A very difficult decision recently had to be made concerning our dear Trixie. Tests have confirmed that Trixie contracted CL, a highly contagious, volatile disease of which there is no cure. In order to not only protect the rest of our herd but also to ensure she doesn't suffer, the decision was made to put poor Trixie down. Due to the nature of the disease and the fact that very little is known about it, we agreed to donate Trixie to the Ontario Veterinary College. As horrible as this may sound, we had to consider that very little is known about goat health in general still and that the future of health and wellness for goats relies heavily on the donations of animals to the school so that future generations of Vets can learn "hands on". Trixie will spend the next two weeks being examined and handled by future veterinarians, and we hope that it will be through working with Trixie that some student there will decide to become a caprine specialist or even find a cure for CL. She will be very well looked after and receive a great deal of attention and love while staying there and she will in turn teach these students more than any book ever could. Before Trixie begins to suffer the effects of her disease she will be humanely euthanized. Her legacy will be through the education of the students who will get to know her in the next few weeks and the love we all have for her in our hearts. Farewell dear Trixie. You will always be remembered for your feisty attitude and attention getting "love bites". We love you Big Mamma xoxoxo. You will be greatly missed :o(
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Dixie has given birth to two healthy little girls!!! They are both just over 5 pounds and arrived when I wasn't even here to greet them! Daniel was home but Geordon and I were 45 minutes away delivering a horse to its new home and had visit his parents when we got the call. A stressful drive home saw us getting home to two little bundles of wet fluff and a very eager new Mom. Dixie is doing really well and has taken to being a Mom without any issues. Both little girls have the same Alpine markings that Dixie has but one is white and black and the other is brown and black. They are both just so precious! The Stisted Fair is a favorite of mine in Muskoka as it is exactly the same today as it was when it began 126 years ago. I am on the Board of Directors for this fair currently as the secretary and take a great deal of pride in the people that come out to exhibit and take part in this fair every year. This year we did not bring any horses or donkeys, but instead brought some goats and I entered into the photography class for the first time. Our goats did very well, but of course they would! There really wasn't any goaty competition except for another yearling doe that placed 3rd in the dry doe class. Billie looked very cute sporting his ribbon for Best Kid though! I entered into 16 different photography classes and placed with 8 firsts, 4 seconds and 4 thirds! I think I did really well! I didn't have the time or luxury of taking too many photos this year at the fair sadly as I was working it and Dixie started to show signs of going into labour. We did not stay late, that's for sure! 5/14/2012 1 Comment August comes to an end as quickly as it arrived. - Original Post date - 08/31/2011Where does the time go? I can't believe that today is the last day of August already! The nights are getting colder and the fog a little thicker as summer comes to an end. I have noticed a lot more leaves on the ground lately. Before we know it fall will be in full swing! Still no babies to report but Dixie is in the kidding pen and not very comfortable today. She is eating like a horse as well so she must be getting ready! If she gets any bigger I fear she will burst. It is hard to tell in the photo because of her ear but she is WIDE! Trixie is still sick. We had our vet out again today to deal with the large abscess she had on her jaw and to take more samples for testing. She is now in isolation from the rest of the herd and not happy about it at all. I hope we find answers soon for her so we at least know what she is dealing with. She still has milk but if she was bred she would be due now as well as Dixie and she just doesn't look pregnant! Once she is better we will be able to ultrasound her to see if she has babies. Daniel has been busy job hunting again. He has had 3 job offers in the last week which is awesome for him. None will start until after this weekend though so once they come through with some hours he will be able to decide where he wants to work. Alyssa left for PEI today. She left us on Sunday to head to her Dad's house to finish preparing to leave. They will be driving through the USA for the next couple of days to get there and she has already been sending me pictures from her phone! It is very quiet without her here. I miss her antics and the guaranteed laugh. I look forward to seeing her on Skype when she gets settled. The Stisted Fall Fair is fast approaching. I hope that I will have some goats to show that day! With Dixie in the kidding pen and Trixie out of commission, that leaves only Billie and Bonnie to show. I guess we will just have to wait and see next week! Once again, my apologies for not writing more regularly. This summer has been one that I won't soon be forgetting - and not for the good times! Well, there have been a few of those though as well.
