I was hoping to wake up this morning to a healthy ewe, all better and up and eating with the rest of the flock. But when I went out to feed and do chores, I saw all the other sheep but not her. I went on in and saw her laying flat on the ground. I knew right away she was dead.
I feel bad because this could have been prevented if I had just gotten the vet to come out last week. She might be alive now. And her daughter Anabelle and the other ewe lamb Adalaide would be ok too. But those 2 have very swollen jaws even this afternoon, even after 2 rounds of Ivomec, Cydectin and Valbazen. Plus antibiotic and Thiamine shots. I might lose them too.
I am calling the vet first thing in the morning. And I will keep calling if I don't hear from him. I need him to come out here as soon as possible to check on them. And the others too. Then I am calling the guy who runs the agriculture department in town and get him to come out and evaluate my pastures to see if there is a problem with them. I need to know what is going on here and why I just lost one of my favorite ewes. What am I doing wrong?
I rotate. I keep the grass and pastures mowed. I give them organic minerals. And apple cider vinegar in their water. They get good grains and hay. I just don't know. And I only had 9 ewes. And the 3 ram lambs are in another pasture across the yard. It's not like I had a thousand sheep.
So I called a friend up the road with a backhoe. He's coming in the morning to bury her as deep as he can. I wanted to take her to the dump, as far away as possible because of the worms. Or take her way out back for the coyotes to at least have a good meal. But I don't want them to get sick. I think getting her buried at least 5 feet deep will be ok.
Right after I found Lucinda, and after milking the goats, I looked over at one of my does, Sandy, and she is in standing heat. I saw Lil Red trying as hard as he could to mount her. I hope he did. And I thought how one life just ended and one more has just been conceived. So life goes on. And I just witnessed that. I am ok with death. Just right now, knowing I could have done more, I am a little sad. I will miss Lucinda. She was one of my favorite sheep. It took her a long time to let me get close enough. But after that, I could pet her and give her kisses. She was a good ewe.
Kris I wish there were a boquet of words to give to ease your worry and sadness. It's so easy to feel badly/guilty when livestock (and especially ones we have a specail bond with) are lost.
ReplyDeleteBut I've read along at your blog long enough to see you care deeply and work very hard to do the right things. If the vet were called each and every time we'd like to I daresay few (if any) of us could afford to keep our creatures at all. So inbetween we do our best, watch, worry, learn, ask questions and call the vet out as often as it seems best and possible.
I know none of these words ease the loss or help the overall frustration in trying to locate the problem source. But try not to be too terribly hard on yourself....
Thank you for your kind words. I do try all I can first then call a vet. Same thing when I am sick. I wait til I can't stand it any more. So I do all I can think of here. When it works, I'm ok. When it doesn't, I pray and call friends or vets. You're right though. If I called a vet and they came here or I brought the animal there, I would be broke. And sometimes, the vets don't know what's wrong either.I've had that happen a few times along the way. So it's all a game. We learn as we go. And I have learned a whole lot.
DeleteThanks for visiting my blog. I really like to see comments. I know someone's out there then.
I am so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine losing one of my gals. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristin. And thanks for visiting.
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