, in wasting him...Sad but True...My kids may disagree...JMO

 

[helmstead]

 

[Shiloh Acres]

CM, I am really, really sorry to read this. We do know that these things happen with farm animals but I don't think knowing that really makes it any easier to deal with. FWIW I really think you did the right thing. That's such a hard choice for me to euthanize an animal. I've made that choice a few times but I'm just as likely to keep fighting for their lives beyond when I really should. You have my respect, and my sympathies.

 

[cmjust0]

...Some of you aren't going to want to read this...SO DON'T...though it is always hard to lose any animal under your watch, Its a fact of being an animal owner. Farm animals as well as pets die and have to be dealt with. In this case we are talking about a farm animal and as hard as it is to imagine it, this little buck kid was more than likely destined for slaughter, probably later than sooner, but none the less.
What I would have done differently? I would have skinned the little guy and put him in the freezer.he was a market animal that met his end before he should have and there would be no sense, to me, in wasting him...Sad but True...My kids may disagree...JMO

I totally, 100% get ya.. It is sad, but it is true.. Livestock begets deadstock, from time to time.

I'm probably less emotionally involved with the goats than my wife is, probably because I'm the one who has to do...well, stuff like this.

I do get attached, though.

You're right, though...this little guy was still a bit skitty to be "pet wether" material, and he was already pretty bucky for his age. Stout would be a good word...big shoulders, and a big wide head.. Wide stance in the back, unlike some of the other fine-boned "hatchet-assed" bucklings running around here.. They're sweet, too, so they'll likely be banded and sold as pets..

Anyway, I kinda had in my head that he'd go as a good, but inexpensive buck for someone running unregistered dairy stock, or perhaps someone wanting to put a little dairy influence into a potential crop of commercial replacement does.. He'd have been good for that...he was nice and framey for a Nubian, and I think he had the potential to make some nice hybrids if crossed to Boers..

And, in selling him that way...I knew full well he'd likely be used for a year and sent to market as a killer.

Don't have to see that, though, or know it to be 100% true. Out of sight, out of mind I suppose..

Still, we allow ourselves to get attached because, for us, that's part of the enjoyment of raising goats. They're fun to hang around with...if it was strictly about water...hay...feed...and keeping them upright, it just wouldn't hold the same appeal to us..

We know the risks you take when you get attached to livestock animals, and we know it sometimes leads to a very painful, gut-wrenching outcome.. Ultimately, though, I guess we're OK with that..

We're OK with not fitting into either the 'pet goats' box or the 'livestock' box..

 

[cmjust0]

I appreciate everyone's support today.. Thought about what I had to do, and about his mama and sister, until I fell asleep last night at like 2am.. First thing in my head when I got up, too..

Pretty bummed out still..

You guys help, though. A lot.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

I am soooo SORRY...for your tragedy!!! I dont think I have to say you did the right thing...you obviously knew what was right for the little guy!! I never thank my husband enough for being the warrior...its the love for them that gives you the strength to carry out those task!! Those necessary evils...THANK YOU for caring enough to do right by him. My thoughts and prayers are with you, your wife..and your herd..at this sad, sad time....we just lost our baby buck 2 wks ago...and the next moring my rooster crowed as he should...I looked at my husband, both of us greiving still...from a long night and a burrial..and said.."The rooster still crows the next morning to remind us that life must go on at the farm" so we got up and did what we had to do...Obviously with heavy hearts...I hope the weight of your sorrow lightens soon.

Im so sorry for your loss....

 

[Mea]

I appreciate everyone's support today.. Thought about what I had to do, and about his mama and sister, until I fell asleep last night at like 2am.. First thing in my head when I got up, too..

Pretty bummed out still..

You guys help, though. A lot.

Awwww ! ((((((CM)))))))) !


Blessings to You for having the courage to relieve him . 'Taint easy !


( i'm heading out to hug my goaties....And check for "cracks" )

 

[jodief100]

Been there, done that. It always sucks.

Even when you raise goats for the meat market like I do, you still want them all to have happy and comfortable, albeit short lives. It just seems worse when its a baby.

You did the right thing.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

It takes a great deal of fortitude to do the right thing in a situation like that.

 

[dkluzier]

Very sorry to hear what happened to the little fellow. We haven't lost a goat yet and I know that some day we will be forced to make the same kind of decision that you did and hope that one of us has the courage to do what you did.

I have taken care of some crippled chicks and I didn't enjoy it at all.