[Rosemary]

Well, not so worried about Charlie this morning.

Found him laid up by his mum in the corner of the field at 7am; made him get up (he must hate me - although not enough to get up when he sees me. Yet.). He had a feed, an enormously long pee (it went on and on  and on), then a poo (bright yellow and firm - OMG what has my life come to?).

He now has a normal blink response - yesterday if you waved your hand in his face there was no response now he blinks and moves his head away. And he managed to have  a wee skippy gallop 

So hopefully, he's on the mend - at least enough to be viable. After all, he doesn't have to perform brain surgery.

I've loads of photos on my phone but have no idea how to get them from there to here but I will post a few pics later.

Really appreciate all the positive vibes 

[Bionic]

Thats really good news Rosemary. Lets hope he continues in leaps and bounds.    for Charlie

[Factotum]

Sounds fine, he's probably over the worst bit now - wee skippy gallop is good - he'll be playing with his new herd sister before you know it.

It's amazing how obsessed we can get over them - pouring over small piles of poo, watching for a good stream of wee, making sure their ears are warm (for the earlier calves), checking for a full belly - the list is endless. The there's the Mum checks...

Hope you have a more relaxing day today and enjoy the glorious sunshine.

Sue

[jaykay]

That does sound good  Hopefully he's just been a slow starter - the blink response now sounds very positive.

Yes, he doesn't have to be able to do quadratic equations, as long as he's ok, bless him 

[SallyintNorth]

Weeing and nice yellow poo -  Charlie.  Well done Rosemary 

[Rosemary]

Little bugger kicked me tonight. I was moving them into a fresh paddock; all moved but Charlie. Blizz and I found him laid up under the trees - usual routine, got him up, he had a feed, a looooong wee and a poo (he seems to go into a trance when weeing / pooing  - is that a boy thing?). Then he took off down the field and I couldn't catch him!!! Then he kicked me - made contact too.

After all I've done for him 

[Factotum]

Talk about ungrateful - still I guess you'll get the ultimate revenge in about 30 months   

So glad he's getting on, I'm sure it's a great relief.

Sue

[Miss Piggy]

Sounds like he has turned the corner thank goodness, worrying 48 hrs, bet they will be racing round the field together very soon. It's great when you have two youngsters born close together and they tear around the field  like little hooligans in the playground. 

[shygirl]

so do you think he was a slow starter or had a difficult birth?
i lost a goat who wouldnt suckle and i never had a stomach tube. also had a worrying time when a foal couldnt find the teat and the mare wouldnt let me close enough to help, she was getting really weak but luckily was fine in the end. its scary at the time tho.
good luck to charlie

[HappyHippy]

So glad he's doing better 

[Rosemary]

so do you think he was a slow starter or had a difficult birth?

I don't know and I don't suppose I ever will. He's quite big for a Shetland but not huge in any breed terms and Shetlands have a good reputation for easy calving. From posts on here, bulls seem to be slower to get going, although that wasn't the case for us last year.

I don't know - with only two calves last year and two this, I don't have a wide experience to call on. Just thankful that he seems to be OK and that I'll have more experience to call on next year.

I was dreadfully worried about Breeze in particular coming out of the winter because I thought she was very thin, but her calf seems fine, better than fine actually  and she has plenty millk.

We didn't plan to calve as late as this, but this year it's turned out fine as there's now lots of grass for the cows and they look really well. If they had calved in April as I planned there would have been very little grass for them at a time when they needed it.

Such is smallholding, I suppose 

[Factotum]

How's Charlie today? - hope he's still doing well.


Sue

[happygolucky]

Hope he is doing OK...all males go into a trace while peeing!!

[Rosemary]

How's Charlie today? - hope he's still doing well.
Sue

Charlie update - he seems perfectly normal now. He's feeding well and careering around the field. The mums haven't let Bonny and him play together yet but Annie gets in on the act and she's quite rough with her wee bro, but he's quick at getting out of the way now 

[jaykay]

That's really good to hear