The Answer

The Answer
Why do we go out to the cold barn
Before the sun has risen?
Why do we leave our warm beds
When others are still in dreamland?

Why do we always miss family functions
Because we’re too busy feeding the kids?
Why do we plan our outings around
Milking and bottle times?

Why do we stack so much hay in the fall
When we could be reading a novel?
And why do we spend our money
Buying grain and supplies for our goats?

One may say there is no reason
For all of our hard work.
But there is an answer to these questions
That others may ask us.

There is no other feeling like
The ecstacy when a baby goat is born;
When it enters the world
And attempts to walk.

There is nothing to compare to
The times when you can go
And sit in a pen full
Of curious babies.

Those who have no goats
Will never know how it feels
To have a kid nuzzle your face
And fall asleep in your arms.

Those with no animals
Will never feel the joy
That floods in as a buck or doe
Wins their permanent championship.

People without a goat
Will never feel the satisfaction
When a doe produces well
And earns her milking star.

Those who laugh at us
Have never felt the helplessness
And heart-rending sorrow as a goat
Dies in it’s owner’s lap.

They have never felt the pain
As their muscles scream abuse
After stacking three hundred bales
Of alfalfa in under two hours.

Those people who mock our efforts
And say that we are crazy to waste our time
Have not witnessed God’s creation
In the way we have.

They do not understand what they are missing
But now you have and answer to tell them
When they ask why we waste
Our few years on earth this way.

Tell those who scorn us
That we do this because of love.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
And so do our precious goats.

Lessons to be learned from a goat:
Never miss a meal and
Live life from day to day.
Stick up for each other even when out-matched.

Love your master and let them love you.
Snuggle together when it’s snowy and cold.
Always produce as much as you can and
Give of it freely to others.

Never forget when someone has stood up for you,
And always care for your family.
When in danger, stay close together,
And take advantage of life’s opportunities.