Missing Willow Farm

Wikipedia states culling is the process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria. This is done in order either to reinforce certain desirable characteristics or to remove certain undesirable characteristics from the group.  Any farm with goals and standards must eventually get rid of an animal who has traits that you don’t want passed on to the next generation.  You could, of course, keep said animals as pets but then you’ve got the potential to end up with your very own petting zoo that’s costly to feed and maintain.   If there ever was a goat with undesirable characteristics, it’s this one.  She’s one of the first ones we purchased when we started with goats three years ago.  She’s got a great lineage and was expensive, and hated to be milked.  Her favorite trick last year was to wait until the milk pail was full, then put her foot in it.  I’m sure the neighbors think I’m a foul mouthed witch, because I would curse her loudly on a daily basis.  That was last year.  This year, we didn’t think she had been bred until she started showing signs of pregnancy very late in our kidding season.  I guess she played hard to get.  We discovered her with a little doeling in the barn, her other little girl was crying out in the pasture where she’d abandoned her.   By the next morning, she had kicked them both to death.  Wikipedia further states that for livestock or wildlife, the process of culling usually implies the killing of animals with undesirable characteristics.   If my husband had a gun on him when he discovered those kids, he would have put her down.  Instead, while he was burying them, I was driving her to the livestock auction.  She could be providing someone with goat hoof flavored milk somewhere, or she could be in someone’s freezer.  One farm’s cull may end up being another’s pride and joy… or dinner?