03/20/2022
Just A Sunday Afternoon Adventure Story:
As we were driving down a wooded lane, on the way to church this morning, Nate suddenly and excitedly yelled out, “There’s a sheep lost in the woods.” Anyone who knows Nate knows that you generally don’t question something he sees or smells, no matter how crazy it seems. He then added, “it looked pretty young, we should check it out”.
We are farmers, so there is a lot of practicality in our animal-rescue decisions. We know from several past experiences that sheep are nearly impossible to catch when frightened, but none of us had the heart to leave a little lamb on its own, in a forest full of predators, and on a Sunday, no less! (After all, Even Jesus spoke of returning for the little lost lamb, so who are we to do differently?!) So, we turned around to check it out.
We arrived to find a young-looking, possibly yearling aged lamb peeking through the brush at us. It was quickly obvious it wasn’t friendly and wasn’t in an emergency situation, so we decided to let a neighbor know and head on to church.
We checked again when we returned home, and he was still there, only this time, we got a better view. And boy, did I feel stupid! It wasn’t a young lamb at all, but a middle-age buck goat! Ok, so he was white and about the size of a Nigerian Dwarf goat, so easy mistake. This meant we had a better shot at rescuing him though.
Always up for adventure, the older kids and Sean baled out of the van and Ruth, Kyla, and me headed home for supplies. I leashed up one of our young does (seriously, I’ve never known any buck to resist a pretty girl!) and grabbed a bucket of grain (most boys can’t resist food either!)—as well as some less “churchy” clothes for Mikayla, who was wearing a dress (not that it usually matters to a farm girl!).
I returned to the location, Mikayla quickly changed, and we got my doe and the grain across the creek.—I forgot to mention the only way to get near this guy was to cross a wide, fast flowing creek via stepping from rock to rock, and climb a 10 ft wall of mud with thorny brush at the top! Perfect goat territory! While they proceeded to lure the buck, I drove down the road looking for possible owners (and met a few further out neighbors along the way!). No luck on my part, so I returned.
Shortly after I returned, Mikayla had managed to set up a scenario to tempt the untamed buck closer. Anyone who’s known Mikayla for a while knows she has a reputation for earning the trust of wild animals and catching fleeing critters. She has caught and tamed wild cats, called bluebirds to land on her shoulder, and is probably the best chicken catcher on the planet! She can out-dive even the best athletes when an animal is involved! And her reputation held. She suddenly went from a very still crouch, flew through the air (and a couple of briars) and grabbed the bucks front leg (unfortunately realizing she had also grabbed a thorny vine with his leg). She knew from experience it was her only chance, as these critters are smart enough not to allow you close enough for a second attempt if you fail, so she held on. That buck exploded violently into the air, bucking and rolling like the best of rodeo beasts, with Mikayla just holding on for dear life (mostly his, even though he didn’t understand that)! Her thorn-pricked hand was leaving streaks of blood down his white fur, but she still held on. By this point, anyone within half a mile probably thought a cougar was eating this goat alive, based on the terrified guttural screams coming out of his mouth, but she held on.
For the record, we never want to stress or frighten an animal, but the simple fact is that this little goat would likely suffer a painful death by predation if we didn’t rescue him, so sometimes you just do what you have to do!
She finally managed to get up on her knees and catch the goat mid-leap with her other arm, wrapping him in a bear hug, and allowing him to calm down. This whole process took about 4 very long seconds. And then all was quiet. Until Mikayla, still hugging the mature buck, yelled out “Definitely a buck! He stinks!!!! And you had to bring my GOOD jeans?!”
She managed to get a makeshift leash on his neck (as a backup restraint—not to actually lead him anywhere), and Nate took over leading our heavily pregnant doe away from the strange buck (we tried to limit any contact since we don’t know anything about this boy and they can transfer diseases). We then had to semi-hog-tie the buck to control his wild sporadic attempts to escape, as Sean, Mikayla, Nate, and I then proceeded to form a human chain and pass the buck along down the steep, muddy drop across the creek, up the far side hill, and finally into the rear of our van. As Mikayla got him settled in, he proceeded to give her hand an angry, powerful head but as a thanks for her efforts.
After a couple more unsuccessful attempts to find an owner, I posted it out on Facebook and we took him home. Mystery buck is the first official resident of our new horse stalls (still keeping him distant from our mob of goats), and is a freeloading mouth to feed. (I’m a little short on hay if anyone has some Alfalfa to spare?!)
So, to close this little afternoon adventure, if you live in the Creal Springs area, or know anyone who does, please spread the word that we have a goat and would really like to find his owner!
