Well, we do the bulk of our vet care here simply because most vets won't fool with small farm animals. But today I came home to a little angora goat who'd been gored by a cow. I started to look at how to stitch him up & was not comfortable with how much potential damage there was to his abdomen. I called our great vet up in Pendleton. She said she'd squeeze him in so Al & I ran him up there. I packed his belly wound with gauze & he rode quietly on my lap the thirty minutes to the vet. She took a look at both of his wounds & decided the whole procedure would be easier if her were sleeping. She gassed him, did a good exam of belly & brisket wound & then clipped some damaged skin, sewed the rest back together, sold me an entire bottle of an excellent prescription antibiotic & we were on our way. I'm sure the goat is not worth what we spent at the vet's but we couldn't do anything less for him. And we do like to keep a good relationship with our vet - she is very reasonable as far as cost & tries to be supportive of us as small farmers.
The little fellow is now in a small, safe pasture with a buddy to keep him company. We'll give him antibiotic shots for the rest of the week & then take out the stitches in about two weeks. He did well with the car trip, snuggling his head into my shoulder all the way home. I'm sure this was not fun but we were relieved the injury wasn't worse.
The cow, who was already in trouble for opening the big chest freezer where we store grain, is now in another pasture with her calf!
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