Hello again from Maybelle Farm. It's Saturday January 29th, 2011 and its a beautiful sunny day for a change. Can you believe it, not snow, sleet, freezing rain, or below zero temps? I could tolerate winter more if the weather would stay like this. It has been a very difficult week here at Maybelle Farm. Since I last wrote on the blog, my beautiful Coopworth/Finn/Dorset/Shetland Marcus has been sick. Sunday night he wouldn't eat and that is a sure sign that something is wrong. I called the Vet Deb and she came out on Monday morning. Well it appears that as I get older......I get more stupid!!!!!! I thought because of the terrible -21 below weather that all the sheep should have some grain and cracked corn to help keep them warm!!!!! WRONG... especially for wethers! It seems Marcus had crystals in his urine and that could possibly do him in! I had to give him 1 1/2 tsp. of ammonium chloride in water everyday and hopefully he could pull through. Finally on Wed. I could say I thought he was going to make it. You can imagine, I cried had beat myself up quite a bit about possibly killing my bottle baby Marcus (who by the way is 200 lbs of bottle baby)! He is also 12 yrs. old which is pretty old for a large breed of sheep. O.K.
Things are looking better until Thursday night when I notice Ripley, another of my wether's who is a pure Shetland and one of our first triplets born on the farm. Ripley's eyes looked milky and he had his head cocked off to the side and was standing in the corner by himself, grinding his teeth and not eating. I called Stephen (the other Vet) and he said to give him LA200 and a whole aspirin. Friday morning as I walked to the stall, Ripley is leaning up against the wall. I say"Hey old Ripley" and he slides down the wall onto his side and had a seizure!!!!!! Darcy called Stephen and he said will be at the farm about noontime. Elizabeth called at about 10:30 a.m. and said to give him 10 cc of dexamethazone. Stephen arrived and I think he will probably put Ripley down. The next things I know Stephen and Todd come to the house to see if I have any Thiamine liquid. Stephen gave Ripley some Lasix I.V, Thiamine I.V and Thiamine I.M. and said it was either Listeriosis or polio/encephelitis from a thiamine deficiency!!! Todd gave 1.5 cc I.m. Thiamine late afternoon and I gave 1.5 cc Thiamine I.M. in the evening.
Yesterday morning I gave thiamine 1.5 cc I.M. and Todd gave 1.5 cc I.M. late afternoon. Last night I gave him 1.5 cc of Thiamine I.M. and LA200 4 cc I.M. This morning he still had his head off to the side, grinding his teeth and I'm in tears because I don't know what else to give him. I called and talked to Deb who said to give Banamine for pain, 1.5 cc of Thiamine three times today and to force feed the alfalfa powder/with rumen starter in warm water. What a poor sheep. He just stands with his head down and off to the side looking so pathetic and grinding his teeth. I am really questioning if it was the right call to try to let him struggle through this??? It is making me ache all over!
Deb also said that they have seen a lot of thiamine defiency this winter and I'm wondering why? This is my first experience with this and I need to know what I'm doing differently this year than any of the other years since 1999. Maybe its time to hang up my shephardess apron and move on!!!!!
Jonathan has been so very sick with a cold, sore throat and cough since last Sunday. He went back to work today and I know he shouldn't have. All it will do is set him back another week plus it passes it on to everyone that rides the bus. I went to my class at Marlboro College yesterday and coughed my way through the class. It was about applying for grants and Andy Robinson was the instructor. He really did a good job and there was a lot of group work which made it easier. I certainly learned a lot about how to ask for money and will try to apply it to the museum work.
This coming Saturday Feb. 5th, 2011 we are having an "All for Love" celebration at the Tasha Tudor Museum and Jenna is helping me. We are going to have cookies to decorate, valentines to create and cornucopia. Marjorie Tudor will show her newest Valentine design and its going to just be a lovely time. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is located at the Jeremiah Beale House in West Brattleboro, VT.
Time to go do some work. So-long from Maybelle MaMa
P.S. I am posting a few pictures of some of my most recent needle felting projects.
Things are looking better until Thursday night when I notice Ripley, another of my wether's who is a pure Shetland and one of our first triplets born on the farm. Ripley's eyes looked milky and he had his head cocked off to the side and was standing in the corner by himself, grinding his teeth and not eating. I called Stephen (the other Vet) and he said to give him LA200 and a whole aspirin. Friday morning as I walked to the stall, Ripley is leaning up against the wall. I say"Hey old Ripley" and he slides down the wall onto his side and had a seizure!!!!!! Darcy called Stephen and he said will be at the farm about noontime. Elizabeth called at about 10:30 a.m. and said to give him 10 cc of dexamethazone. Stephen arrived and I think he will probably put Ripley down. The next things I know Stephen and Todd come to the house to see if I have any Thiamine liquid. Stephen gave Ripley some Lasix I.V, Thiamine I.V and Thiamine I.M. and said it was either Listeriosis or polio/encephelitis from a thiamine deficiency!!! Todd gave 1.5 cc I.m. Thiamine late afternoon and I gave 1.5 cc Thiamine I.M. in the evening.
Yesterday morning I gave thiamine 1.5 cc I.M. and Todd gave 1.5 cc I.M. late afternoon. Last night I gave him 1.5 cc of Thiamine I.M. and LA200 4 cc I.M. This morning he still had his head off to the side, grinding his teeth and I'm in tears because I don't know what else to give him. I called and talked to Deb who said to give Banamine for pain, 1.5 cc of Thiamine three times today and to force feed the alfalfa powder/with rumen starter in warm water. What a poor sheep. He just stands with his head down and off to the side looking so pathetic and grinding his teeth. I am really questioning if it was the right call to try to let him struggle through this??? It is making me ache all over!
Deb also said that they have seen a lot of thiamine defiency this winter and I'm wondering why? This is my first experience with this and I need to know what I'm doing differently this year than any of the other years since 1999. Maybe its time to hang up my shephardess apron and move on!!!!!
Jonathan has been so very sick with a cold, sore throat and cough since last Sunday. He went back to work today and I know he shouldn't have. All it will do is set him back another week plus it passes it on to everyone that rides the bus. I went to my class at Marlboro College yesterday and coughed my way through the class. It was about applying for grants and Andy Robinson was the instructor. He really did a good job and there was a lot of group work which made it easier. I certainly learned a lot about how to ask for money and will try to apply it to the museum work.
This coming Saturday Feb. 5th, 2011 we are having an "All for Love" celebration at the Tasha Tudor Museum and Jenna is helping me. We are going to have cookies to decorate, valentines to create and cornucopia. Marjorie Tudor will show her newest Valentine design and its going to just be a lovely time. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is located at the Jeremiah Beale House in West Brattleboro, VT.
Time to go do some work. So-long from Maybelle MaMa
P.S. I am posting a few pictures of some of my most recent needle felting projects.
Declan & Rowan and the dragon I made for Declan to take his preschool for their 'Dragon Parade'.
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