So to the new happenings on the meadows... Well, Daniel has decided to spread his wings and try living on his own. He has been gone for two weeks now and so far he is doing good. He is living with the family of one of his good friends and seems to be thriving on the freedom. I know he will continue to do great and hopefully juggling full time work and his last high school credit in a few weeks won't be too much on him. The mystery of the pregnant goat that never gives birth may have been solved today once and for all. Poor Trixie, it has all been such an ordeal for her. I had our vet, Kelli Drost out today for a visit and to see what Trixie's udder was suddenly much bigger on one side. It turns out the poor girl has mastitis which may be caused from a lymph node problem. As this may be a highly contagious problem so she has had to be isolated until she runs through a course of antibiotics over the next few days and being milked and given an udder treatment. She really does have the tiniest teats ever! At least she stands quietly while being "milked". So Kelli, informed me that once she is treated she may dry right up and display no signs of pregnancy! So for the next few days we will have to wait and see how she does. I can't believe after all these months of waiting and preparing for Trixie to have babies she may not in fact have any! The big surprise of the day today was learning that not only is Dixie definitely pregnant like we suspected, but Kelli feels she should give birth within a few days! I am dumbfounded by being kinda caught by surprise on this one. We suspected she may be bred but figured that nothing would happen until after Trixie gave birth. Kelli informs us that Dixie will be the first to give birth. I just hope she waits until Trixie comes out of the kidding pen! I hope we become better goat farmers than we have been so far! In other goat related news, the boys - always so funny and entertaining have begun to enter into rut - breeding season - which is causing them to act out more aggressively and let's just say that the odour they cause is creating some havoc around here. Geordon and I are even contemplating not keeping bucks now after all and looking into some kind of AI for future breedings. This is only the earliest stages of rut as well; we have months more of this and it will only get worse! I can't imagine how bad things will smell around here in the fall when they are fully in rut... I don't think I want to imagine it either. Just a few more days and I will be done with school work for the rest of the summer! I can't even begin to explain how exciting that it for me! August is shaping up to be a crazy busy month, with
multiple trips to Toronto and driving the kids around for work, so I guess for that reason alone it will be nice to not have school assignments to worry about as well. Daniel finally secured himself a job! He had suffered from some serious let downs earlier this month when he was hired at a local camp, then laid off the same day, then rehired a few days later, then told he wasn't needed again after all. Seriously, some people have no hearts at all! The good news is, with perseverance and a good show of initiative he was hired at East Side Mario's last night! He went in for a trial shift and was hired almost immediately. It is nice to see him smile with accomplishment again. We have finally decided that Trixie, who we were told was bred when we got her - was in fact either not bred or had a false pregnancy. Strangely enough though, we think she is still pregnant but it would be by our Shaemus instead of an unknown buck. As we were told she was bred we didn't worry too much about mingling the herd while we finished some fencing earlier this year. She is still happy and active and growing everyday! I'm going to have to have a conversation with our vet about all this though to see if we can determine when she would be due now. We are also having a sneaking suspicion that Dixie has also been bred by Shaemus. What a busy little man he has been! It seems too much to hope for babies after all this time has been passed with waiting already, but I just can't help myself! We want baby goats!!! Well, another long break between posts but at least I return to write some more! This summer is flying past so quickly, it is really hard to imagine where it has all gone to. The last week has been spent dying and complaining from an incredible heat wave that didn't seem to want to quit. With a storm that came in Saturday, the wave is finally broken and today seems blessedly cool out for a change! This past weekend was spent at Earl Rowe Provincial Park in Alliston, ON where the Horner side of my family gets together for a reunion. The weather was hot and steamy as it always seems to be like when we are there. Not all of the family could attend this year so it was a small gathering but all who attended still enjoyed themselves. The pool at Earl Rowe is definitely everyone's favorite place to spend time. It is built like a big pond with a gradual slope all the way