The farm is quickly running out of room to keep freeloading critters. At least, that’s what we told ourselves when it came time to decide on what to do with our bonus billy goats and roosters.
We have had two Nigerian Dwarf billies in the Grove since last Spring. They were born here and we simply never made them leave despite the fact that a herd the size of ours really only needs one male for breeding.
They managed to get a couple of the mamas pregnant – so their kids are now part of the baby boom going on in the pole barn. These boys, though, have overstayed their welcome and will not be getting busy with the ladies in the next season. Alas, it’s time for them to go.
Sunday morning, Aaron loaded the boys into a kennel in the truck so that they could be delivered to the sale barn in Linwood, Kansas. The farm auctions there run every two weeks and this is the magic weekend where we finally got our butts in gear.
Since he was making the drive to the barn anyway, it looked like it was time to part with our excess flock of roosters too. These guys are beautiful, but also loud, argumentative and harassing our poor ladies to kingdom come. We’ve needed to get them out of here for awhile now – and this became the day.
I always hate seeing animals leave our home. During their time here, they really do become part of the family. It is, though, part of the business of running a farm. We simply shouldn’t keep feeding, sheltering and caring for expensive animals that are a detriment to the rest of the herd or flock simply because we like them.
In their adventure, the boys contributed to the first bits of profit for the farm this year – each of the roos sold for $7 while the pair of billies brought in $300.
Goodbye, boys.