Out on Butlers Farm

Orange & lemon trees and a saga palm moved from California in 2006…still going strong!

I have been told, have read it and have lived it,  When livestock go down, they don’t get back up.

My mama llama went down about 2 months ago.  The farmer was pessimistic about any recovery, the vet wasn’t very encouraging but I was determined to do anything and everything to bring her back.  I did with Gozy our senior horse that the grandgirls can ride/sit on.  So couldn’t it happen again.

It did…Coryn had been moving herself around the llama house on her back feet and her front elbows.  Noted in an earlier post, she did stand and walk a step or two.  Being that it was Saturday, I cleaned out the llama house, left the slider open so the ground could dry out and left to work in my potato patch after going into the house for a drink.

From the kitchen, I saw Coryn had moved herself outside, rolling around on the ground.  She was using her back feet and elbows to relocate but was outside in the sunshine.  Later while working in the potato patch, I saw her up on all fours!

The rest of the afternoon she wandered around the pasture.  We corralled her back into the llama house so she could eat privately and be protected from the elements.  Game plan is to feed her in the morning, let her out for the day and back in the house for the night.

Miracles can, and do happen!

Quite a few weeks ago, my mama llama went down.  She was a standoffish llama where I couldn’t corral her with others to be able to eat separate from the goats.  So I know she was short changed on feed at times and more so when she became was nursing.  We were able to get her into the llama house when the rain came (so this has been going on since March).  We kept all others out, we gave her a shavings floor and had the vet come out.  Blood results were ok, parasites were evident but I had wormed her and she was very thin.  Prognosis wasn’t good but I dug in.  Fed her two to three times a day; gave the medication left by the vet, added alfalfa to her diet; then watched and waited.  Somehow she was moving herself around on her ‘elbows’ and ‘knees’.  Soon Coryn would get up on her back feet and move around still using her ‘elbows’.  Depending on where she was in the house would determine the speed she would get up.

Tonight while resetting her food and water dishes, I knew she needed to move as she was basically in same spot that she was in this morning.  I moved in to help the front end move, she got her back end up and I had to take a double take – she was standing on all fours! and moved a few steps!!  Then back to the crouch.

I am estatic and look forward to walking out there to see her standing waiting for me to let her out into the pasture!

This year’s garden layout.

Layout for this year’s garden is done.  First day of soaking is done…10 more days before planting.  Due to ivehicle issues this spring, we weren’t able to get the bales when I wanted so I won’t be planing seeds this year…all veggies will be from someone else’s greenhouse.  Not a big deal, just a cost factor but they will still be fresh and yummy when harvested!.

All are being bottle fed twice a day; two girls, 3 boys; Earl is a Swiss/Angus and the other four are Holstein/Angus. In time they will eventually join the goats and llamas in the new pasture.

 This year the farmer decided to plant sunflowers for seed and alfalfa for the livestock.  We finshed the last alfalfa cut/bale/stack today.  125 square bales for this go-around.  Hoping next year’s four harvests will be just as successful.    

I asked the farmer to ask me how much Gozy weighed today, and when he did and i gave the answer, he told me I was mistaken, that she couldn’t gain that much in a week.  So we set up the scale, I brought her across the scale, and I was right – she had gained 75 lbs in a week!  Still not sure why she showed being anemic in a blood test a month ago, but when we recalculated how much she needed to eat a day and added beet pulp, she has gained every week.  

Yes, I did read the scale correctly!  I was right!