Worst Day Ever: Banding and Burning the Boys

The deed is done. All I can say is, OUCH!!! If the goat boys could wear trendy t-shirts instead of just nibbling them, they would be sporting "Life is NOT good" and "Walk in Pain." They were so excited to get out of the van at their original home, frisking around the barn while the breeder and her husband gathered supplies - like a fun field trip!! First there was a quick tetanus booster shot for each, no problem, then time for banding. Sure, says Emerson, I'll sit on your lap, Mr. Nice Man, while the other human uses a metal tool to stretch a tiny rubber band big enough to fit over my...AAAGGGHHH! Elliot!! Run for your life!! SNAP - too late. And we are now the proud owners of 2 banded bucklings, hopefully to stay sweet and stink-free instead of turning into smelly rutting bucks, but what a cost!

And without even time to recover (get it all over with), the iron is hot and three of us hold them each down as the scurs are burned off forever, I am worried Emily might pass out from the goat shrieking and sound of sizzling flesh but I cannot let go to look back at her because if the goat moves, who knows where that iron will hit? It was truly awful but at least it's done. They cry all the way home. So do I.

What else I learned: Aspirin is the only OTC approved painkiller for goats. Although goats will eat almost anything, they will not eat an aspirin, no way, no how. Not crushed up in a bottle. Not even if you hot glue it to a tasty animal cracker. (I will not eat it, Sam-I-am...)

The van, the garage and even the basement (adjacent to the garage) smelled like burnt flesh for days. We babied the boys and gave them tons of extra love. In a week or so they started dancing again. The pain faded quickly. The shrivelly sacs, however, would hang on for weeks...