A Close Call

This morning Cameron and I were awoken at 4:30 AM to the screams of one of goats. We were up in an instant opening windows to look out back. In another instant, we were running for the backdoor and watching a coyote dash out of the goat pen. And in a dark spot on the ground was London's pygmy goat, Murray.

Given I failed to post and write at all in 2017, I never introduced Murray here. We purchased him in June of 2017 and the second we asked London what she wanted to name him, she instantly responded with "Murray Christmas!"

Murray and London had just spent this past Sunday at our 4-H Club's goat group working how to show the goats. And it had been a nice afternoon for the two of them. Away from his normal herd, Murray had looked to London for guidance, just as he should.

As he lay there motionless this morning I froze in my attempts to run to him. I feared of what I was going to find and see. How would I be able to tell my daughter that her pet was brutally murdered in the night.

Luckily, when I got to him he made some noise again. I felt around and he fought at me a little, felt wet, but not sticky. And when Cameron shown a light on him, Murray popped up and ran to the other goats. Upon further inspection we could tell he was unharmed physically. Definitely scared and in shock but otherwise alright.

We walked the perimeter of the pen and discovered where the coyote had gotten in. Cameron has fixed it as best he can but this was too close a call for me. Unlike the other goats, who I admit I love like pets, Murray truly is a pet. So tonight, he's going to be put up in a crate with towels in the backyard with the dogs. And I'm thinking he will be sleeping in the crate most nights. I also hope this will help him and London bond even more in preparation to fair. I have been worried that he hasn't bonded to her well enough (but we also have 6 months until fair.)

When the girls got up we told them what had happened. They were relieved everyone was alright and wished that daddy had killed the mean coyote. This is definitely one part of farm life I don't think I will ever get used to. And we will be taking more precautions on securing the pen and warding off coyotes in the future over this next weekend. We're expecting one of our females to have kids by the end of February.