Pippin & Simile: Love Makes a Family

Pippin in a truck bed during her rescue.

There are clues to her history, but no one know for certain. She was found wandering Skyway, the main artery that runs the length of Paradise Ridge. She was loose in Magalia, an area of thick Ponderosa pine forest. Unknown persons corralled her and brought her to a family nearby who had two 4H male Boer goat kids.

We named her Peregrine Finale, Pippin for short. Peregrine means traveler; Finale to signal that this is her last destination.  She’s an elderly cashmere goat, bred for fiber. Judging from her teeth, and lack of them, she could be from eight to eighteen. When she arrived at her foster family, they thought she was close to giving birth. But as days passed, they realized she had already birthed, probably while feral. One can only guess the fate of her kid. Was it stillborn, due to her poor condition? Taken by a predator? Did her previous owner keep the kid and turn Pippin out? We’ll almost certainly never know. Pippin’s right ear has two holes for eartags  and a gap slicing through them. She has probably been to auction at least that many times.

Her health and overall condition were very poor. She was malnourished and in considerable pain from arthritis, and also foot rot, probably resulting from being confined in unclean conditions. Her sought-after fiber was matted, dull, and full of debris. She was generally passive and disliked attention, especially touch.

The day before Pippin was scheduled to be transported to The Seldom Herd, we welcomed an eight week old doeling, one of triplets who had been rejected by her mother after she nearly drowned in a vat of used motor oil. Moving past how someone let that happen…She had recovered but she was a runt for her mini-Nubian/Nigerian Dwarf mix. Her first humans had made lemonade of her situation and named her Olive. Rather than have her forever identified with one terrible moment of her life, we renamed her Simile, because I’m a poet, she’s a Heinz 57 of a goat, and it’s just a fun word. (Having trouble? Rhymes with Emily…)

Actually, at first, we thought to call her Seti, after the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, because, with her comical ears and long, dark eyes, she looked a bit alien. But then we’d spend her whole life explaining that to people, which never happens with the name Simile…

We start new recruits in our nursery pen, no matter their age. There we supervise visits with one Seldom Herd goat at a time, as well as the Livestock Guardian Dogs. Goats often arrive with little experience with dogs, much less guardians the size of bears who are excited to smell up new recruits! As they adjust, we supervise them in the outer pen and try to control their discovery of the electric netting, so that they don’t mistake a dog or goat for being the cause of their unpleasant jolt.

We planned to pair Pippin and Simile with each other, hoping Pippin would adopt Simile, replacing the relationships they’d lost. It worked wonderfully! Pippin had a lot of healing to do so she was reserved at first. But we addressed her hooves, matted coat, and arthritis pain with our vet and, with ongoing pain killers, Pippin really pepped up!

The two are now mother and daughter and will be together to the end. Little runt Simile has grown long-legged and tall. Pippin seems to be aging in reverse. She’s become the queen goat and actually runs up and down the slope with the others, joining in goat games. She’s a dutiful monarch to all our goats, but Simile is her heir apparent. Pippin still ushers her to the best browse and swipes her horns to shoo others away. They bed down together. While I comb, cut and brush out Pippin’s fiber, Simile is a satellite around us, nibbling on my shirt and restless for her turn!