We have a new kid!

Bismillah R-Rahman R-Raheem

My 11yr old is so excited. When he went out to feed his goats tonight one of them didn't come to greet him. Upon investigation we have our first kid. I was skeptical when he convinced Amu to let him buy a couple of young goats. Amu is raising goats & sheep for halal slaughter. DS#2 loves getting his hand dirty. He went to help Amu at the farm a few times before buying his billy & 2 nannies. I've asked his what his intentions are regarding these goats, but we're not quite clear what he is going to do other than raising them. Amu has suggested milking the nannies after they deliver. That should be interesting. I've tasted goat milk before. It must be an acquired taste, I haven't acquired.

We raised 3 bottle rams about 2yrs ago. Hubby says the kids asked for the rams but I remember it being his idea to get them. We went to a farm to slaughter for Eid Al-Adha. The farmer's wife took me & the kids to the lambing barn to see the new babies. They're really cute when they're tiny. As they got bigger they started butting on us. They were unpredictable & I started to hope hubby would slaughter them for the next Eid Al-Adha. When Eid came he couldn't do it, wouldn't even sell them. He had let them have free run of the back yard most of the time. When they were little it was funny to have them follow you around or climb the picnic table, or eat from the crab apple standing on their back legs. When they got a little bigger it was funny when they came to the fence we had to put around the patio to keep them from drooling on it, to have their noses scratched. One of them I remember would make a 'chuf-chuf-chuf' noise as I scratched his nose. They got into trouble too. We had one dog which we tied to keep him from running the sheep. The sheep would go to him & stick their noses in his food bowl, & drink his water. Eventually we penned the sheep to keep them away from the children. One night DS#1 went to feed the sheep. He found one down & the others injured, with the dog in the pen. We had to slaughter all of the sheep that night due to their injuries. It was a difficult night but alhamdullilah. We sent meat home with the brothers who helped process them & filled our freezer to.

Alhamdullilah those dogs are gone now. Insha Allah we won't have any worries about the new kid being attacked in its pen. It is still cold here & Nanny is keeping her kid inside the shelter most of the time.