11/10/07, 06:28 PM
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Caprice Acres
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: MI
Posts: 11,232
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2 down, 2 to go... *sigh*
I sent two boys to freezer camp today. They were the two wether kids that had CAE, and I HAD to do it. Though, it still hurts.
They were two bottle babies I planned on keeping as cart goats, and they were very special to me. I couldn't bring myself to watch dad shoot, but I did the rest of the work after that.
The worst was getting them out of the pen and taking them up to the butchering area. I called them over to the pen door, and, trusting me, they each came right up. That was the hardest part for me to overcome; They trusted me through the whole process. I almost called it all off when the first one, Chauncey, ran to me when he was startled at the butchering area and nuzzled up close to me for safety. He was the harder of the two to do.
They are now in labeled plastic baggies in the bottom of the fridge. 16 lbs from them both. I got about 7 lbs out of Chauncey, and probably 9 out of the other, Forrest. Chauncey was a mini/alpine cross, and Forrest was an alpine. They were both born late last march.
I have to do their mothers in spring after they kid out, also due to CAE. I am really dreading that. My father keeps asking if there's any way around killing them, and I can't ethically stand for any other options. He then suggested killing and burying them... An Idea, that, as a Homesteader, is too wasteful.
I know I'm doing the right thing. But, it really doesn't make me feel any better.
__________________
Dona Barski
"Breed the best, eat the rest"
Caprice Acres
French and American Alpines. CAE, Johnes neg herd. Abscess free. LA, DHIR.
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