Welcome to Relaxed Farming
- Alpacas
- Chickens
- Dairy Goats
- Ducks
- Geese
- Pigs
- Pygmy Goats
- Quail
- Rabbits
- Sheep
- Turkeys
- Polytunnel
- Photo Stories
- Video Stories
- Food
- Smallholding Map
- 2013
- 2014
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
Thursday, 16th January 2014
Parsley, our black and white pygmy nanny came back into season today. Back before Christmas we reported how although she had been 'served' (i.e. mated) by the pygmy billy on the farm she was visiting, she kept coming back into season every few days (not normal). Her last season was Christmas day which was 22 days ago, 22 days is quite a normal 'gap' between seasons (17-21 being more usual). The fact she has come back into season means she is definitely NOT pregnant.
We had the vet take another look at her and the conclusion is she may have endometritis: this is an inflammation of the lining of the uterus which is likely to prevent fertilisation taking place despite sperm being present inside her. The recommendation is that as soon as Parsley NEXT comes into season, we immediately take her back to the billy and straight away after mating give her some antibiotics. These will hopefully kill off the infection causing the inflammation and so allow the billy's sperm to fertilise her eggs. If she STILL does not get pregnant then further investigations will need to be done.
Parsley is not in any pain or suffering in any way. Our problem however will then be that if she does get pregnant and have kids, her kids will be so much younger than the rest: not ideal for when we want to sell them! Goat kids need to be three months old before they can leave their mums and so if a potential buyer wants a kid from one of the first kiddings and then one from Parsley, they will need to wait for the younger kids to be three months, by which time the older ones might be five months old!! We will just have to see what happens...
We also got the vet to see Elizabeth, our turkey who was attacked by the fox on 20th November. We were concerned that a large hole that has appeared where she pecked off a scab is a tad smelly so could be infected. The vet was very impressed at how well Elizabeth is doing considering her injuries and has prescribed oral antibiotics for two weeks to kill any nasty bugs off. In the vet's words: 'don't give up on her'... Good old Elizabeth!!
