Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Friday, August 22, 2014

West Nile

This morning our alpaca, Sassafras, was having trouble using her hind legs. She was wobbly. Jenny and I picked her up - I would guess she weighs about 100 lbs - and put her in the back of the Yukon. The Yukon is a large car ideal for picking up hay or taking livestock to the vet - one livestock at a time.

The vet suspects West Nile virus. Jenny reports that the vet warned that this is sometimes fatal but also that the vet didn't seem overly concerned or at least she didn't switch into emergency mode like she did with our poor goat, Chloe.

When Jenny returned we vaccinated all seven of the remaining alpacas and our three horses. There is no vaccine for goats. Wrangling all of those alpacas is not an easy job. I sprained a finger when I accidentally jammed three of them into Seurette's hard neck.

Goat News:
The three goats have been restricted to their stall and dry lot. Fiona's udder had grown to a size that would be the envy of a small cow. But she wasn't pregnant. The diagnosis? Precocious udder. The prescription? No grazing or grain for Fiona. The vet, the same vet who is working with Sassy, said we could let her graze again - keeping and eye on her udder of course. Last I looked, the three goats were happily eating mallow and some other undesirable weeds. Good goats!

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Danny and Gavin


These two guys died a few weeks apart a few weeks ago. Jenny rescued them both on the same day 16 years ago. Things will never be the same around here. So much of our daily routine centered around taking care of these sweet boys.




That is danny above with Diego in the background. Danny loved visitors. He would throw the entire weight of his body at their legs and plop onto their feet.



This is Gavin, dignified and old like the Jonathan Richman song. He didn't like getting his picture taken. He had an uncanny ability to tell the difference between a cell phone just being used as a cell phone and a cell phone in camera mode. That's why these photos look like a private investigator took them.




The scraggly little guy on the left is Elliot who arrived just days before Danny left. He loved Gavin. It was love at first sight.

So sad without them.