linus.

the sweetest goat you’d ever meet.

i reached out to a farm to inquire about linus and shay. i wanted to buy them as a gift for my husband since he wanted fainting goats. i was offered seven for a price i couldn’t turn down. all in tact males. you can imagine why it took me so long to offload the extra males. anyways, orion was claimed by my mom. sully grew on my husband and honestly for good reason. he’s the softest one and so unproblematic. dusty is signed up for the freezer. shay and jett had to go together since they ended up being bonded. freddie was originally supposed to go, but then we swapped it to linus and then decided against them both, because they were bonded. but, linus gave us good reason to keep him after his first scare. let’s get to his personal story now that you have the back story.

the short story of linus.

the story of linus.

(his story should have lasted much longer and this is condensed. this does not include all of the good with him)

shortly after we got linus in may, after mother’s day. memorial day weekend, we went out of town for two nights and had our normal routine with the “ranch hands'“ who help us care for the animals in their temporary home. these “ranch hands” are my mother and a sweet friend. much love to them because it would be extremely difficult without them. they help this go smoothly.

when we got back, we noticed linus was a little off and his poop was drastically different. we immediately quarantined. i did research and reached out as soon as possible to some goat friends. the herbal remedies weren’t working and i needed something stronger. his famcha was around 2-3. (this is a guide to allow owners to gauge if goats are anemic) i reached out to red feather farm and she sent me a solution that helped him within days. i am beyond thankful for her.

we got him better and all good. we were in the clear. he was rented out to clear some land and he did fantastic. we moved him from pasture clearing to our backyard (along with the rest of the males) and they stayed here at home until we got reported to the city and animal control. we now had 14 days to get them back to their temporary home or we would be fined. rip to not having to mow the lawn. sorry to my husband.

when we moved him back, he escaped everyday to go eat the grass around the enclosure with freddie. but they would always go back in.

he was doing good.

we went out of town for a night again, and came back to him in unwell condition. he ran up to the fence for feeding time, we gathered grass and trees for them to throw in the enclosure. he was chomping them up like usual. i went to go give some love to some of the other goats while alex walked around gathering more. it was that moment, i knew something might be up with linus. i noticed he laid down to eat. everyone else left the area and he just laid on his front two legs munching. immediately took him and freddie and moved them to my mom’s backyard. the feed store was closed and i was set to go the next morning to go dose him.

i got a call from my mom that morning saying they looked good. both of them were eating and drinking. got another call and he was lying down, but he started to lay his head down. i got dressed after the first call and was loading up to go see him to administer his medicine. i wasn’t even ten minutes away.

i remember opening her backyard gate and just sobbing. i didn’t even get to walk up to him before i knew. the very thing i was hoping to avoid, happened. i recall just going to him and petting him. over and over. apologizing i didn’t get there fast enough. for failing him. for not being there when he passed. i remember apologizing to freddie who was just standing over him. he wouldn’t even let me pet him that day. we asked him if he wanted to go back with the other goats and he turned around and walked away so quickly, it was a no brainer he didn’t want to. (we brought winston over so he wouldn’t be alone). i sat on the ground sobbing for awhile. mind empty. just pure sadness and grief taking over. it’s not often my mind goes blank.

i don’t think i moved him for a good ten minutes. i just sat petting him. eventually, we got him up on our trailer and we started to dig a hole for him. while alex dug, i removed his horns. originally we were gonna keep his whole head and mount it, but it wasn’t the day to do it. ultimately, we decided against that. too many factors we couldn’t work out that day. my mom and uncle ended up, suggesting that we could cremate him and it seemed feasible. not to mention, less time consuming than alex continuing to dig a hole in that heat. removing his horns was easy, thankfully. a sweet friend lent us her new handsaw. works very well if you’re wondering about it against goat horns. (removing his horns prompted a post about disbudding and removing horns, so expect that - you will see why i am against it) along with his horns, we gathered some of his goatee hair (my favorite part of him) and his collar is now retired.

we took him back home. later that day, we took him back to my mom’s to toss him in the freezer when we got the okay from the vet that he could be cremated. she was going to drop him off for us.

i got him back a few days later and felt a little better. till this day, i can’t discuss this story without crying. linus’ death hit me harder than any farm death has. i legit cried while typing out this blog. freddie is now doing better. he seems to act more like linus and that is a bit concerning but we’ve been checking him often and he’s not showing any poor signs. winston and him are good buds now. i’m happy they are friends. there’s still days i call freddie, linus. it just stings when it happens now. i used to interchange their names because they are so similar in various ways. i hope that never changes.

please enjoy the journey of linus through these photos. they are some of my personal favorites and forever hold a special place.

trigger warning: dead animal.