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I came home from work Friday expecting to see everyone in their place. The goats in the field grazing along with the chickens, the dogs in their pen anxiously waiting my arrival, and the cats napping lazily in the hay loft. Instead I walked into a nightmare. The dogs got loose and one of them killed two of my doelings. Peanut was already passed when I reached her, but Hazel was breathing barely. I knew their was no saving her at this point, but held onto hope just in case. I loaded her in my car and drove 80mph to the vet. She was fading quickly in the back seat of my car and when we arrived at the vet she passed on the table, with her passing went a piece of my heart. Waylon, our dog of 2 years, was the killer. We have never had an issue with him attacking any of our animals, but he was slightly more aggressive than our sweetheart Lilah. I rehomed him to a family with no other animals this morning hoping that he lives out his life happily with them. We are still mourning the loss of our little ones 
We have lost 3 goats in one month. One to cocci and two to this attack. I was traumatized and it was so so easy to blame myself...I should've double checked the fastenings on the dogs fence, I should've known Waylon wouldn't do good with the goats, if I wouldn't have stopped at the grocery store on my way home this might not have happened. I learned that this will only cause me more pain. It was so easy to just want to say "I can't do this anymore, no more farming for me", but then my papaw reminded me that quitters never win and winners never quit...so here I am...still mourning, but determined to carry on. We, as farmers, easily slip to feeling like failures when we lose an animal, but it happens. The more that you have the more you will lose...it is nature. I hope that no one reading this will ever find themselves questioning their abilities as animal owners, I hope that you will stand tall and carry on with your farming knowing that you did everything you could and that if it was meant to happen it is going to happen anyways. Unfortunately, that will never take away the pain, never erase the memories of seeing your babies slip away. Wishing peace and comfort to everyone
We have lost 3 goats in one month. One to cocci and two to this attack. I was traumatized and it was so so easy to blame myself...I should've double checked the fastenings on the dogs fence, I should've known Waylon wouldn't do good with the goats, if I wouldn't have stopped at the grocery store on my way home this might not have happened. I learned that this will only cause me more pain. It was so easy to just want to say "I can't do this anymore, no more farming for me", but then my papaw reminded me that quitters never win and winners never quit...so here I am...still mourning, but determined to carry on. We, as farmers, easily slip to feeling like failures when we lose an animal, but it happens. The more that you have the more you will lose...it is nature. I hope that no one reading this will ever find themselves questioning their abilities as animal owners, I hope that you will stand tall and carry on with your farming knowing that you did everything you could and that if it was meant to happen it is going to happen anyways. Unfortunately, that will never take away the pain, never erase the memories of seeing your babies slip away. Wishing peace and comfort to everyone 
