Old Friends

I need to catch Dallas Alice, my old Texas goat. She has a prolapse and I need to push it back in. Doing it alone is next to impossible. Even if I caught, haltered her and tied her to a fence I couldn't do it with her swinging back and forth. She prolapsed last year before she gave birth, but this year had a normal pregnancy and birth. Now the prolapse is back. I need to wash it off and push it back in. I will give her a shot of oxytocin, the idea being that a uterus that is contracting won't prolapse. We'll see if it works. She should not be bred again, either. I can see I will have a pasture of mature, non-breeders. I don't ship out sheep after I have gotten lambs from them, or if they have grown older and have a defect of some sort. That wouldn't be a very nice thing to do to a friend. For all I know they could be on a ship to Saudi Arabia, where they would have their throats cut in some religious ritual! No thanks! When a sheep or goat joins my family they are here for the duration. They give wool and mohair forever and are always contributing to the farm somehow. And they are still pretty to look at, in a matronly sort of way. Could I ever part with my Lonnie? She is a Bluefaced Leicester/Romney cross and has a rather odd looking face, but is very beautiful to me. She developed a big lump on the side of her neck, which the vet says is no problem and can't be operated on. Her ears are torn from old ear tags that got caught on things. Lonnie has absolutely beautiful lambs. She got sick about midway in her pregnancy this year and lost her lambs. I was lucky I didn't lose her. I think she will join the retirement flock soon, too.