This post has little to do with writing, websites, or anything else related to my internet activities. Instead it's a little glimpse into my family.
My family loves animals, that's obvious to anyone who visits our house within a very short time. Monday of this week the menagie consisted of 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 goats, 2 rabbits, 3 fish, a bantam hen, and a gecko. Notice that I said Monday because it's changed.
On Wenesday my dad stopped by the Paris Farmer's Union and ordered chicks. In late May we will be receiving 6 barred rock hen chicks and 4 pheasant chicks.
Then yesterday my uncle called my dad and told him that a farm near him had an emergency situation and was giving away all their animals. My dad went over there intending only to get the female Nigerian dwarf goat (the two goats we already had were female Nigerian dwarfs) but it didn't end that way.
The place was truly awful. The owner of the animals has cancer and is in a nursing home, while he's been there his wife has not tended to the animals aside from throwing in food. When the owner was told about the conditions on his farm he signed papers that all the animals were to be given to good homes or sent to the humane society immediately. I really wish he had been made aware of what was happening sooner so things would not have gotten as bad as they did. When my dad gotto the farm he found the barn filthy, it clearly hadn't been cleaned in a very long time, there were dead animals that hadn't been removed.
Well my dad can't stand to see animals suffering so he took the animals we'd be able to care for. Not just the female goat but also a male, and a female llama. He brought the goats home last night in the van. My uncle will be brought the llama over with his trailer this afernoon. We'll make up for what's happened to them, they'll have wonderful homes for the rest of their lives. (In case you're wondering about my uncle, he and my aunt took several sheep and lambs.)
All three will need a good bit of work, they are filthy and smelly right now, all three definitely need deworming an a visit from the vet for a checkup. The goats need washing, brushing, their hooves need trimming. The
llama's wool is dirty and matted, her teeth have been neglected and are now too long, she spits and kicks so she'll need some training.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. A few years ago my dad brought home a skinny underfed black and tan hound. Daisy is now a very healthy, friendly, active dog, though still scared of the dark and loud noises. The first two goats we got, Tansy and Blossom, were by no means abused or neglected they were quite spoiled already but their former owners were older and moving to a smaller easier to keep place and couldn't take the goats.
For comparison with the other goats so you can see what healthy Nigerian Dwarfs look like here are Blossom and Tansy:
So the pet count is now up to 17 and once the chicks arrive it will be 27! Also since the two goats were kept together all winter, there may be babies on the way but it's too soon to tell.
Oh yeah, remember I said this post had little to do with my online life. Well little isn't nothing of course. Here's a Squidoo lens I made on
Nigerian Dwarf Goats.
