Lesson of Loss

We knew this would happen eventually, but we didn't realize it would happen so quickly after getting our first Nigerian Dwarfs.  Tuesday morning, I went down and checked on all of our animals just as I do every morning.  Everyone was good, except Willow, our 4 month old ND, was just laying down.  I went in, she let me pet her (which I should have known right then that she wasn't well) and I gave her & Luna some animal crackers and went off to check the piggies.

When I came home from work, I went right over to see the goats and I realized that Willow had only moved a foot from where she first was that morning and she wasn't holding her head up like earlier.  I asked Tom to come in and help me take her temperature and check her FAMACHA score.  Her temp was on the lower end of normal but her FAMACHA score was a 5 :( I went in to panic mode and the Goat Emergency Team online was extremely helpful and walked me through every step of what needed to happen for best results.

First, I was to warm her up.  I grabbed a blanket & a trash bag and wrapped her in it, keeping her head out.  I walked her from her pen to our deck and laid her there so I could recheck her temp when it was time.  After about 15 minutes, I checked again and it was in the solid normal range...success!!  The G.E.T told me that at 16 weeks, she was prime for a coccidia bloom if she wasn't treated when first born.  So, with the medicine list in hand...I hustled off to TSC to get what I needed.

I walked in 10 minutes before closing and the lady was as helpful as she could've been given that they were out of everything on my list.  They had some alternatives but they are known not to work as effectively.  I came home with iron, penicillin, power punch & b12...nothing for coccidia. By this time, Tom had moved her to the garage so that she would be safe during the night.  I walked in and I could tell in just 30 minutes from when I left that she was significantly worse.  We gave her the injections and drenched power punch.  I had hoped to see a spark...something...but her eyes were glazed over and she had little to no control over her head.  I just knew she wasn't going to make it through the night.

I stayed up with her until about 1am, her body temp was low again and I had her wrapped in a blanket with a heat lamp.  I came upstairs to try to get some sleep but I tossed all night.  When Tom woke up for work at 3:30am, he went to check on her and she was gone.  

I'm devastated with so many coulda, woulda, shoulda's.  I feel for Luna, as they're a pack animal but I'm afraid to bring in another goat.  She's still so cautious of us.  She's eating out of my hand now but the slightest flinch of my other hand to pet her and she's off.  

This Little Piggy...

Now that it has been awhile, I think it's safe to share 😂.  Some of you know that we prepared for weeks for the arrival of our berkshire piglets.  We did extensive research, Tom rebuilt the most amazing pen equipped with an automatic waterer.  We were pumped but most importantly...we were ready...until we realized, that we weren't!

We brought the piggies home in a dog crate that was plenty big enough for both of them.  We backed the van up to the new pig pen and Tom & I carried the dog crate into the pen and shut the gate.  Just as I went to open the dog crate, Tom mentions that they're smaller than he expected and asked if I thought they would be able to pop through the hog panel.  

It was too late, they were released and within 30 seconds those little balls of cuteness with their extreme smarts & ninja like feet popped right through the holes of the hog fencing and straight into the woods...which back up to more woods, which back up to more woods...you get the picture.

Immediately, Tom and I venture through the thorns and fallen limbs to try to catch them but our efforts proved that they were smarter and quicker than we were.  I was sure it was over, we had lost them for good and sulked all over this place.

We reinforced the pig pen and sprinkled food all in hoping that they would somehow remember their way back and be compliant little children.  

About an hour later, Tom called me outside to see that they did in fact come back! They were happily eating the food we sprinkled at the entrance of the pen but were smart enough not to go all the way in LOL.  As I inched closer, hoping to catch them off guard and have them run in...they caught on and took off again to the woods.  

By this time, it was dark out and they're dark colored so we decided to put more food out and call in a night.  THOSE BOOGERS GALLIVANTED ALL NIGHT THROUGH THE WOODS.  When we woke the next morning, they had not returned and I feared the worst.

A couple of hours into the morning and they were back! No doubt, completely toying with us and purposefully making us squirm.  This time, I was prepared!  I sprinkled some sugary cereal inside their pen and waited...hiding behind their 55 gallon waterer.  It worked...they crept in cautiously, oblivious to my presence.  They could not resist those sweet and colorful fruit loops!  Once they were in further, I used my ninja-like reflexes and slammed the gate! But, that was only the first part...we still had to get them into the enclosure we built!  Tom leapt into the pen channeling Carl Lewis and ran circles around them until he successfully got both in the stall!  We were a great team 😂

After all that, all four of us (me, Tom, Bonnie & Clyde) had a wonderful night's sleep!

So the moral of the story kids is 1. your farm animals will live up to their names, so be careful in what you choose and 2. no matter how prepared you are...chances are, you're not.  

It is clear that Tom and I did not grow up around this, it doesn't come natural but it is so so fun!

#adventuresofbonnieandclyde #thisishowwefarm #blendedacres