So long, Pan

I just got back inside from letting the goats out to graze.  I put each of them on a 20'ish foot long lead and hook them to either a tree or a t-post around the property where I can see them from either the front of back porch.

Since their pen has basically been grazed to little nubs, the only grass they get is hay while they are penned up in there, so I like to put them out on fresh grass for several hours every day.  Saves on hay that I would otherwise have to buy and it keeps some of the weeds at bay.  

Anyways, I had clipped Nettie, Annette and Chop Suey to their respective grazing areas and then went to get Pan.  He gets really anxious when he sees me coming with the lead rope and today was no different; except that the bastard rammed the gate when I stooped down to unclip the bottom hook and knocked me down.  So does the jerk go running to the does or greener pastures?  No.  He just stays far enough out of my reach so I can't get the lead on him and starts rearing up as if to butt me.  We play this game for a few minutes and then I finally just kneel down and wait for him.  And the &%@!* comes charging at me.  I figured he would try this so I was ready.  Jumped on the bugger and wrestled him to the ground, which although he is a Nigerian Dwarf goat, was no easy task.  After many scrapes, loud cussing, having the wind knocked out of me (I'm still panting as I type this) and finally getting him in a headlock and on the ground, I got the leash clipped to his collar and gave him a good crack or two with the end of it.  (Go ahead, call PETA on me, maybe they'll take him away from me.  I wish.)

I still put him out to pasture even though I told him that he didn't deserve it.  Sweet, green, lucious grass is only for good goats, and he is definitely not a good goat.  I'm finished wrestling with him.

We inherited Pan and Ishtar from a friend of ours that was moving and no longer wanted to keep goats.  Ishtar was Nettie's first kid, and Pan was a buck that my friends got suckered into taking for free.  After two years of putting up with Ishtar's Iron Fist Herd Queen antics, I finally had enough and sold her to another goat farm.  After Ishtar was gone, the goat yard was much more peaceful.

Now Pan's time has come.  I only have Nettie and Annette for my milking does and I think that they will be our only milkers for a while.  We just don't need all the milk, nor the expense of keeping additional goats.  Since we will only be breeding two does for the near future, it no longer makes sense to keep a buck goat, let alone a buck goat that I was this close to putting a bullet between it's eyes just a half-hour ago.  I don't care that he's a purebred Nigerian Dwarf.  I don't care that he throws beautiful kids.  I just want him gone.  And I'll just deal with having to find a buck for Nettie and Annette come breeding time in the fall.

A friend of Paul just got a LaMancha goat and her two kids and said he may be interested in Pan for Mini-Mancha kids.  I'm going to tell him what a stinker he is and let him decide if he still wants him.  If he doesn't want him, I'm going to put an ad in the freebie paper for a Buck Goat.  Cheap.