When to Say Good-Bye

One of the hardest things about loving animals is knowing when to say good-bye.  You know it’s inevitable that they are going to leave this world before you.  I sometimes worry about that balance of letting them have the longest life they can versus the quality of life they can live.

Cutie is one of my original girls.  You can see in the “Everyday Cutie” picture that her face is strained.  She’s had arthritis in her hips for a while, and it’s been increasingly difficult for her.  She still would smile for the camera and overall seemed happy.

This fall, she would struggle to keep up with the herd.  They’d be clear back on the hill while she was still slowly working her way across the bottom.  I was babying her and making sure she got plenty of food.  There was a time or two I shut her in the Love Shack because someone wanted to pick on her.

Since the blizzard it’s been very difficult for her.  She struggles to get around on the snow and ice.  It makes it harder for her to get enough to eat and walk to the  cattle tank to drink.  Our recent cold spell has left her shivering constantly.

I  covered her with a blanket and put a heat lamp on her, and it still wasn’t enough to warm her up.  I will say, she did enjoy the warm vegetable soup so much she about ate my fingers too when I scooped the veggies up for her.

Her eyes are bright and clear and she still has a huge attitude, but I know she hurts constantly and is afraid of being picked on.  Yesterday morning, her knee was all swollen making it even harder to stand up.  She never left the building at all.

Helen eating Cutie’s hay

I don’t know if she fell on the snow or someone was mean, but I can’t be there to provide her with drinks of warm water all throughout the day and readjust her lamp and blanket after she moves.  I know she’s not going to ever improve enough to be able to live happily and comfortably again.

I’ve said my good-byes to Cutie Pie because as much as I want her to be with me longer, she’s not happy like this.  It would be selfish to make her endure the constant pain just so I can have her in my life a little longer.

RIP Cutie Pie Saanen (2/1/2004 – 1/2/2013)

Linking to Jenny Matlock‘s Alphabe-Thursday where the letter this week is G.

Farmers and Weather

If you’ve ever talked to a farmer for more than five minutes, it’s likely the subject of weather has come up.  For most folks, “nice day out” is just a filler.  For a farmer, weather is everything.  I alluded to this the other day when talking about wanting rain for the corn.

At the same time I needed it to stay dry until the hay was baled.

Well, my hay is in thanks to my son,

my nephew

my other nephew

and the custom baling of Eden Ridge Farms.

They had two tractors and rakes out there working hard to get it ready to be baled.

We got about 200 square bales, and I still have to go count the round bales.  We’ll finish making my square bales with the next cutting.  It’s already more round bales than I will need for the winter, so they will get sold.

I’m a happy camper, and I might go do a rain dance tonight.  With cooperative weather, we’ll get one or two more cuttings.  It’s no wonder farmers are always talking about the weather.

Beyond rain for crops to grow and dry weather for hay, I bet the weather impacts farming more than many people know.  Our really warm (almost non-existent) winter will impact us all summer.  My seed distributor has already sent out information on how much more likely we are to have pests in our corn and beans.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post about the negative impact its had on the fruit industry.  With such warm temperatures, the trees all started blossoming early, and we had a normal freeze that destroyed much of the fruit.  I’m lucky.  I think only my plums were impacted.  I know of one winery/vineyard that said they lost nearly 70% of their grape crop.

Finally, the strange weather impacts the animals.  We typically have a long stretch of cold weather that kills bacteria and parasites.  We didn’t have that this year.  I had to start putting flea and tick meds on the cats and dogs in February.  I’ve never had to do that before.

I’ve  already had a conversation with a vet about the impact on animals.  It’s likely to be a bad year for worms and bacteria.  We could see a lot more infections and illnesses.

Along with parasites, it can impact the size of babies and the condition of the mother.  An easy warm winter can cause a bigger baby.  If the mother is overweight or under weight because of weather conditions, it will impact their ability to give birth and care for their baby.

There are many aspects of farming that the weather impacts.  Next time you see a farmer and they start talking about the weather, it’s because the weather dictates their life.  Look to the sky and what do you see?

Today I saw an angel sent to me by a wonderful friend.  Thank you for your blessings and good wishes, Maryann.

Linking to Homestead Barn Hop.

Meg’s Infected Hoof and Garlic

Poor Meg has been limping off and on for a month now.  I’ve looked and couldn’t see anything several times.  I had my son hold her so I could trim it.  I still didn’t see anything that would explain why she was limping.  I only saw a tiny pinprick spot, but it was not soft or smelly.  Trimming helped a bit for a few days.

Megora Saanen

About a week after the trimming she was limping worse again, so I decided to use a garlic infusion on it to try and treat any hoof rot.  I don’t know how should would get hoof rot as dry as our weather is, but at least it was something.

I put about 1/2 cup of water in a pan and got a head of garlic.

Because this was a small one, I used most of the head.  I peeled the cloves and cut them so the liquid would more easily blend with the water.

I boiled it for just a bit.  It was enough to make the whole house smell for the rest of the day.  After it cooled, I strained it to remove the garlic.

Then it was ready to use.

I just needed to get my patient and check out her foot.  While I was looking at her hoof, I noticed that it was now bright red all between the toes and it had pus at the hairline on the front of the hoof.

Poor girl.  I rinsed it thoroughly with the garlic infusion.

Two days later, I managed to get my son to come hold her again.  It looked better, but she now had a black crusty spot on top.

There was a red raw spot, but it didn’t seem to have the infection.  I rinsed it with the garlic infusion again, and I did give her a shot of antibiotics also because I’m not sure how the garlic would do on an infection that was all through the foot.

It was looking better, but tonight she’s limping again.  I think she’ll have the vet look at it when he’s here on Wednesday.  If you don’t believe in the antibiotic properties of garlic, check out my post from last year on antibiotic garlic.

It’s really powerful stuff.