There are just certain days in your life you never forget. The day I picked up Samson and Delilah were one of them. Raining. Lost. Dark. Crying babies. Bottle feeding. Thinking what the heck did i just get myself into.
Little did I know then the impact she would have on my life. The trajectory was all her. If she hadn't had a precocious udder, would I have even started milking?
For years this is how we milked. Even when I started to have small groups come to the farm to learn. And she loved it. She was the center of attention. And she always stayed that way. Every goat that came on this property (till recently) knew it, and never tried to take it away. She was the first to eat. First on the milk stand. And first to get her morning hugs. She was the Herd QUEEN.
When I finally got a milk stand she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She would run out and stand by the gate where we would normally milk. Finally, we agreed it was easier on the stand. Then she realized she wanted to be milked last because the last goat on the stand can hang out with me while i clean up.
Her best pal was Oliver. Who kept them safe. I'm going to miss him too. He was just put down last month and they are both buried next to each other.
She was the goat I learned to do everything to. A bucket of food and she would let you do practically anything to her. Here we were shaving her for Linear appraisal by the ADGA.
For a very long time it was just her, Samson, and Oreo. I had a job off the farm. I worked in Stuart. And didn't even have any chickens. Just one lone rooster. How boring I was.
She above all the others lived a charmed life. She only had to whisper a bleat and I would come running. They had the whole property to roam. They never left each others side. Or mine. For years after Samson was gone she lived in the house. And we would take long goat walks. Her teaching the next generation how things worked. If you were talking to me, she would be the goat that was standing by my side, as if she was in the conversation too.
This is her first day here. She lived in the garage and slept in the kennel. 10 days old. I was too afraid to leave them outside. Alone. Now when the kids are born I toss them out almost immediately! My my.... how things have changed.
She was without a doubt the prettiest kid I've had. She has milked 8 years of her 11. Thousands of pounds of milk. She became a Superior Genetic goat a few years back. Which isn't an easy feat. Sadly, I only have 3 offspring of hers. Every year I would sell her kids because I knew what she could do and could produce. If anything, I regret not keeping more of her offspring.
When she died I laid her head on her stomach the way she normally enjoyed sleeping and that is how i buried her. And though i've had death here before with the full size goats, she is the only one I've buried here.
Thanks to Delilah every time I sell milk, eggs, cheese, honey or soap it's all because of this little girl and what she inspired me to do.
She will be missed.
Here are some links to other stories about her and growing up.
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