Author Topic: Worst shepherd ever  (Read 19825 times)

colliewoman

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Pilton
  • Caution! May spontaneously talk rabbits!
Worst shepherd ever
« on: November 12, 2012, 06:42:43 pm »
 :gloomy: :gloomy: :gloomy: :gloomy:
I am the worlds worst shepherd.
I lost little Venus, the lamb who never got colostrum 2 weeks ago. Surprised she made it that long but after surviving so long I thought she was going to be ok.
Then the other day I lost a fully vaccinated meat wether to clostridia, died whilst at the vet.
Today Tarragon, Venus' mum choked on sugar beet, seems she managed to swallow the froth coated beet down and looked to be ok, but the beet then swelled before it got to her stomach and the blockage killed her as we tried everything we could to save her. I loved that sheep :love:
Hubby and I, the vet and all the equipment in the world couldn't save her. The vet says it was a tragic freak accident bless him.
I will never feed unsoaked beet again, but they won't eat it soaked! I have fed unsoaked for YEARS with no problem. She was a greedy pigger, and it killed her hoofing too much in in one go (hence the reason I scatter feed it) but still she managed to grab too much in one go.
Sorry for the blurb but I am so gutted, apart from one ewe I had to PTS years ago I have never lost sheep. Now 3 in a few weeks, all unrelated.
I'm terrified I am killing them :'( :'( :'(
We'll turn the dust to soil,
Turn the rust of hate back into passion.
It's not water into wine
But it's here, and it's happening.
Massive,
but passive.


Bring the peace back

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2012, 06:46:42 pm »
You're not killing them  :hug:

Unfortunately you've had three bad incidents one after the other.

1. A lamb who hasn't had colostrum is always at risk - they do sometimes just die, way afterwards
2. The clostridial thing seems to have been an issue all over this year, not just you
3. I do think unsoaked beet is risky but as you've said you've fed it without problems for years then you've had plenty of evidence otherwise. And after all, what can we do but try our best and do what seems to work?

I'm so sorry, it's s**t when you get a patch like this  :hug:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2012, 07:12:01 pm »
Sorry to hear about your 3 casualties  :bouquet:

But it's not your fault Donna, none of them are.  It's just life - and death - with sheep.  And this year is a tough year on all livestock, us too.   :hug:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2012, 07:15:13 pm »
 :bouquet: :bouquet: :bouquet:


It never rains but it pours CW. Really sorry. Often find that things come together like that and it can really get you down but as Jaykay says it is just coincidence that it all happened at once ...... not your fault at all.


Hope that's your bit of bad luck done for a while  :bouquet:

Brucklay

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Perthshire
    • Brucklay Pygmy Goats
    • Facebook
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2012, 07:28:14 pm »
Oh Colliewoman - don't kick yourself, your love your animals and do your absolute best - it's just crap when things go wrong - sending you BIG  :hug: :hug:
Pygmy Goats, Shetland Sheep, Zip & Indie the Border Collies, BeeBee the cat and a wreak of a building to renovate!!

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2012, 07:57:14 pm »
 :hug: That's sheep for you.

kanisha

  • Joined Dec 2007
    • Spered Breizh Ouessants
    • Facebook
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2012, 08:18:58 pm »
 :bouquet: really sorry  its cr*p when it all comes together like that but you can't be the worst shepherd ......you care too much  :bouquet:
Ravelry Group: - Ouessants & Company

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2012, 08:22:57 pm »
shut up... your about the best. sh.t happens.xx

moprabbit

  • Joined Oct 2011
  • North Notts
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2012, 08:26:30 pm »
So sorry to hear about your losses - it makes it so much worse when you care so much about your animals, as you obviously do. In fact you must be a very good shepherd to care so much. 
4 pet sheep

Ina

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • South Aberdeenshire
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2012, 08:29:29 pm »
Don't forget - sheep get born determined to find a way to die. (That's a free quote from a very experienced shepherd I used to work with...)

These things happen - they are nobody's fault. But still very dispiriting.

Hazelwood Flock

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Dorset.
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2012, 08:30:19 pm »
You could do no more, sorry for your losses  :bouquet:  that doesn't make you a bad shepherd  :hug:  remember, trouble comes in threes so you've had your quota!  :fc:
Not every day is baaaaaad!
Pedigree Greyface Dartmoor sheep.

crazy_bull

  • Joined May 2012
  • Huntingdon
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2012, 08:35:10 pm »
Don't forget - sheep get born determined to find a way to die. (That's a free quote from a very experienced shepherd I used to work with...)

These things happen - they are nobody's fault. But still very dispiriting.

Sheep have two main aims in life, to escape and to die, if they can do the second whilst attempting the first they fulfill all their dreams!

Unfortunatley you have had abit of rough luck with several incidents rolled together, they say things happen in threes so hopefully that's all the bad luck you'll have with them.

 C B

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2012, 08:36:10 pm »
That is what they say about sheep:

That it's a sheep's main aim in life to meet its Maker as soon as possible and a shepherd's main aim in life to delay the process!


woollyval

  • Joined Feb 2008
  • Near Bodmin, Cornwall
    • Val Grainger
    • Facebook
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2012, 08:38:57 pm »
Donna, big hugs girl! Its not you its just sometimes sh1t happens....all at once. I never vaccinate as I'm organic.....but many years ago lost the Bath & West champion goat....just after vaccination...was gutted as she wasn't mine and was just boarding here....
Sugar beet is fine 99.999999999999% of the time, they hate it soaked.....
As for those who don't get colostrum.....sudden death is often the way it goes  :(

You are a very good sheep keeper...xx
www.valgrainger.co.uk

Overall winner of the Devon Environmental Business Awards 2009

Mammyshaz

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Durham
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2012, 08:49:04 pm »
Big  :hug: colliewoman. These things happen, they are sent to test us. You do a great job,  :fc: there will be no more shocks for you now.

 

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