It's a part of country living

This morning the dogs were barking and barking. I thought maybe we had a coyote. I went outside to make sure the baby goats were alright and as I got closer to the dog pen I could hear that distinctive rattle.
It was a 3 foot long rattle snake.
I grabbed the long handled shovel and proceeded to slice the snake with it. I didn't actually cut through the snake but the job was done. I picked up the snake with shovel and threw it in the burn barrel. We generally have one or two rattlers at the house area a year. Usually one or two of the animals get bit a year. So far, knock on wood, no people have gotten bitten.
We usually kill a large number of snakes by driving over them on the roads. I couldn't find any animals with bites this time. Although one of our cats, Milo, has now been missing for five days. We still have his mother, Sheba, brother Socks and half brother Cosmo. And Tigger, Salem, Rocky, Ben (who is Sheba's brother), Meigs and Keiko. Just the girls, Sheba and Keiko are in the house.