Found our goat dead!!!

gettys1863 · #1 01/09/15, 07:08 PM

Hello my wife and I went to do the evening feeding and discovered our clohe girl dead. She was fine this morning when we went to feed. When i went in to take her out of the pen I discovered someone had put a lot of whole shelled corn in her dish while we were gone. My wife can't stop crying and I am upset and mad as all get out. I'm just angry who could have done this. I looked for tracks in the snow but it's hard to tell because we are down there so much. I guess I'm gonna have to get out the trail cam and shot gun.

Pony · #2 01/09/15, 07:16 PM

Oh, dear. That is horrible. I am so sorry!

Do you have children who thought they were helping?

gettys1863 · #3 01/09/15, 07:30 PM

Pony, our little 2 year old has been up at my moms the last 2 days we just brought her down tonight.

sisterpine · #4 01/09/15, 07:32 PM

Oh Crap! Are you having problems with a neighbor? Could someone you know have thought the goat was hungry and fed it with what was available? Was corn available to the goat?

DenMacII · #5 01/09/15, 07:34 PM

So sorry for your loss. I hope you can figure out how this happened.

Forcast · #6 01/09/15, 07:37 PM

goats cant eat corn? sorry I know nothing about goats, but I thought goats eat everything.
I am sorry for your loss.

Lady89 · #7 01/09/15, 08:47 PM

Forcast, Goats can eat corn just fine but thay can't eat lots of it or any rich food in one sitting or the stomach will swell up and they will die.

Could this have been a killed by love thing? I have had lots if problems with my grand mother who lives next door feeding my animals way to much cracked corn
My grand mother: "but they looked so hungry"
She has not killed any thing as of yet but I do now have vary fat chickens

**mygoat** · #8 01/09/15, 08:53 PM

I'm hoping it was good intentions but that doesn't bring your doe back.

Very, very few people understand the delicate nature of a ruminant's stomach and can feed them to death. If there was enough in her pan that she willingly stopped eating and left some sitting in the pan, she probably got a lot. I'm so sorry this happened. (hugs)

Backfourty,MI. · #9 01/09/15, 09:45 PM

I am so sorry & also hope it was well intended on the person's part that gave her the corn, even though it was a terrible No No.

where I want to · #10 01/09/15, 10:16 PM

So heartbreaking. You have my sympathy for the needless loss of your girl.

gettys1863 · #11 01/09/15, 10:43 PM

Thank you all. My mother said some of the neighbor kids walked down past our house and took a short cut Thru our property to the post office because when she went to drop off the mail they were coming out. It saddens me to think they did it but I just don't know. The part that is strange is she has her own feed in her tub by her pen and the corn is in the big barn 50 feet from her building with the barn door closed. It's just a sad day her at our place, but I told my wife you must accept loss on our little homestead if your raising animals.

mzgarden · #12 01/10/15, 04:32 AM

So sad, I am so sorry.

dizzy · #13 01/10/15, 06:19 AM

I had a neighbor that was constantly feeding my goats. I'd find stuff in their pen all the time. When I said something to her, she denied it. I was glad when they moved.

The neighbor B4 them planted evergreen bushes of some sort all along the fence. (Some type of juniper, not yew!) They are so dense now, that it's almost impossible to get to the fence so I no longer have that worry.

SouthGAMan · #14 01/10/15, 09:16 AM

Sorry for your loss. Most all of us build relationships of some sort with our animals. Never easy finding an animal dead.

nehimama · #15 01/10/15, 10:38 AM

I'm so sorry for your loss!

punchiepal · #16 01/10/15, 10:46 AM

I am sorry for your loss.

dozedotz · #17 01/10/15, 11:11 AM

Lord, protect us from "good intentions!" So sorry for your sad experience. My sister lived on a fence line with neighbors who she was convinced were not feeding their animals enough. She did not own any animals herself. In her case I was able to explain that it can be just as dangerous to overfeed or possibly feed too much of a certain thing like grain (!) and that solved the problem...she definitely was a kind, good person who just wanted "to help" the "starving" animals without consulting the owner...sometimes the little begging animals that are so good at convincing the soft hearted that they are starving are actually hurt by the good intentions. Sad but true.

Frosted Mini's · #18 01/10/15, 03:28 PM

You should try asking those kids if they did that. If they did, try to use kind words and teach them that it isn't okay to feed other people's animals and the damage it can cause.

motdaugrnds · #19 01/11/15, 04:13 AM

((lots of hugs for your wife...and you)) Goats are family; and losing one is quite painful. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I suggest you ask around to find out who actually did it as you don't want it to occur again; however, when asking, do so with understanding the party may have been wanting to help.

gettys1863 · #20 01/21/15, 12:56 PM

Well after asking around and I was very nice and understanding I came home last night to a letter saying they were sorry and didn't mean to kill her. They said they often stop by and look at our animals and they didn't know over feeding can kill them. They offered to help out around our place to make it up to my wife, they feel worse than she does. At least I know that it wasn't done out of spite. But we still miss her a lot.