Subject: SWEET PEA FARM UPDATE - MAY 2, 2008
Sweet Pea Farm
May 2, 2008
Another day on Sweet Pea. I must say it was rather stressful, for all the “boys” and for their “Mommy”.
I managed to get a veterinarian Dr. Cane who makes house calls. She specializes in farm animals and was already working an appointment up the road at another farm. I was blessed to get a-hold of her, as she only comes to this area from above Kent Redding
Willie had several issues that needed to be addressed. One of his horns had curled around and grown towards his eye, eventually pressing into his skull. I didn’t notice it had grown so tightly until it was pressing up against his face. So, that needed to be trimmed. His hooves needed to be trimmed, and he hated his feet being touched. He also was becoming aggressive, as I mentioned in my previous update, so I decided what better time than under sedation to get all these things done at once!
The other issue was I wanted to castrate the little babies, and it needed to be done in the first 2 weeks of their life. Now, for you men reading this letter, hold your crotch………we put rubberbands on their testicles, they lose the blood circulation eventually,and…….. fall off. Ugggh, and pretty gruesome. It hurts me to think about it, and I am a girl……….
Willie needed major surgery with his castration, and it took 2 ½ hours with all 3 of us in the shed. I cradled Willie’s head on my lap, while they sliced and diced my poor boy on the other end. I couldn’t see too much of what was going on (thank goodness) holding my poor boy while he was struggling to breath for 2 hours and seeing blood was enough for me. (actually it was quite interesting) but my emotional involvement was a little too much.
Andrea came over to give me moral and emotional support and take photos. I looked at her at one point as she was watching the surgery – and she looked a little green and pale. I asked her if she was ok – she replied “It was interesting, but it would be the last castration she would ever want to watch.” It was amazing to see them flip Willie on his back, making him lie still, needled in his jugular the anesthesia and he was out before she even finished injecting the meds from the needle. Then to perform major surgery, right there, in Willie’s little shed, (in the field) instead of a hospital room – think about it- not many doctors will do this today. I felt like I was on a M.A.S.H. re-run.
I included one picture so that you can see the doctor at work. You can see a picture of all 3 of us working on Willie while he slept – Doc on one end, me cradling his head, and both Michelle and I trimming his hooves. Then the shots of us TRYING TO TRIM his horns with various tools.
Poor Willie, poor Andrea, poor Chile
I have pictures of Willie’s horn being cut. We tried the HOOF SHEARS, bush loppers, and a hand held cordless saw – ALL TO NO AVAIL. So Dr. Cane whipped out a piece of braided wire – like what you use to hang pictures with – put on a pair of rawhide gloves, and started to move back and forth with a sawing motion, looping the wire around Willie’s horn end. It cut right through, making sawdust, and slicing it like a piece of butter. It was amazing. I have pictures of his horns before and after. It took seconds, when all the other tools didn’t work.
We weighed the babies – Nicholas weighs 17 lbs. and Chile Chile
Poor Willie, he was a hurting boy last night and today. He is better today, but is walking very slowly and stiff legged. He is finally eating and drinking water. The boys are peppy, but a little agitated. Nicholas, as you can see, is a snuggle bug – Chile
Pictures are interesting, and Andrea got some really cute ones of the babies, who are double their size now! The last photo is 1 hour after their birth.
Will keep all updated – come by to see the babies!!!!!!!
With love,
Stacy, Willie, Rosie , Chile
