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110 lbs

From the “unpredictable life at the farm” department. This time, weighing a goat.

We’d been trying to get on the vet’s schedule for days. The vet just texted that we’d have to weigh the goat (Rosebud) in order to prepare the right dose. Luckily, we don’t have to be very accurate.

How can we do this? Lots of suggestions. Seesaw? We found a sturdy stand to use as a fulcrum. We could put known weights (students) on one side until we balanced the goat at the same distance on the other side.  Hmm, hard to imagine Rosebud standing calmly on her side of a moving plank while we adjusted our student combination on the other!

Ok, the vet said we could take certain goat measurements and make an estimate from them. Not terribly accurate, & we’ve never even seen that done. With Google, could we get close enough?

Better idea! In a corner of the hayloft, there was an old spring with a hook at the end with enough heft to weigh animals. We’re guessing it was last used in the 1940s, when Millstream was a dairy. The spring & scale were rusty, but the students could read the numbers with a bright flashlight. Is it still useful? Let’s see: the scale, for known weight Maya, registered about 5% higher than her actual weight; for known weight Fred, it also registered about 5% too high. Not accurate but precise. Hurrah!

Now, make a harness for Rosebud, taking care to use padding to make it as safe & comfortable as possible. Hang the scale high enough off the ground, organize people to lift & hook –

“3,2,1 lift.”

“Ok, she’s on; flashlight people, take the reading.”

“115 lbs.”.

We reported 110 lbs. to the vet.

Practical life, mind & hands, problem solving, empathy for Rosebud, barn chores done dependably - & only five minutes shaved from the first class of the day. What a great bunch of adols!

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