G and I are planning a farm meeting. We need to prioritize our goals for the year, our resources, including the ever precious TIME. We're hoping to have our meeting this weekend, over a bonfire and fire cooked dinner. Hoping weather won't sideline our plans--Friday forecast is calling for snow/rain/ice pellets. Charming March weather!
There's a lot to be done, but we can't tackle everything. If we could we wouldn't still be planning to work on tasks we identified needed attention during our very first spring on this farm. Triage covers everything, not just animals. The front deck needs painting, or the wood may rot. The guinea enclosure needs to be fixed, and in light of the fox tracks I've seen around we need to dig in the last section of fence as soon as the ground thaws. The back deck is sagging, and that could be very dangerous. It could also mean no vacation plans in the near future since it's likely a complete rebuild which means mucho dinero.
Watchlist:
Rusty the bantam rooster has a beak infection again, so I treated it this afternoon. It will take daily treatments in order to resolve. Still have nothing concrete as to why this is a recurring problem. Vitamin A deficiency is a possibility. Also the current food is a possibility. It seemed to go away when I fed Mazuri.
Winstons sheath infection is still awful, so this morning I cleaned it again, and I'm pushing the vet to come up with an alternative treatment plan, since what we've done isn't working.
Winston was reshod the other day, and that evening he promptly threw a shoe and ripped part of the hoof wall.
The farrier was supposed to come the next day to fix it. Of course I waited and waited, knowing that 'I'll call you' meant he was going to bail on me. Really, I try to think of best of people, but I really shouldn't ignore my intuition. If he'd told me he wouldn't come I would have wrapped the foot, and likely called another farrier to deal with it. The last time Oakley chipped his hoof it very quickly progressed into the beginnings of an abcess, and that's a very time and effort consuming condition, not to mention putting the horse out of work.
I'm concerned that I saw some discoloured white line on Oakley's right front foot, exactly at the spot where he hoof-tested positive at last shoeing and he needed to have two nails removed. When I asked the farrier, he said it was fine. I really need to find one who's more knowledgable about hoof health and disease!
I think we need to investigate whether Winston really has Cushing's disease, and start on treatment. The problem with Cushing's is that is predisposes them to laminitis and founder, which apparently he's has to some degree in the past. I'd really love to have hoof xrays done as well (which our vet can't do) to see if there's been any rotation of the coffin bone. I can't properly manage him without having that sort of information, without it we are just playing Russian roulette. He stands funny, acts sore. Just spoke to our sheep vet--he has xray capability and it's not very expensive. Phew.
Petunia our bantam hen (five years old this spring!!) who had issues last month has been laying the occasional tiny egg, which could be a sign that she's just starting to go into lay now that the days are getting longer, or that her reproductive system is shutting down due to age or disease.
Guineas still need toe surgery as soon as my vet friend has time. As an aside, her rooster that I helped her with is doing well. His comb is shrinking! Not a bad trade off, is it? Lose the testicles and get to live? Was so exciting to be doing anesthesia again...and extra challenging to boot since the coelomic cavity is open during the surgery and I had to breath for him the whole time. Hope I can help out again soon.
I visited the yarn shop and my knitting guru yesterday (in WI). On the way I found this:
Of all the days to leave my 300mm lens at home...More eagles were arriving to partake, but I was on a busy road so thought I'd better move along.
My guru Linda says there are changes in the works for the store, and she says I'll like them very much...hmmmm....she couldn't spill her news yet, so all I can do is wonder. She's a strong supporter of local wool, and local spinners. We talked marketing and labelling of skeins while I admired an $85 dollar skein of gorgeous brown llama yarn.
I started spinning Axle's roving this week. It's been so long since I've done it--since my Amish retreat to be exact. As I suspected it took about two hours before I started to make real progress. Hoping that this year I'll be able to find an inexpensive spinning wheel! Slow going on the drop spindle..
Henry our lamb was acting very oddly this morning. He wouldn't get up. He was grunting and quiet. His rumen was no more firm than any of the others. He let me examine all of his feet, and I almost rolled him over. I was getting more and more worried. He reluctantly got up and showed some interest in food. I locked Princey, Lace and Henry in the barn and rushed to get my thermometer and stethoscope. Rumen turning over, temp 39.2. Nothing to be worried about except his strange behaviour. I checked on him a while later and he was laying down, chewing his cud.
I was speaking to our sheep vet about the scrapie program and import requirements, and Winston's multiple issues. I also mentioned Henry's odd behaviour this morning, and he mentioned this:
"Polio, polioencephalomalacia, is a disease caused by a deficiency of thiamine and is seen most commonly in lambs on high grain diets. The first sign of the disease is blindness. If your lamb bumps into things that it ordinarily would see and avoid, he may be showing signs of blindness. An injection of 3 cc of thiamine in the muscle will correct the condition.
If the first symptom of blindness is missed, the lamb will begin to appear wobbly in the rear end. This may be misdiagnosed as lameness. A day later, the lamb may be unable to get up but can still sit up and will be found on his side and unable to hold his head up. Finally, the lamb will die in convulsions. The course of the disease from the first sign of blindness to death will take approximately 5 days if not treated. The further in the disease course the treatment occurs, the longer it will take the lamb to recover. Generally, it will take 10 days before the lamb will begin to eat again."
If the first symptom of blindness is missed, the lamb will begin to appear wobbly in the rear end. This may be misdiagnosed as lameness. A day later, the lamb may be unable to get up but can still sit up and will be found on his side and unable to hold his head up. Finally, the lamb will die in convulsions. The course of the disease from the first sign of blindness to death will take approximately 5 days if not treated. The further in the disease course the treatment occurs, the longer it will take the lamb to recover. Generally, it will take 10 days before the lamb will begin to eat again."
Our vet said that treatment involves intravenous thiamine, usually in saline.
Something to keep in mind for the future.
I can't imagine anything happening to our little Henry...G called from work at 2pm to check in and see how he was doing. He loves little Henry the brave : )
Turns out that this week would have been a great one for going to farm calls with our sheep vet and his techs. They had sheep, goat and alpaca calls, and he said he has at least ten horses with laminitis right now. He apologized and made sure his tech will keep me in mind for next week. Can't wait!! Especially exciting since it's no longer -20C, although it will be -17C over the weekend.
I had an amazing morning today--can't believe it felt hot at 0C. The sun was shining, the cardinals singing love songs, and melt water pouring off the roof so fast I had to syphon the stock tank out before I could go in for breakfast. Must remember to do it again tonight.
Our possible new farm addition? A tractor! We're going up to Pine City to a dealer on Saturday. We'll see if the trip gets us any closer to a decision. G has done all of the research and we've talked at length about what we need, would like, can afford.
I love road trips with my sweety! Life is good.
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