King of the Hill

Queen of the Bale, to be more precise...

Sunday afternoon when I was harvesting carrots, I looked over the fence and there sat Nellie in all her glory. The pinkish hue that you see directly over her head is a peach tree that is absolutely covered in blooms. We had a freeze last night and today, so I hope it didn't ruin the peach crop.  Back to Nellie - she had one leg stretched out and was accompanied by an Aracauna hen.  She looked very comfortable and relaxed.  Now the cows don't particularly like her to be sitting up there as Nellie will poop little 'milk dud' looking things all over the hay.  If I was a cow, I wouldn't be appreciative of that either.  The cows and Nellie barely tolerate one another and the cows will rush after her and try to head butt her.  She scurries off and the bell around her neck rings defiantly as she gets away and jumps up on the woodpile to taunt them.

Nellie Chillin' Out on the round bale

As I got closer, she wasn't moving at all.  Her eyes were closed.  She was sleeping. This is what I should have been doing on a Sunday afternoon!

Nellie was "sawing logs"

While we're talking about goats, I wanted to update you on the progress of dehorning Annie.  Annie is Nellie's little kid that looks just like her.  In a previous post, we showed you how we were dehorning her with a Band Castrator.  This device is normally used to turn a bull into a steer.  (Ouch!)  Instead, we applied the band at the base of Annie's horns and in a few weeks, they were supposed to fall off.

Well, we've attained partial success!  One of Annie's horns has fallen off as the photo below shows.  Annie now looks like the legendary Unicorn, well, if it was centered in her head.  I've read up on it and I think I'll place another band on her remaining horn this evening as I learned that the original band tends to lose its elasticity from time to time.  I'm pleased with the one that fell off.  It is clean and almost bloodless and doesn't seem to cause the pain that dehorning an animal with dehorning paste or hot iron dehorning sometimes does. 

Amy, our little unicorn

I searched around in her stall and found the horn that fell off.  You can see the thick, green rubber band that constricted around the horn and made it fall off.  If it is that effective on something as hard as a horn, you can see how efficient it would be on a young bull's... ahem... 'manhood.'

One of Annie's horns

Biblestudytools.com says that:

The word "horn" is often used metaphorically to signify strength and honor, because horns are the chief weapons and ornaments of the animals which possess them; hence they are also used as a type of victory.

We didn't mean to cut off Annie's strength or honor.  We're simply trying to protect our eyes, our fences, and our goats as they are notorious for getting their horns stuck in fences, trees, etc.  As I was typing this, I remembered an instance in history to underscore the point that goats' horns get them into trouble sometimes. You'll remember it as well.  The Book of Genesis tells us that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar when the LORD stopped him and had him look around.

Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.  Genesis 22:13

That's of great significance to us.  Just as the ram stood as an offering in place of Abraham's only son, Isaac, God's only son, Jesus did the same for you and me!  The Bible goes on to say that Abraham named that spot, Jehovah Jireh, or The LORD provides.  And he does.  He provides for you and me, both our immediate needs and our eternal ones, if we place our trust in Him.