07/11/11, 05:25 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Northern MD
Posts: 823
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mekasmom
I wasn't putting her down. I was telling her that it is OK to mitigate damages, and giving an example. Actually, I was saying she may have gotten some bad advice in an excited state, and commiserating with her. It is absolutely tragic that this has caused strife in the family over the money lost in goats. I actually care about the fact her family is loosing so much money when it doesn't have to be that way.
Maybe I should have said it this way --"It's ok to mitigate damages and keep peace in the family. Stay calm, act slowing and it will work out."
Does that statement meet with your approval for my concern for her? I was young and very poor once. I know what it is like to be concerned with financial losses.
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Mekasmom, I appreciate your concern, but we really did think long and hard about the decision to cull Sweetie and it was the best thing for us financially and her medically. She had symptomatic CAE, her udder was hard and lumpy, she had chronic subclinical mastitis (meaning it didn't culture when we sent milk off, but had a high somatic cell count and wasn't responding to antibiotics), and was an extremely poor producer because of CAE. Her udder HURT and I couldn't bear the thought of putting her through milking again even if she were an extremely valuable goat that I just couldn't bear not having babies from. Which she wasn't. I have had mastitis and I know how painful it is. The mastitis was, I believe, directly caused by the CAE. This is why we couldn't get it to go away, though we tried our best.
Her doelings are already showing signs, they are poor growers and won't be big enough to breed by this breeding season, while my other doeling who is two months younger is already the size they are and well on track to hit 80+ pounds by November. Even though I've been pouring feed into the two that are positive. So financially, if I keep them and try for a negative baby or two, I am throwing good money after bad, especially since I wouldn't be able to breed them this year. It costs as much to feed a poor producer as a doe giving a gallon a day. And I really can't afford to bottle feed, I don't have enough extra milk to make up for bottle babies, I don't have a large pool of does to collect milk from. So financially it makes more sense to get what meat I can from these two and put my funds into a negative doe or doeling, much as it breaks my heart to do it. I don't want them to suffer like I feel their mom did and I can't keep them as pets. Nor will I sell them knowing they have CAE. I can't take the risk that someone else will breed them anyway, once they leave my property I have no control over that and it's not a risk I am willing to take.
Thank you again for your concern. If the situation were different, I might try to salvage a negative baby from all this, but given the situation I have I know in my heart that the decision we have made is for the best.
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