Today, Hubby and I were de-worming the goats (giving the meds to kill parasites) when a rather strange thing happened. Here is how it went.
We were running a little late, coming home from town and needing to de-worm the goats and sheep before Jon had to leave. Which meant that I'd be on my own if we didn't get it done then, or we'd have to put it off.
I ran into the house and got the Ivermectin off of the shelf with the syringe to draw it out. And not thinking, I left the cap on the bottle. It's about an inch diameter so I thought I'd just throw it in my sweat shirt pocket. As things got going and we began catching the goats and dosing them, our oldest doe named "Row" affectionately after my Mom's pet name, began pestering us. We'd dosed her and moved onto the other does. But she kept after us, following us around and nosing in. Anyone who knows anything about goats knows that they're masters at this!
I thought it was really weird, because I'd expect that the de-wormer is really bitter (we give it to them on their tongue) and thought no one in their right mind would want to eat it. Although Row is a strange sort. She's probably 10 years old, which is a pretty good age for a goat. They do live several years longer, but does that have had kids every year slow down pretty young. She's a little slow poke who has a nose for trouble. I just didn't think she'd actually do something as stupid as reach into my pocket and grab the cap and make a mad dash for the other side of the lot! I didn't know she could move quite so fast. But she did, as if she knew what she'd done was bad. I ran after her, leaving poor Jon holding a squirmy, squawking little goat ready for his dose. I sensed that there would be trouble. Now usually, our goats will realize that something plastic is actually not edible and will drop it and go on. But I guess Row is just too far over the hill. Or something. Because instead of dropping it out of boredom, and the realization that "Hey, I can't eat this!" she tries to swallow it! So here I am, holding her in a headlock because she's positive that this is some prized delicious morsel that I want to steal for myself, and I'm sticking my whole free hand in her mouth trying to fish the cap out. Now, I've stuck my hand in a goat mouth before and it left me hurting. Their back teeth are really sharp. And very powerful. Hence the ability to grind up twigs and small branches. But this time, luckily my hand is fine. And Row didn't swallow that danged cap!!
Now that I know that Row has lost her marbles, I'll be much more careful! =)
Cheers!!
