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- By Natalie Pitfield
Of all the creatures we’ve had the privilege of caring for the humble goat has been a firm
favourite of all of us.
favourite of all of us.
We started out with two little ones. After that, we had a number of rescues. We adopted two chained goats and fell completely in love with Fudge, a Saanen cross. He was the sweetest, most loving little man and would bury his head into your chest for cuddles.
One day, there was something wrong with his eye. It was cloudy and red. I called the vet, and they diagnosed a scratch that had become infected. It was serious, and he could potentially lose his eye. The treatment was a special ointment and injections of antibiotics and anti-
inflammatories.
Fudge was great with the jabs, but he utterly hated the eye ointment. We needed to apply it daily. There was an application tip on the tube but getting it anywhere near his eye while he thrashed his head around proved impossible, even when tethered.
I ended up using a sterilised finger to swipe the ointment on his eye as quickly as possible.
It was torture.
After a week of this, Fudge had reached the end of his proverbial tether. His eye still wasn’t
fully healed, so we were told to try a different ointment that needed more frequent application.
This wasn’t good news. We upped our efforts and managed to get the horrid ointment into his eye. I was recovering from a foot injury, and even though he was tethered to the fence, he still managed to accidentally push me down the hill more than once.
But when an animal is injured and you have a chance to help, you get on with doing whatever you can even if it comes at a personal cost.
The day I looked at Fudge’s eye and there a marked improvement, I could have jumped for
joy.
It had been such hard work, but we were able to save his eye. He trotted off and gave us some space for a few days.
Just in case we had any more of that awful ointment.
RECIPE: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
125g (½ cup) butter
125g (½ cup) sugar
90g (½ cup) brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
185g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
125g choc chips (to make these extra scrummy, use Black Forest Chocolate, or your favourite chocolate simply chopped into smaller pieces)
125g (½ cup) butter
125g (½ cup) sugar
90g (½ cup) brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
185g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
125g choc chips (to make these extra scrummy, use Black Forest Chocolate, or your favourite chocolate simply chopped into smaller pieces)
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190C. Grease two baking trays.
2. Cream the butter. Mix the sugars together and add them gradually, beating until the
mixture is smooth and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Sift the flour with the salt and soda. Stir it into the butter & sugar mixture and mix to a
smooth batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the trays, leaving space between each cookie.
5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
1. Preheat oven to 190C. Grease two baking trays.
2. Cream the butter. Mix the sugars together and add them gradually, beating until the
mixture is smooth and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Sift the flour with the salt and soda. Stir it into the butter & sugar mixture and mix to a
smooth batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the trays, leaving space between each cookie.
5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Note: add craisins or other dried fruit, nuts or any other treats along with chocolate. As long as the weight of your additions is 125g, your cookies will be delicious
