May you rest in the greenest pasture Racey

Sadly we had to put Racey down on Monday. This will have been the first milk goat I’ve ever lost and I was very emotional but was able to hold most of it in until I went to bed. Then I allowed myself to wallow in this great loss for as long as I needed to.

The thing is Racey was such a people goat. She loved humans. We bonded easily when she was a crazy little kid. She had the potential to be herd queen but with Sally doing a fine job at it, it looked as if she was perfectly content with second, always heading up the back. I would watch her taking care of business with the younger ones and she was always second in line for milking.
It’s worth saying she was a very affectionate goat and loved being petted and kissed and she loved having her cheeks scratched. During the winter, the milk parlor is freezing so I would tuck my nose in the crook of her back leg and rest my head there. It was so warm and soft and the smell was so pleasantly earthy and sweet. She seemed to enjoy taking care of me.

Deciding to put her down was not a hard decision. She was suffering. I knew it, Linda knew it and Kasey knew it, and deep down I know Racey knew it. I had to rest in the knowledge that I had tried everything. That letting her struggle like this would not be honoring that goat I described before.

I’m grateful to Dr. Denham for all he has done to try to help. He did a necropsy on her so we could make sure we knew what we were dealing with and could prevent this from happening with any of the herd. It turns out she had emphysema which was secondary damage from pneumonia she had gotten last year in August when I was in Seattle helping my family with my sister. It looked like she recovered but It never really went away and there is no way to treat an animal with emphysema.

The good news is none of the herd is in danger. Everyone else is healthy and strong. I'm really going to miss that goat, so I'm just trying to think of the rest of the herd. They know shes gone, I can tell. She was a powerful force in our lives and we'll notice her absence for a long time to come.

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