Good bye Buddy

Dear Friends,

Well as I continue to be on rest from surgery life keeps right on happening.  I found out last night that my Jr herd sire Goddard Farm The Kansas Legacy died sometime in the late afternoon.  I have no idea what happened or why he is dead but he is now passed over the rainbow bridge.

Buddy and I on our first meeting the day I brought him home.

I now have quite the herd over the rainbow bridge and as a farmer's daughter I know that things happen and that the animals we have are just ours to care for and nuture until God calls them home.  But even with the knowledge that they are only mine for a short while my heart always breaks when I lose one and don't know why it happens.  The past couple years I have lost several and some have been due to my lack of knowledge and some have just been on the I don't know why list.

This was our first doe Goddard Farm Black Orchid

BO as we called her developed a brain tumor that I fought hard to save her from for over 6 months. She developed seizures and would just drop to the ground and begin banging her head against anything.  Several times she would do this in my arms.  My vet and I tried several treatment plans but in the end I had to conceed she was not going to get better and that she need to to go home.  So I let her leave us for the Rainbow Bridge in a save and humane way.  The tears that were shed that day and on many days since have broke my heart and my son Dillon's heart.

Here is a picture of Whimiscal Kids Miss Emmeline

Emme as we called her got the tip of her teat tore off during her first freshening.  I managed to get her healed up from that and proceed to finish milking her out for the season after her first kidding.  Then right after her second kidding she developed pnemonia (which at the time I didn't vaccinate for but we do now).  Several days of antibiotics and numerous lact ringers of fluid later she pulled thru the pnemonia and was doing well on her second laction when around the begining of July she developed mastitis in the teat that had been damaged.  She was just finished being milked on the evening of the 4th of July when I went to give her a dose of penicillin for the infection.  Apperently I nicked a blood vessel with the needle and the penicillin entered her blood stream.  She died in my arms instantly.  I did not know goats were so sensitive to penicillin and therefore we try to never use it on our farm anymore for the goats.  So Emme is over the rainbow bridge in my herd waiting as well.

Here is a photo of our pride and joy DJ's Creek BO's Foxy Roxy

Roxy was the only daughter BO ever gave us and we had a challenge getting her to a full term pregancy but in 2017 we accompished that goal when Roxy popped three kids out like tic tacs and went into a fabulous milk production.  She was doing everything Dillon and I had dreamed of and I thought she was heading to make some wonderful records and events in our herd.  However less than 45 days into her lactation she had a slight cause for concern in her scc (which is our way of dectecting mastitis when it starts).  We started her on the vets recommended treatment plan and she went into what I beleive was milk fever.  Acting quickly I got the lactate ringers and cpkm into her system and kept her in the barn and warm.  She made it til evening feeding and was alive but not doing fabulous so we gave her another round of lactate ringers and cpkm.  However the meds didnt work the second time and she died in her sleep.  So the next rock star from my herd went to the rainbow bridge.

I have more baby goats that were not even weeks old and boer goats out of Dillon's herd and 4-H projects up in heaven than we can count.  So as I titled this blog Good bye Buddy this is just a part of the greiving process and then the farmer comes out in me and I realize I have 2 choices.  1. Just quit and sell of everthing I own cause then my heart wont break from the loss again or 2. I pull on my farmer's daughter shell and realize this is what God Made a Farmer's Daughter for...........

And on the ninth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said,  I need someone to have a kind heart full of compassion and a spirit as free as a wild mustang and as old as time.  So, God made a farmer’s daughter.

God said I need somebody to sit on the armrest of the tractor while her father runs the disc, get up before school to feed the animals and listen to her teachers  lessons, bring the cattle in from pasture, help her mother cook supper and then go to town to her high school FFA meeting and stay up past midnight working on homework. So, God made a farmer’s daughter.

I need somebody with a strong mind and gentle soul. Strong enough to hold a kicking calf to tag, yet gentle enough to calm a heifer delivering her first baby and get it to nurse. Somebody to call in cattle by yelling  boss , lighten the mood between tired farm hands after a long day, come home to hug her mother and help with her siblings and set the table and clean the dishes. So God made a farmer's daughter.

God said  I need somebody who gets knocked down by a horse and stands up, dusts off the dirt from her jeans and the tear from her eye and climbs back in the saddle. Someone to return to the field after school to plant seeds, drive from field to field with only a farmer s driving permit and a phone book to sit on. And who, during harvest season, will sacrifice nights out with friends and days by the pool to help her dad cut crops, sweep out grain bins in triple digit heat, deliver meals to the field, and finish a forty hour week by Tuesday noon. So, God made a farmer’s daughter.

God had to have somebody patient enough to halter break a new colt and spend countless hours training a show steer for months to prepare for the county show, and still be understanding enough to accept the way of life as she loads him into the buyer s trailer, gives him one last pet, and wipe the tears off her face as she watches the headlights disappear down the road. So, God made a farmer’s daughter.

God said,  I need somebody strong enough to build fence, heave bales and yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend to the calf who lost his mother and his foot to that winter’s frost and who will stop the combine for an hour to mend the baby deer hiding in the wheat field despite knowing her father will be yelling on the two-way to keep the machinery running. So, God made a farmer’s daughter.

I need someone who won't back away from a challenge and will face her fears head on and learn from failures and not give up. Somebody unafraid of getting dirty and cleans up well before going to church and volunteer for the town s pancake feed. And who keeps involved in her community and knows her priorities and stays disciplined enough to know her chores must be done before the evening activities. So God made a farmer’s daughter.

It had to be somebody who’d keep on the straight and narrow, not cut corners, and stay hard-working and determined and restore faith in her generation into the minds of elders. Somebody to speak, share, and advocate for agriculture and farmer’s rights &and show the world the truth behind the lies of animal activists groups. Somebody not easily discouraged and mindful of others and who d bond a community together with the heart of sharing and compassion for thy neighbor, who’d laugh and then sigh and then tell her dad with bright eyes and a proud smile, she wants to spend her life supporting what dad does. So, God made a farmer’s daughter.