Is losing them.
It’s been a very rough week here on the homestead.
Last Sunday night Griff went down. He was never a sheep who would let me approach him, so as he lay on his side in the pasture and did not try to rise when I came near, I knew it was probably serious.
I called Tom and Donna and I’m so grateful to them for coming over help assess what was going on, and decide how to proceed. It seemed that the likeliest culprit was bloat, as the pasture is quite lush right now. We talked about treatments, but in the end I decided that it was probably kindest to let him go.
Griff was never a people-friendly sheep, but he was a good boy, and had a beautiful crimpy golden-taupe colored fleece.
He will be missed, both by me and his good buddies out in the pasture.
My heart is heavy, and am really anxious about the possibility of the same thing happening to one of the other sheep. I’ve put out baking soda alongside their free-choice kelp, and am watching everyone carefully for signs of bloat.
That was Sunday.
Since then, sheep have seemed ok, but Thursday evening Boo kitten came limping home, carrying her left rear leg.
It was after the vet had closed, and I didn’t think that it seemed to terribly serious, so I tried to make her comfortable and clean out the woulds I could see (though she wouldn’t let me do much). Friday morning I took her in right away to have her looked at.
Turns out it was a pretty bad scrape she got herself into. Something really chewed up her left rear lower leg, and apparently the ankle(?) joint was involved, which complicates things. But no broken bones. Seems something had a good hold on her by the achilles but she managed somehow to get away.
Vet said that it was a good thing I got her in that day or she might have lost the leg. Yeeks.
So now she’s patched up, with drains placed all around her foot and leg (5 total) and a bunch of stitches as well. Poor girl is in a cone, and I’m administering pain meds and antibiotics twice daily.
And we lost a baby chicken to ravens last Wednesday.
So I’m hoping that is my 3. I’m kinda wiped.