Had to put my goat down this morning:(

[momof247371]

I have 6 goats, all girls but one is a baby boy. I locked them all in the barn lastnight cause they had pushed the fence out and got out, so in the barn they went until this morning, when I had the time to fix the fence. Well, this morning I went out to collect eggs and I saw some bloody little chunks in the straw. I thought someones water had broke and we were gonna have another baby. Well , all the girls were standing and watching me, except for Mocha. Mocha is the oldest goat we have and we have had her for almost 6 years now. Nothing is welcome on our farm that isnt kid friendly, i have 2 young sons. Well I walked over to her and there was a little blood trail that right to her. Turns out that one of the other girls must have caught her with a horn because she had a big hole in her tummy, and her intestines were hanging out. My sons were in the barn with me and I didnt want them to see it but they saw it when my dh led her away so he could put her down. It was AWFUL, my sons are 4 and 6, so they didn't understand why daddy was going to shoot her. My dh's dad was there and he tried to explain it to them, cause by then I was bawling my eyes out. They were crying and screaming at daddy to stop. After the deed was done we sat with the kids and explained to them that she was in really bad pain and that we couldn't let her suffer anymore. I am just so depressed and i feel frazzled. I could go back to bed and not get up until tomarrow. Bummed out!!

 

[AHappychick]

oh gosh how sad I am so sorry. dont even know what to say except

 

[KellyHM]

I'm sorry you had to go through that! Did you think about calling the vet? A friend of mine had a similar thing happen to one of her bucks and the vet patched him up.

 

[Brindlebtch]

That sounds awful. I'm am so sorry.

 

[teach1rusl]

What a horrible thing to have to deal with

! I hope your boys understood at least the basics of the message that it's kinder to not make creatures suffer when they are badly injured. Maybe one of the others felt it was protecting it's offspring???

 

[momof247371]

Well, Missy, the one with the baby, and Mocha are the two that we have had the longest. Those 2 were bonded very well. and last year when they both kidded they kidded on the same day and took great care of each others babys'. So i dont think it was her. I also dont think the vet could have done anything with her because some chunks of bloody intestine were laying on the barn floor. I dont know who done it and I dont know if the vet could have helped, and I also dont know how long she was like that before I went out and found her this morning, i just didnt want her to suffer....

 

[bheila]

I'm so sorry that you had to deal with something like this...

You did exactly what we would've done here. It's never easy to shoot a beloved pet but knowing she wasn't suffering anymore is the best thing.

We're taking our goats horns off(banding) right now just for this reason.

 

[joebryant]

That had to be an awful morning. Hope you're all better now. Glad that you wrote it all out; that really helps when you've been traumatized.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

Hi,
I raise goats too. I'm so sorry to hear about your doe. i know that its a hard thing that you and your husband had to do...but you did what you needed to do. With that being said, I know it doesn't make it any easier on either of you. It'll take some time to get over this...make sure you allow yourself that. Take Care...

 

[Skyesrocket]

I'm so sorry. You did the right thing.