around into the deeper part which is still only 5 feet deep at the deepest. Someone told me the pool is actually 3 acres in size which makes it seem spacious - even when crowded during a heat wave! There are no pictures of the pool though because for some silly reason I forgot that I now own a waterproof camera! Next year it cannot be forgotten! It really is a nice time getting together with the family. I look forward to seeing everyone together again all year, but I get the most excitement about being around all the new additions to the family! Watching the youngest family members grow one year at a time is really bittersweet and reminds us all that we need to continue this tradition of getting together. My cousin BJ and his beautiful wife Stacy brought the newest additions to the family this year with their twins - Draven and Ceil. Twice blessed with these little angels, they were lucky enough to have a boy and a girl! The beautiful picture accompanying this post is of my dear Aunt Jackie feeding Draven. She has such a beautiful proud glow around her when she looks at her new grandchildren. It makes my heart smile! All of the little ones are a year older and so much bigger than they were at last year’s reunion. It saddens me in some ways to wonder how much bigger and different they will all be at next year’s annual gathering... What a week! School really jumped on me all of a sudden this last week with so many assignments all due in one week - 6 in all, including a major research paper for my history class. I think my butt is permanently flat on the bottom now from sitting so much this week! So, today is the first day in weeks that I don't have looming assignments to work on. With only 3 weeks left in school for me this summer, I can feel a holiday coming on. Today I have zero motivation and I don't really care either! Geordon is outside working on new outhouses for the Stisted Fair, Daniel is away with his girlfriend on a 36km paddle down the Magnettewan River today for a fundraiser, Alyssa is at work, and I just came back in from enjoying some sunshine with the goats and dogs. The otter family that lives in our back yard came out to tell us all off for disturbing their peace and I managed to snap this picture of one of them. The dogs get quite upset for being told off by otters. We put Dixie back in with the girls today. Her head isn't completely healed yet, but if she can remember not to butt anyone with it she'll be fine. She is getting fat from being cooped up for two weeks now in the stall. It is high time she get out and exercising again! Still no babies out of Mama yet..... :o/ What a beautiful day today! The sun is warm and inviting, the animals are quiet in the heat of the day and the bugs seem hardly noticeable. Hopefully the weekend has weather that is just as wonderful. So graduation day was yesterday. Sadly for Daniel, he isn't quite done with high school yet. He was just shy of making it this time around but will be able to earn his last credit quickly and easily this summer. Alyssa received her diploma though and looked beautiful in her cap and gown, so full of smiles and joy. We are very proud of both of their accomplishments and know that no matter what they will both find their place in the world. So it is official now, the kids are home for the summer! Daniel and Alyssa both wrote their final high school exams today and are as of now done high school forever! It is extra special today though, as today marks Alyssa's 18th birthday as well. We enjoyed some homemade chicken alfredo and cake to celebrate and now everyone is quietly doing their own thing. I know both Alyssa and Daniel are thinking about where they're both going to get jobs this summer. I hope they both find jobs they like anyways. For Daniel it is far more important to find a good job as he isn't going off to university in the fall and will need to be working full time from now on. Their graduation ceremony is on Thursday and I am anxiously awaiting the confirmation call that Daniel managed to pass all his courses. I will be a blubbering fool, crying and proud when I
finally get to see them both graduate! Dixie is still healing from her dehorning. She is getting a little stir crazy being cooped up in the pen but I get her out for a few walks by herself during the day. Today the flies had both her and I running as they were determined to land on her head. I am far too paranoid about the possibility of maggots to allow for that to happen and I think she sensed trouble as well. It was funny that she and I seemed to have the same thoughts though and run for the pen at the same time. We keep a sprayer in there so it is blissfully fly free in her stall. She is getting spoiled by that even though I know she wants to be out with her friends. Once the holes are scabbed over we will let her back with the others but I don't think that will be for a few days yet. And still....no babies from Trixie...... :o( |
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.”
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