3rd Times A Charm

First off, I hope all you mothers had a fantastic Mother's Day and was treated like a Queen having all your chores taken care of.  We had a great time and pulled off a spare of the moment BBQ over at me mom's. It was a great time.

You will find this funny, me not so much.
 The newest arrival to the Mini Farm is our new blood line, Buck Owens III. He is a $250.00 goat, before you grab your chest, let me explain. You see, complacency will cost you money. When doing the same thing over and over again and thinking you know better tends to lead to relaxed security and lack of wisdom.

Here at the Mini Farm we have always prided ourselves on a great system of securing our animals, coming or going. We have a "three gate" system to where one has to be closed before another is opened. Some would call it a "sally port". We have had mishaps in the past where if it was not for this system in place, the animals would have been lost. But after a while when things are running like they should I tend to get relaxed and a gate will remain open here, pulled closed and not locked there and so forth.
About two months ago we drove all the way out to Paris Texas, about a 2 1/2 hour drive, to buy a little buck for a new blood line, his name was Buck Owens I (BO I). We brought him home, put him in the isolation pen and within thirty minutes somehow he disappeared. We looked for days but couldn't find him. With gas and all he was about a $100.00 loss. We have never had anything get out of that pen but "BO I" did and was gone. I had his shelter too close to the fence and he jumped on it and over. That is the only thing I can think of, my fault.
Saturday we found another little buck "BO II" just a couple miles from the house and paid $75.00 for him. I held him in my lap while the wife drove us home. She pulled into the back yard and asked me if she needed to shut the front gate, I said no. We walked through another open gate, that did not get shut, and then to the pasture gate. The wife cracked the gate, I pushed the goat through instead of taking him into the pasture and setting him down. Once he hit the ground he did a one eighty and ran right out all the open gates and was gone. It's not a straight shot either. It was like he knew right where to run and try as I did, I could not get to the front gate in time. The wife also gave it her best by chasing after him in flip flops but in the end, he was gone.
 That's two we lost and at this point we were done. The wife was as hot as a fire cracker more on the situation than me, but it was my fault and I took full credit again. The funny thing was, I didn't get upset. I popped open a beer and sat on the tailgate of the truck. I couldn't help but laugh at what just happened as I waited for the wife to walk all the way back. She chased that thing almost a mile. Heck, I didn't know she could run that fast. She didn't find it as funny. I guess I could have at least gone and picked her up.
I wanted to sell the whole herd because if that was the last buck we were going to waste money on then why were we just going to feed all the nannies without them dropping babies. It just was not practical.

Yesterday the wife found "Buck Owens III" on Craig's List not too far from the house, about a thirty minute drive. With gas and all he was about $75.00. Add in all the others and it puts him costing a whopping $250.00 bucks.
I am happy to say he is still in the pen, spent the night and is happy and doing well.
You should have seen all the precautions we took and the safety measures that were in place just to make sure this high dollar goat got to his destination. It was like we were hauling a load of gold or something. 

I have raised goats my whole life and have never been as foolish as I have on this. Rookie mistakes that happened due to complacency, being lazy and just stupid that ended up costing three times what it should, but I got that high dollar buck and if he does what he should, the there won't be a BO IV anytime soon.

On another note, lot happen this weekend with the chili cook off and some project work, plus some other little things.
This gives me something to post about for the rest of the week. I don't think you will want to miss it.

Have a great Monday and I will see ya on the flip side.
MDR