A Happy Ending
This morning, I heard our two does calling for the babies. They were running between the barn and the gate, calling frantically. I walked down to the barn to investigate, and found it empty. Both kids were gone. Our beautiful, newest doelings, carried off in the night by some unseen predator. Surely that was the case, because anyone who knows goats knows that baby goats this age don't just walk off and leave their mothers. And mother goats don't scream like that unless their babies are missing. And Lord knows we have an abundance of coyotes, foxes, and even a few rumors of a bear or bobcat around here. And there's the fact that we've had goats stolen off our property.... So, with my stomach in knots, I called my father to let him know the kids were gone.
Dad and I walked the property, lamenting the fact that we lost these precious babies. What a blow to the morale around here! We found a spot where a tree fell on the fence and crushed it low, and another spot next to that where the fence had heaved out of the ground a bit, and was sitting high. But no blood trail. No fur trail. Just, two kids, vanished in the night.
As we were walking back toward the shed, something caught my eye. Can you see it? Do you see any good news in this picture?
Okay, well, of course one bit of good news is that the pasture is lush and the property is beautiful.... but would you have ever guessed at this?
Here they are! Two little sweeties tucked away in an old apple tree. Who would have guessed that we'd have found them, alive and well, sleeping in a tree?!? We laughed, woke the kids, and called their worried Mama and Grandma over to give them licks and a firm speaking-to. I imagine Mama goat saying something like, "I was worried sick about you! Don't you ever go sneaking off on me again!" Goat mothering and human mothering aren't very different, after all!
And that, my dear reader, is a very happy ending.
