We got a ton done today. It is good that our marathon week of working before Dave leaves is almost over - I am so exhausted my joints and, well, my whole body hurt every time I move. I have got to get some rest soon. I should be able to slow down once Dave is off for Minnesota on Sunday. In the mean time, I think he is almost ready to go and the ranch is almost ready for me to be able to handle it on my own.
Today we got up and were out working by 10. We went down the the barn and sexed our geese so that we could determine for certain that we had two mated pairs and we could slaughter the rest. (Sexing geese involves pinning them down, covering your finger with lube and pushing it into their anus until either a penis or a vulva pops out. Lovely work.)
We killed the first goose and got him ready to slaughter. Then Jared showed up to work and we turned the butchering over to him while Dave and I did other jobs. First I walked out to the field where four of the geese were hanging out and identified our experienced, mated pair for him. We planned to shoot the other two. It was really quite horrible. We shot one with a handgun (because we thought the rifle was overkill) and it would not die. It took four holes in its head and we finally had to chase it down and slit its throat. We were both just sick about it. Making an animal suffer like that was never our intention.
In any case, Dave and I then went to work on the turkey pen while Jarred slaughtered the first two gese. We spread mulch, put up a perch and moved a large, unused shed in for shelter. Put up some better fencing in places and basically got the place ready for the turkeys to move in once the grass seed takes. That took most of the day.
When Jarred got done with the two geese, we got out the rifle for the next one. She was hanging out with our old mated pair (she was their daughter) and we shot her and killed her right away. The really awful part of that was that we should have slaughtered her months ago - as she got old enough to mate, she formed a bond with her father and mother. We didn't realize she was mated to him too. He ignored the other goose we shot, as most will do unless the injured goose is its mate. But this one was different. He saw her go down and rushed to her, spreading his wings wide to shield her from Dave, who was walking over to retrieve her. He kept frantically trying to push her into the water, where she would be safe from him, but she wouldn't move. Oh, it was awful. Next year we slaughter the youngsters before they reach mating age. I can't do that to the geese again.
We wanted to slaughter one more and get ourselves down to 4 geese. But the last one was the big gray one that followed us around for months, trying to bond to us. He has gotten so friendly. I couldn't do it. Neither could Dave. Jarred came to the rescue there and said he would take it home as a pet. So that made me feel better about that.
By the end of the day, we were exhausted beyond belief. Jarred did the feeding for us and Dave and I ran to town for boxes to get him packed tomorrow. He leaves Sunday morning.
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