I have no idea where the thing could have gotten to. I used to count them at night but when they got bigger, I stopped. The one rouge buck was nursing off anyone who wasn't looking so I stopped worrying about him but apparently, he must have pushed off the doeling. My husband, son and I searched the whole woods, even on the other side of the fence. IT'S A WHITE GOAT. HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO SEE? I'm thinking maybe she got weak and hid somewhere and dyed. I hate this sometimes.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

Answers

Dee...is this the "bottle-baby" that you were feeding?? Are you sure that she's really lost? Sometimes baby goats, sheep and calves have such a strong survival instinct that you'd have to actually STEP on them before you discovered where they were hiding!! I know 'cause it happened to me once with a calf. We searched all day once for this calf and finally gave up when it got too dark to see. At 5 a.m. the next day...there he was, right beside momma cow!! If she was doing so good I'm sure that she hasn't gone off somewhere and died. Wish I could help ya search....!!

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

Bummer, Dee. How frustrating to not know for sure. Hope Marcia's idea holds true for you too.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

Are you kidding? That bottle baby knows I'm Momma and wouldn't go anywhere. You should see how fast she runs when she sees us. She's eating grain now.

No, this was part of a twin. There were two sets of twins that looked EXCATALLY alike (actually, one twin, one triplets. The third was bottle baby, Billie.) One boy and one girl each. Well, when you have 8 babies running around, and 4 look alike, you kinda loose count. Again, I'm not sure when she disappeared but hopefully you are right (I thought about that myself and looked in every knook and cranny I could find. Under brush, stumps and boulders. Even in the other pens in case she got through somehow)but it is raining and colder then it was out now. Sigh....

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, Dee, that she just reappears sometime!! Maybe the lousy weather has convinced her to "lay up" somewhere and wait it out!!? Keep us posted...

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

Oh Dee I hope everything turns out OK. Hopefully she'll hear momma goat calling for her and find her way home. I'll be sending lots of positive thoughts your way today. :)

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003

Dee. I hope it works out for you. I only had four lambs, and it was hard to keep track of them. The little things move around so fast!

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003

Dee...did you find your baby yet???

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2003

Unfortunately, no. It's driving me crazy because you would think you'd find at least a piece of her somewhere (as gross as that sounds) So, she's gone...

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2003

Aw gee, Dee...I'm sooo sorry to hear that :-(!!! I've "found" baby goats that have died, but to have no evidence as to what actually caused the death has to be so hard. It must have been a BIG predator to not leave any signs!!

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2003

That's sad, Dee. But Marcia's comment made me think . . . . what/who is a bigger predator than a human? Hmmmmmmm . . . Anyone in your neighborhood have a penchant for roast kid?

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2003

I thought about that too and my one neighor who "could be the neighbor from hell" kept a goose once until I called and asked if she had seen it "Oh, is it yours? I didn't know" But I'm sure that she would know that I would know she has a goat. Another thing is, these goats are going to the sales when old enough. I don't let them get friendly so I don't get attached. It would have been hard for anyone to catch.

I did smell something starting to rott in the barn but turned out to be a mouse in a trap. Isn't it amazing how bad those little things can smell?

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2003

Oh, another thing. I spent the whole day (in the rain) running the rest of my electric fence. The whole perimiter is now electified so nnothing can sneak in or out (unless they really wanted to) As I wwas putting up the (brain fart...the plastic things that hold the wire so it doesn't short out...)insulators on trees and posts, one doe looked at this mess I had made (I ran the woven wire through a rock wall. I couldn't make a hole, they were too heavy) She puts a foot on and climbs right over! Then another one follows. Did you know you can beat the hell out of a goat and they really don't care? Finally got them back over and it is on the side that neighbor lives on. I called but they weren't home. I think they are away for the long weekend (hide the evidence?)

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2003

We just now lost BOTH our geese (sob: my friends of six years!) to probably the coyote that we saw run through our pasture yesterday (also probably the culprit for the lamb). I hadn't noticed the geese gone; these days everyone is on pasture and they make themselves scarce when laying, although that phase is mostly over). We walked and cleared all the perimeter fence again. Also put railroad ties and 6x6s in low spots. The fence zapped me a couple of times and it was not fun. Still keeping the lambs up where we can see them, though.

I don't keep goats anymore. Much as I love 'em, they do tend to seriously abuse fences. Best wishes to you.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2003

what a bummer, sheepish. I'm so sorry for your losses! I surely don't miss THAT part of farming! always so much heartbreak.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2003