Ann and Friends - Annie

22. Annie

I met Annie today while on my spiritual vacation at Diane's place. Patricia and I slid down a hill and climbed over a fence to meet her. Annie is a kid. A kid is a baby goat. Annie is a few days old. She is not very strong. Her legs are still weak and wobbly. Although getting around on wobbly legs is hard, Annie pushed her way through all the other kids and lambs to meet me first. She pressed her body against me. She sucked my fingers for milk. She is not very bashful like some of the other kids and lambs. Annie reminds me of Bossy. What a character!

Annie is called a feeder goat. A feeder goat is motherless. Annie lives with other feeder kids and feeder lambs in a special pen. Patricia must bottle-feed Annie and the others several times a day if she wants them to survive. However, Patricia has so many kids and lambs that she is too busy to bottle-feed Annie much. So Patricia is trying to get one of the other mother goats to feed Annie. Most mother goats will only feed their own kid. Patricia is hopeful that she can pick the right foster mother for Annie. Patricia gave a mother goat grain to eat while Annie sucked from her teat. A teat is a nipple. I think to myself, "Mother Goat, you ought to share your milk with Annie." Perhaps Annie will be allowed to drink from this mother goat for several weeks. Then she will grow up to be big and strong. I have a notion that Annie will survive. She is determined to make it just like me. She won't give up.

Taking care of a herd of feeder kids and lambs is such a big job for one person. Unfortunately, Patricia cannot afford to hire someone to help her with all her animals.

Annie Questions

1. Who is Annie?
   (a feeder goat)
2. What is a feeder animal?
   (a motherless animal, an animal you have to feed with a bottle to keep alive)
3. What is a kid?
   (a baby goat)
4. What is a lamb?
   (a baby sheep)
5. Why are there feeder calves, lambs, and kids?
   (They have no mother.)
6. Who cares for the kids and lambs?
   (Patricia)
7. Who is Diane?
   (She owns the place where Ann goes on her spiritual vacation)
8. Describe how Patricia gets a foster mother to feed a motherless goat.
   (She feeds the mother goat grain or oats in hope that the mother goat will let the baby goat drink from her nipples. If the baby goat drinks several times then maybe the mother goat will adopt him or her.)
9. What does Ann think about all the animals Patricia owns?
   (She thinks Patricia has a big job taking care of all her animals. She thinks Patricia should sell some of her animals or get help with volunteers.)

Return to Ann and Friends