The Rural Voice, 1995-09, Page 28especially her tiny feet which will
not, cannot get warm. I hold them
tightly until my hand begins to numb.
It's like clutching an ice cube. She
shivers and shivers, her eyes distant
and cloudy — gazing off into a place I
cannot go. "Don't die ... don't die."
Her ears, too, like freezer -burned
lettuce — limp and cold as the grave.
I rub them and rub them. She is
resigned, I think, to dying. I will not
let her, lift her head up now and then,
gently shaking her, reminding her not
to.
Several hours later my mother
returns. Her hands are blue and she
does not speak. She lifts the kid's
head and look into her eyes.
"Niobe okay?"
She nods wearily and hands me a
feeding bottle filled with warm
colostrum — yellowish, smelling
vaguely of custard. I pry the
trembling jaws apart, pour a little
down the unresisting throat. The
viscous fluid runs out of the sides of
her mouth, and I wipe it away with
my hand.
"I don't suppose any of the others
...?" There is no need for more. I
can tell by my mother's face that
there were no survivors. Three dead
kids, and this shaking creature in my
arms. My mother's eyes are red -
rimmed and full of bitterness — she
will carry this for a time, like a self-
inflicted gash. Too late. Her fault.
"Go to bed, Ma. I'll keep her
warm."
She lost two more goats that
winter. Apollo, a gentle, asthmatic
breeding buck whose overworked
pipe organ lungs gave out one day in
February, and one of Hectate's kids —
a half -formed brother to three healthy
does.
Niobe's little survivor was named
Photike — Greek for "light". She
thrived eventually, rallying after her
first two or three days on the edge.
She lost the bottom half of both ears
to frostbite — the stumps sticking
straight out like the handles of a
mountain bike. She had a hopeless
overbite. Her coat was cream
coloured and soft as silk, but she
would never do as a breeding doe.
Too many flaws.
In the spring, she was loaded into
the truck with four of her
contemporaries and delivered to the
slaughterhouse, Butcher's. Meat
Processing Plant. Any way I write it,
24 THE RURAL VOICE
Glasvan Great Dane Sales Inc.
MERRIT
See the great line of Merritt
trailers at our display at the
International Plowing Match,
September 19 - 23, 1995.
Ayr, Ontario
Fbr further info call 905-625-8441
NORTHERN
CATTLE
SALES
Thurs., Sept. 7
Fri., Sept. 15
Sat., Sept. 16
Thurs. Sept. 21
Sat., Sept. 23
Wed., Sept. 27
Thurs., Sept. 28
Wed., Oct. 4
Thurs., Oct. 5
Fri., Oct. 6
Thurs., Oct. 19
Sat., Oct. 21
Sat., Oct. 21
Sat., Oct. 21
Wed., Oct. 25
Thurs., Oct. 26
Wed., Nov. 1
Wed., Nov. 8
Tues., Nov. 14
Thurs., Nov. 16
NETWORK
F MMMM/
SEPTEMBER
10:00 am.
9:30 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m.
1995
Wiarton - 2000 Yearlings
Manitoulin - 2000 Yearlings
Galetta - 500 Yearlings/300 Calves
Wiarton - 2000 Yearlings
Selby - 500 Steers/Heifers
Thessalon - 1500 Yearlings
South River - 900 Head
OCTOBER
Lindsay - 500 Yearlings/Calves
New Liskeard - 1000 Head
Amos - 500 Head
Hoard's Station - 500 Head
Selby - 500 Steers/Heifers
Thessalon - 700 Calves
Galetta - 800 Head
50% Yearlings/50% Calves
Lindsay - 1200 Head
70% Yearlings/30% Calves
Wiarton - 1600 Calves
NOVEMBER
Lindsay - 1600 Calves Calf -Start
Lindsay - Mixed 75% Calves/25% Yearlings
Simcoe/Dufferin - 1200 - 1500 Head
Hoard's Station - 800 Head
Market Information 1-800-461-9622
24 Hour Toll Free
.1_91 "FOR YOUR 1995 QUALITY FARM FRESH
<-1,4004' FEEDER CATTLE — LOOK TO THE NORTHERN
CATTLE SALES NETWORK"