Thanks to Little Guy, mama-to-be Toka awaits the blessed event

Two weeks ago, after much procrastination, we took Little Guy, the only buckling born on the farm last spring, to the Windham Butcher Shop. We had held off because we worried about Charlotte’s reaction–anxiety that turned out to be completely unfounded when she declared that she thought he would be delicious, and then asked if we could make his pelt into a blanket for her bed. (We shipped the hide to The Tannery, in Lander, Wyoming, and were told we could expect it, tanned, in a few months, just in time for Cha Cha’s birthday.)

I don’t think our children are exceptionally bloodthirsty, but I do think that they understand that the meat we eat was once a living being. Though they’ve seen us plucking chickens and have been prepared for absences from the barn, we’ve shielded them from the actual moment of slaughter, which is something I think we’ll continue to do until they ask to be present. We haven’t shielded them, however, from the reality that the flesh we consume had a life and a death, and that it’s our responsibility as farmers to make sure that both are humane. The girls are kind to our animals, eager to help in the barn, and anxious for the arrival of spring babies.

And so they were delighted when we discovered, just days after Little Guy’s departure, that Toka’s udder was beginning to fill out, and that her wide belly was wiggling even more than the usual gurgles of rumination. Because of Little Guy’s prolonged stay in the barn, the kids were together into sexual maturity and, well, nature took its course. We never saw Toka go into heat, so the date of conception is a mystery, but we’re expecting a baby goat or two in the coming weeks. In the spirit of the French: Little Guy is gone, long live Little Guy!

posted by margaret Goats breeding, goat, meat, pregnancy, slaughter