Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Our small herd!  (Read 7625 times)

Factotum

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2015, 07:17:13 pm »
Oh dear, that's sad news. I assume you'll be following the last advice.

That's one of the things about keeping livestock I guess - we have to take the hard decisions about their welfare because we care about their welfare.

Poor Judith, poor you.

Sue

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #16 on: June 17, 2015, 07:50:22 pm »
 :( Well, you couldn't have done any more  :hug:

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #17 on: June 17, 2015, 09:09:56 pm »
That is an awful start to your cattle keeping career.
I hope you don't loose heart, your Shetlands will reward you in the end.

Tighnaneun

  • Joined Apr 2015
  • Rogart, NE Scotland
    • Facebook
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #18 on: June 17, 2015, 10:58:00 pm »
I hope it gets better. Poor Judith.

Bekka

  • Joined Jan 2014
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2015, 03:06:55 pm »
Aww I am so sorry. Not a nice decision to have to make.
My girl is only 4 though so feel like I should keep fighting! She is really good in herself, just incredibly skinny. On the upside, I do have an amazing friendly Shetland hand rear calf best friend now!

Tighnaneun

  • Joined Apr 2015
  • Rogart, NE Scotland
    • Facebook
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #20 on: June 26, 2015, 09:43:05 am »
Douglasbrae came at half seven this morning. The driver was very understanding, quick, professional and friendly. She was skin and bones and had stopped eating altogether in the last couple of days, so I was glad to see her out of her misery, but so utterly heartbroken that we had to do this at all. I hate losing animals.

The driver mentioned there are a lot of cases of Johne's going on up in Caithness, almost double the usual. We had her blood and faeces tested for Johne's and they both came back negative so we are okay (for now).

We tried to organise a post mortem but Douglasbrae (the only knackers up north) won't take carcasses to the SRUC center in Inverness, they have to have a totally sterile lorry with no other bodies in it to do that and it just isn't economical for them or the farmer. We couldn't transport the body ourselves as you need a leak-proof stock trailer and various paperwork and we couldn't take her down live as that would have been a welfare issue. The vets would have charged us at least double what SRUC charges (£160+) so in the end we had to accept that we would never find out what it was that was wrong with her.

Judith had a lot of symptoms of Johne's but we ruled out that and a few other infectious diseases, after speaking to Animal Health and SRUC they think it was either a tumour or liver failure. One other dairy farmer I spoke to thought it may have been that she had a wire or something in one of her stomachs. My theory was that she had bad teeth brought on by stress of losing the calf in Feb, but when we checked before she went on the DB lorry her back teeth were okay, her front teeth were about to fall out.

There isn't one conclusion to Judith's story, no one thing that would have saved her, but we have had a steep learning curve, have learnt many lessons about keeping cows. Happy to say that the other three are still going strong though, Gunna is like a pig.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2015, 10:28:17 am by Tighnaneun »

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #21 on: June 26, 2015, 11:03:37 am »
Sad to hear there wasn't a happy outcome. Glad the othesr are well and thriving - thaht's how they usually are. You coming to the SCBA AGM in October?

Tighnaneun

  • Joined Apr 2015
  • Rogart, NE Scotland
    • Facebook
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #22 on: June 26, 2015, 12:01:29 pm »
I hope so, October is a busy month for me but I'll try to get down to it.

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Our small herd!
« Reply #23 on: June 26, 2015, 12:30:15 pm »
I am sorry to hear about that, its never nice to lose any animal. I have attached some quotes I hope you like :)

The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it's possible to achieve the American dream.

Tommy Hilfiger


Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

Marie Curie





« Last Edit: June 26, 2015, 12:33:27 pm by waterbuffalofarmer »
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

 

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