Salome appeared to be like any other goat kid when she born, but as warm weather
came on we noticed that she was having trouble breathing. We treated her for
pneumonia, but she still had trouble breathing when out in the sun. She started
falling behind the rest of the kids and they began beating her up whenever she
tried to get into the shade of the hutch. So we took Salome and turned her out
into the yard so she could lay under the shade trees. We also turned Bilbo, the
fat Nigerian Dwarf kid out so that Salome would not be lonely. I would put
both of them back in the kid pen every night.
It was around this time that we noticed Salome had a thumb sized indent on the right side of her chest, so I began to baby her. She was given lots of T.L.C and I
took to calling her "Maymay". She was still getting a bottle although the others
were drinking out of a bucket, Maymay would refuse to take the bottle if
someone besides myself tried to give it to her.
We had the Vet out to do some work with our cows and we decided to have her
examine Maymay. she told us that Maymay's heart was twice as large as it should
be and that she had scar tissue on her lungs. She told us that Maymay would not
make it through the winter. Maymay proved the vet wrong.
As she got older it began to look as if not only her heart but her brain
was double sized. She would go with me to put the ducks away every night, and
as soon as the last one had gone through the gate to the duck pen she would
slam it shut with her head and then ask me for a treat. One day she watched me
opening grain sacks while I was feeding the kids their grain.after that when
ever she wanted grain she would pull on the strings and open a grain sack for
herself and Bilbo. Whenever we got a new lode of hay in, Maymay would go and
sample it. If the hay met her standard she would make a pig of herself, if not
she would spit it out and go find something better to eat.Maymay Would come into
the parlor at milking time and stay until milking was done, so that she could
have all of the grain she wanted.
One day when the apples on the tree were ripe she discovered that some had fallen to the ground so she spent an hour or two under the tree eating apples. Later that same day we found her laying on the front porch moaning. After that she would not eat apples.
Maymay would often follow us to the house.One day near Christmas we had put out a door decoration with little bells. Maymay followed us to the house and watched us open the door. She decided that she could open it if we could. So she grabbed the door knob in her mouth and twisted it.When that failed to get the door open she grabbed the ornament by one of its bells and began to chew it off. While she did not get to come in the house, she did get some attention because I took her back to the hay shed.
Our small garage door opened by a handle which was pushed down as did the door leading from the garage to the house. One day Maymay was with me when I came into the house through the garage. A few hours later while we were eating dinner we heard a little triptraping sound and in came Maymay looking for me. Another time when I went down into the garage to fetch something from the deep freeze there was a mess in the garage, boxes tipped and stuff scattered around. When I saw the mess i yelled "who did this" and Maymay rose up out of the rubble and said "meeeee". She got a hug and a kiss for that one. When she was a yearling we took her
to the county fair. She enjoyed herself and had people feeding her leaves from
a near by tree. She earned a blue ribbon and got her picture in the paper. She
also spent the night standing guard over me as I slept in her pen. Every time I
would wake up she would be standing and watching out into the night. When she
would see that I was awake she would lay down and go to sleep as if it were my
turn to stand guard.When the next fair rolled we brought only cows because the
fair did not have a dairy goat show. As we loaded the trailer with the supplies
we would need at the fair Maymay cam running and stayed near us trying several
times to get in so that she could go again.
I staid overnight
with the cows and when I got back Maymay Ran to greet me tail wagging and a
large smile on her face. Mom told me that Maymay was depressed and would not
eat while I was gone. She would often throw herself into my arms all happy to
see me when I returned after being gone for more than one day.But there also
times when she would take one look at me when I got back and stomp off with her
nose in the air.
By the time Maymay was two the dent in her chest
was fist sized. She had a hard kidding that spring and delivered a single dead
buck kid. Maymay did poorly after kidding and had hardly any milk, so we dried
her off and she began to get better. She was almost back to her normal self
when she started to get sick again she was hardly eating and her heart began to
fail. She died of heart failure on May 24 at the age of two years, two months,
and two days.
Animals can teach us so much. When an animal loves you it is with an unconditional love and they are always eagerly waiting for you to return when
you go away from them.
