The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: pgkevet on October 08, 2014, 12:41:07 pm
-
This is the cade ewe my wife 'rescued' . She got crow pecked as a neonate - lost bits of both ears, one eye and some tongue so she has difficulty ruminating and spit a lot out.
Some days she's very cheerful and other days a bit sad. We still give her a bottle twice a day 'cos she can cope with that and it's extra nutrition. Yes, we know that one day she's going to get too sorry to be fair to keep but until then let he enjoy being alive.
This is the ewe that got butted and concussed by one of the big sheep. this si the ewe that just had to go lame with a blackthorn in her foot - but bounced back after i found and pulled it and jabbed her.
She's usually waiting by the gate in the mornings for her bottle but nowhere to be seen this am. The other lambs came bounding up and so did the two big sheep - but no Dudliea.
After breakfast i got out the quad bike and went looking. They're in Fiona field which is 45 degrees and 10 acres.. a tad steep for my tractor courage so the boundaries are heavy with trees and bushes and brambles. The sheep usually nest at the top overnight but it took a while to check along there - until i heard Dudliea's wan Baa. Yes she was all tangled up in brambles but insisted on her bottle before she'd let me cut her free and then still looked distressed until i got her to plod behind the quadbike and follow me over a rise to see the rest of the flock... then she grinned and bounded after them.
Another typical Dudliea day.
-
Aw bless :hug:
-
Your story makes me glad you're alive.!!! There always seems to be a waif amongst the flock at some stage and as long as they're happy with life, I'm with you, give them a chance, they usually let you know when it all becomes too much. :sunshine: :hug:
-
I'd call her a survivor ;) :love:
-
Just an update here. On average 3 times a week i have to ride up the hill and free Dudliea from brambles. All the other sheep are strong enough to pull themselves free in the mornings but insist on going up there to sleep at night.
I don't think Duddy even tries.. she just Baa's and waits with that sad one-eyed expression. She still guzzles her bottle down twice a day and still looks pathetic otherwise.
The rest of the cades (or ex cades now they're all quite large) are a rambumptious :eyelashes: lot... rush to the gate when i go see them twie a day and prefer a little dry food hand fed - three muzzles jostling together. The original unclaimed starys we couldn't get near have finally got less jumpy witht eh big breakthrough yesterday when Polar ate from a hand for the first time..and today she was jostling with the rest and got her muzzle stroked without freaking.
One day last week i lost Dudliea. She wasn't with the rest for afternoon bottle and when i rode up and followed the shrubbery edges of the field there was no sign and no baa. It was my second sweep on the 10 acre field edges - after walking the stream in case she'd drowned in that. That i found an open gate halfway up that i'd missed on first sweep. Someone must have been in there 'cos no way does a rope loop jump over a gate post on it's own. That gate leads to a small disued quarry and young woodland full of impassable bramble on a steep slope. I had images of spending days cutting my way through it looking for a dead sheep but my calling baa to Duddy was answered with a faint return in her low gravelly voice - stuck by one thin tendril of blackberry right in the middle of quarry. I tucked her under my arm, pulled it adrift and carried her back to Fiona field - and tied that sodding gate shut.
-
You should write a book about her capers, :sheep: they all deserve a chance, enjoyed reading your post :thumbsup:
-
I am sure you love her lots :hug:
-
And you know she's with you 'til the natural end now ::)
-
And you know she's with you 'til the natural end now ::)
Sadly I doubt that will be the case. I guess it's pretty inevitable that I shall have to euthanase her at soem stage either because she's just dowright miserable all the time (as opposed to some of the time as now) - or just because she gets too weak.
If anyone has any tips for getting dried, crusted sheep spittle and regurgitated rument out of wool without hsearing a poorly sheep in winter then please et me know..it won't wash out with shampoos or comb out and i'm sure it adds to her miseries.
-
Sorry I can’t help, buts it’s heart warming to know how much you care, even knowing the ‘inevitable’ will arrive.
-
Would hand shearing the affected areas not leave her enough fleece for warmth?
-
It sounds like she should wear a bib.
-
Face . brisket and front legs to the shoulders... probably would need a wimple....
-
I wonder if there's an emoticon for a sheep in a wimple :-J
-
I wonder if there's an emoticon for a sheep in a wimple :-J
..ain't nun.. :roflanim:
-
RIP Dudleia.
She went off her bottle 2 days ago and looked sad but was eating some creep. Yesterday I decided to call it quits if she wasn't picking up by today. I found her dead this am.
-
More than you will miss her. :( Heartwarming that you kept giving her chances. :bouquet:
-
she had a great life :)
-
Sad news. Well done to you for giving her a chance.
-
:bouquet: so sorry
-
What a shame :-[
-
At least she went peacefully at home :bouquet:
-
God rest her, you will miss her :(
-
You did your best, :sheep: :bouquet:
-
That's sad news but you really did your best for her. Rip :bouquet:
-
Aww, so sorry, but you did your best and she couldn't have asked for a better owner. :hug:
-
Sorry to hear this. :(
Well done for keeping her going as long as you could.
-
So sorry :bouquet: she was a very loved sheep :'(