Where there is livestock, there is dead stock

Apologies for the delay in getting anything posted ... it has just been one of those times and there is lots to catch up on.  We have had docking, the bull going out to the bulls, ram selection on the radar and our silage is being cut as we speak.

You would have read in an earlier blog that I lost my huntaway Flo unexpectedly.  That was that start of things.  Since then, I have had to say goodbye to my foxy at the end of September, who I have had for 14 years, or would have been 14 on 7th November.  I got her as a pup from my parents who bred her.  I'll have to dig out one of her pup photos ... she had a spotty black and white toy to keep her company until it finally got torn to bits. 

Dash's demise was reasonably quick ... getting sick on Friday night, obviously didn't have a good night and Saturday she wasn't herself although still hydrated.  She was sick again Saturday night and Sunday she was on a downhill path.  She started to get dehydrated although we did manage to get some liquid into her.  Whilst we had her around us, after lunch she decided to retire to her kennel.  I visited her there, and then about an hour later she had passed away.

She had been my buddy and done lots of things with me, travelling here and there.  She will be sadly missed.  We had a small family ceremony as we put her in the 'garden' wrapped up in her sheepskin blanket.  We have now planted a kowhai tree over the top to remember her by.

But that wasn't the end of our dramas.  On the 13th October we found two heifers, 1 paralysed rear end and one in a creek.  As we don't have a tractor, we had to call on our neighbour to help get the two heifers to flat ground - neither able to stand.  In the paddock next door we discovered my horse had lost his cover, and then on closer inspection discovered that his left hock was rather swollen and he was putting no weight on it.  As it was a weekend, we rang round the neighbours to find some anti-flam (we live in a strong horse area, both recreational and polo) to give him, provided him some feed and water.  Unfortunately he was at the bottom of the gully.  Pampering him for a few days, we progressively got him into a flat paddock.  There was speculation as to what damage he had done.  The final diagnosis though was that he had broken his leg and that means only 1 thing, that he would have to be put down.

Sad looking Fleet on his last morning

So, I took the kids to Mainly Music, and Malcolm did what he had to do and the neighbour helped to bury him.  He is down the drive so every day, I walk past him a minimum of 4 times a day.  I feel so sorry that there was nothing I could have done for him.

But that is not the last of things ... the 2 heifers we were rolling and sitting up twice a day, feeding and giving water to.  After 2 weeks of doing this, there was no response by either animal of their hind quarters.  They had started to loose considerable amount of condition.  We suspect that the incident of the heifers and Fleet were connected as they we beside each other.  We are not sure whether Fleet scared the cattle, or the cattle scared Fleet.  One of the heifers had a burn mark on its back and burnt between its back toes ... was it lightining?

Our two patients

Rightly or wrongly, we decided to put the heifers down.  It was unfortunate for the two week period that they were being looked after, we probably had some of the worst weather - wind that we could barely stand up in, cold weather, rain and a mini-storm.  I guess we will never know what really happened, but  there appears to be no other damage.

So, it has been a rather emotional month or more on the farm.  I am hoping that we have had our fair share and that things will be on the up from now.