That is a picture of God's love for us He loves us unconditionally. No mater what we do or how far we get away from He is always waiting for us to come back to Him.
came on we noticed that she was having trouble breathing. We treated her for
pneumonia, but she still had trouble breathing when out in the sun. She started
falling behind the rest of the kids and they began beating her up whenever she
tried to get into the shade of the hutch. So we took Salome and turned her out
into the yard so she could lay under the shade trees. We also turned Bilbo, the
fat Nigerian Dwarf kid out so that Salome would not be lonely. I would put
both of them back in the kid pen every night.
It was around this time that we noticed Salome had a thumb sized indent on the right side of her chest, so I began to baby her. She was given lots of T.L.C and I
took to calling her "Maymay". She was still getting a bottle although the others
were drinking out of a bucket, Maymay would refuse to take the bottle if
someone besides myself tried to give it to her.
We had the Vet out to do some work with our cows and we decided to have her
examine Maymay. she told us that Maymay's heart was twice as large as it should
be and that she had scar tissue on her lungs. She told us that Maymay would not
make it through the winter. Maymay proved the vet wrong.
As she got older it began to look as if not only her heart but her brain
was double sized. She would go with me to put the ducks away every night, and
as soon as the last one had gone through the gate to the duck pen she would
slam it shut with her head and then ask me for a treat. One day she watched me
opening grain sacks while I was feeding the kids their grain.after that when
ever she wanted grain she would pull on the strings and open a grain sack for
herself and Bilbo. Whenever we got a new lode of hay in, Maymay would go and
sample it. If the hay met her standard she would make a pig of herself, if not
she would spit it out and go find something better to eat.Maymay Would come into
the parlor at milking time and stay until milking was done, so that she could
have all of the grain she wanted.
One day when the apples on the tree were ripe she discovered that some had fallen to the ground so she spent an hour or two under the tree eating apples. Later that same day we found her laying on the front porch moaning. After that she would not eat apples.
Maymay would often follow us to the house.One day near Christmas we had put out a door decoration with little bells. Maymay followed us to the house and watched us open the door. She decided that she could open it if we could. So she grabbed the door knob in her mouth and twisted it.When that failed to get the door open she grabbed the ornament by one of its bells and began to chew it off. While she did not get to come in the house, she did get some attention because I took her back to the hay shed.
Our small garage door opened by a handle which was pushed down as did the door leading from the garage to the house. One day Maymay was with me when I came into the house through the garage. A few hours later while we were eating dinner we heard a little triptraping sound and in came Maymay looking for me. Another time when I went down into the garage to fetch something from the deep freeze there was a mess in the garage, boxes tipped and stuff scattered around. When I saw the mess i yelled "who did this" and Maymay rose up out of the rubble and said "meeeee". She got a hug and a kiss for that one. When she was a yearling we took her
to the county fair. She enjoyed herself and had people feeding her leaves from
a near by tree. She earned a blue ribbon and got her picture in the paper. She
also spent the night standing guard over me as I slept in her pen. Every time I
would wake up she would be standing and watching out into the night. When she
would see that I was awake she would lay down and go to sleep as if it were my
turn to stand guard.When the next fair rolled we brought only cows because the
fair did not have a dairy goat show. As we loaded the trailer with the supplies
we would need at the fair Maymay cam running and stayed near us trying several
times to get in so that she could go again.
I staid overnight
with the cows and when I got back Maymay Ran to greet me tail wagging and a
large smile on her face. Mom told me that Maymay was depressed and would not
eat while I was gone. She would often throw herself into my arms all happy to
see me when I returned after being gone for more than one day.But there also
times when she would take one look at me when I got back and stomp off with her
nose in the air.
By the time Maymay was two the dent in her chest
was fist sized. She had a hard kidding that spring and delivered a single dead
buck kid. Maymay did poorly after kidding and had hardly any milk, so we dried
her off and she began to get better. She was almost back to her normal self
when she started to get sick again she was hardly eating and her heart began to
fail. She died of heart failure on May 24 at the age of two years, two months,
and two days.
Animals can teach us so much. When an animal loves you it is with an unconditional love and they are always eagerly waiting for you to return when
you go away from them.
That is a picture of God's love for us He loves us unconditionally. No mater what we do or how far we get away from He is always waiting for us to come back to Him.