DON’T LET LIFE GET YOUR GOAT

 When we first moved out here to the country it was decided that the best area of profitability for the farm would be the raising and selling of goats or at least that is what the boss thought. I did not approach the raising of goats with ambivalence for I was far beyond that point and my feelings now bordered on hatred. I had two issues with goats both of which had never been fully resolved. The first incident was when I given a picture of a goat and my mother standing beside it. This one picture had filled me with so much terror that I chose not to keep the picture but rather sent it away so I would not have to deal with it. If any animal could put the fear of God in me then it would surely be a goat.

My second encounter with a goat was when my husband had decided to go in halves with another guy and raise a goat. This incident happened near the Y2K scare when we lived on four acres. This particular goat was a musty smelling billy goat with a propensity for causing problems. Since we did not have a fenced in area for him, we tied him to a tree temporarily. Quick as a flash he chomped his way through the rope and ran to the nearest trashcan to look for something more appealing to eat then the standard goat food. Invariably he always did this when I was the only one to deal with it. I would chase him and grab what was left of the rope and attach a new piece to it. That in itself was quite a feat; you have to contend with the smell that was enough to knock you over…that is unless the goat knocked you over first with his gargantuan strength. I had asked my husband to get rid of the goat but he felt an obligation to keep it.

I began to pray and tell God that something needs to be done about this goat. I feared that it was getting the best of me. To my utter surprise the next morning as I was about to face another day with the likes of this goat, I heard a rumbling from the sky and before long we were in the midst of a full fledged thunder storm. A clap of thunder had rattled my morning cup of hot chocolate enough that the liquid slide down the side of the cup. I looked outside to see if any damage had been done and there in the middle of the field laid the goat. He had gotten loose again and got struck by lightning. Now I make no claims that God had intervened on my behalf for my husband tells me it is not in the nature of God to do that…but still…?

So here I was eight years later dealing with round three...and not just one goat...but this time I would be called upon to deal with forty of them. I can tell you from experience that if you do not deal with something in your life and choose to ignore it, it does have a way of showing up at your doorstep again…and again…and again. Mine were to be delivered that very afternoon via a truck. The only ray of sunshine that I had about the whole thing was the fact that a deal had been struck with the boss. The boss would supply all the finances for raising the goats. In turn my husband would do all on his own time and we could keep half the money when the goats were sold. Sometimes one does need an incentive to cope with something you really have no inclination to do.

The truck came and the goats reluctantly made their way into the pasture prepared for them. The boss wrote out the check in payment for the goats. The ink on the check barely had time to dry before it happened. I was standing a few feet from the fence line taking in the view of the goats and reminding myself that at least this time I would be rewarded for my efforts if I would just see this thing through. I coughed and cleared my throat from the trail of dust the delivery truck left in its wake. Out of the corner of my eye, a single goat was running full speed ahead and he looked like he was headed for me! I jumped out of the way...I dare not get in his path…he shot through the fence. Not only did he get through the fence but because goats have a herd mentality he also took thirty-six other goats with him. In a matter of minutes the heard had been cut by more than 2/3. Talk about fleeting profits!

At this point with the majority of goats heading off for parts unknown, it was up to us to seek them out and bring them back to the herd. Fliers were placed at stores in the area offering a reward for the return of the goats. Endless hours were spent riding the quads in search of the illusive goats. They were finally spotted on a neighboring farm hiding out in a holler covered in a thicket of cedar trees.

Someone told the boss that pushing the goats out of the holler was an easy task if you manage to sneak upon them. Thus is that we got a knock on our door at 2 o’clock in the morning for Bruce to participate in a commando raid to capture wayward goats and march the escapees back. Armed only with a flashlight they rode the quads near where the goat was last seen. At night they come out of the holler and bedded down on the highest ground to see any predators who seek to get them. Needless to say the goats saw and heard the roar of the engines approaching and headed back to the holler. Hollers are treacherous for humans for they have no sure footing, but for the goats it is a safe haven. They climb the steep walls of the holler with a grace and ease to behold. It would be fascinating to watch them if it had not been for the frustration factor between the pursuer and the pursued. The men came back four hours later in defeat cold and bleeding.

Another plan of attack would be in order. At this point it had become a war, it was no longer just the money that the goat represented but it was a matter of pride. You just can’t let the goat get the better of you; after all we can’t be outsmarted by a goat! The next plan was to get a “professional” herd dog and let him scout around and do the work for us. This time when the men went out on their maneuvers they did so in broad daylight. They loosed the dog and like a soldier he scouted the area and found the goats. He lay down on his belly and inched his way toward the goats. He did all of this with such precision that you knew this had been inbred into him. When he got close enough he raised himself up and barked and ran around in circles to contain the goats. The goats were afraid to move; the dog just kept circling with occasional glances back at the men as if to say, “okay, now what do I do?” The men could not get the goats because the dog would not give up his position. The dog became another barrier. It had become the proverbial Mexican standoff. Another idea had gone awry.

As the months passed winter began to set in. The greenery that the goats feed off in the wild was now covered in a white blanket of snow. Food became scarce for them. The wayward goats were just close enough that from their vantage point they could catch glimpses of the remnant goats in our pasture. They could hear the rustle of the feedbags as my husband filled their troughs with substance. They heard the splash as their thirst was being satisfied. How the other goats longed for that place of being taken care of. After a while the renegade goats inched their way closer and closer to home until one day they stood by the fence seeking to be let back for they now knew where their protection lay.

I have since thought about the goats and how they represented a problem area in my life. Sometimes when problems arise the first things we try and do are to buy out way out of it, if at all possible. If that fails then we figure that if we can somehow just sneak up on it under cover of darkness we can fix it and nobody needs to know about it. If that fails then we hopefully can get someone to stand between the problem and us. Mind you this does not fix the problem it only contains the problem for a short while until the frustration presents itself again. It is only when we get to the point where we are hungry enough to do something about it once and for all that we begin to take the steps you need to find that place of peace and serenity. Then and only then can you go on and become a blessing to someone else.

Love, Gracie   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grace’s heartrending true life story, Family Secrets is a gripping page-turner.
You will marvel at the way God can turn even the most horrendous tragedies into a victory.
                               MORE INFO HERE:
  http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61566-133-6