HIndel Kidz 5: Joy To The World
Hindel Kidz 5
Joy To The World
Jack had been talking about getting a registered girl goat. Elmer was the only registered goat Jack had. The triplets were not registered because Porsche wasn’t. If a goat is registered besides being 100% pygmy, it also meant it could be sold for more money.
Sven and Grace were always up at the farm so they were thinking about getting a goat of their own. They had decided they wanted to get a registered girl. Sven started looking around for goat farms that had baby girl goats for sale. Out of all the farms he e-mailed only one responded. Stoneybrook Acres down in Hamilton, Ohio. This was in early November 2005.
One of the goats for sale was gray (like Elmer) and named Irish Lace. Sven found out Irish Lace had been bought right after she was born, but then the lady could not take her because of family problems. Sven and Grace thought about buying Lace.
A week or so later, Ann, from Stoneybrook Acres, e-mailed Sven back and said the lady had fixed her problems and wanted Lace again.
“I have another goat who is Lace’s cousin named Silver Brocade,” Ann said. “Her nickname is Katie. She is a very nice girl.”
Sven was wondering if Ann would give him a deal if he took two goats instead of one. When he and Grace decided they would probably buy Katie Ann said,” I have some people coming from Indiana to look at two other goats and I will let you know which goat they don’t take incase you would be interested in that one as well.”
When Ann e-mailed Sven back, the people from Indiana had chosen the goat she called Snickers. They also took Katie. Katie walked up to the girl’s sister and nibbled on her pant leg and that girl just had to have her, too.
“I have one more baby left. Her name is Almond Joy,” Ann explained.
“I would like to see a picture of her,” Sven replied.
About two weeks later, he received a picture.
“Almond Joy is a nice girl and has good color,” Ann replied.
She was chocolate brown, with white running through her hair and solid dark brown legs. Since they had not had the best of luck so far, Sven and Grace said, “We will take her. We will come and pick her up after Thanksgiving.”
They wanted to make sure they had the money. Almond Joy cost $250 dollars. Sven and Grace each paid half.
Hamilton, Ohio was down near Cincinnati. It was a three-hour drive from Wakatomika Creek each way. They arrived at Stoneybrook Acres around 11:00am. Sven had thought about bringing a crate to take Joy home in. Finally, he just decided it would be easier to put her in the back of the car and let her walk around. Ann took them out to the barn and there was large pen with about thirty girl goats in it. Joy and another little baby were in that pen also. Ann picked up Joy and showed her to them.
“I like her,” Sven said.
“Me, too.” Grace answered.
They went up to the house to fill out the paper work.
Ann told her husband, “Let her hold Joy. She’s her baby now.” Joy was heavier than Grace expected.
Ann gave Joy some medicine to make sure she wouldn’t take home a cold. When they started to head home, Joy cried for around ten minutes and then she stopped. If they stopped somewhere for lunch they would have had to go through the drive thru.
“Welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?”
“Baa!”
“Would you like to super size that?”
“Baa!”
Joy was almost four months old. She was the third triplet born on August 15th, 2005. She was still pretty small. For the first couple of weeks, Sven and Grace put her in a pen by herself because they didn’t want the other goats to hurt her and Ann said she would be in love soon. She said not to let Joy have babies until she was two years old.
Jack liked Joy because she was a different color. She was the only brown goat up there. Ann had never trimmed her hooves so it was the first thing Sven did. They were already starting to fold under. It was like cutting fingernails. It was said trimmed hooves make a happy goat. Jack was also worried because Joy’s hair was so short and thin and she should have had her winter coat by then. She ate all the food they gave her.
Jack fed his goats a mixture of molasses, bread, apples, corn and hay. He also gave them pellets like rabbits eat. They figured Joy wasn’t getting enough food down at Stoneybrook Acres. When you have to compete with thirty other goats who are stronger and bigger than you, it had to be hard. Sven and Grace got her a green collar. Sven wanted to get her a black one with spikes on it!
They went up to spend time with her everyday. Ann didn’t give the babies a lot of attention.
“I don’t want to get too attached to them since they are going to be sold anyway,” she said.
Grace didn’t care. She was attached to the triplets as soon as they were born. She loved those baby goats. It didn’t matter if they were going to be sold one day or not.
Sven and Grace wondered how long it would take Bree and Savannah to realize there was a new goat out there. It had been eight months before they even knew about Elmer. One day, Savannah came running into the house with this big smile on her face asking, “Where’s Dad? Where’s Dad?”
She’d been outside and seen Joy in the pen.
“ I am going to show goats at the fair like Bree when I get old enough,” she said.
She must have thought Joy was her Christmas or birthday present. Later on when Grace was out there petting Joy, Savannah came back out with this hangdog look and said real sad, “I like your goat, Almond Joy. She’s cute.”
Elmer realized there was a new girl goat up there. One day he started chasing Joy around the tree. Sven picked her up while Elmer kept running around the tree.
“Where’d she go? Where’d she go?” he wondered.
Joy sat in Sven’s arms and just watched Elmer run around like an idiot.
“You dummy,” she thought.
