The Woolley Farm

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Originally uploaded by The Woolley Farm.

Last night at 10pm I looked in upon Onyx, who was resting comfortably, VERY comfortably, on top of the heating vent, wrapped in my good beach towel, and her head on my best living room velvet pillow. Thanks Brandon for using that pillow—remind me to teach you how to CLEAN IT!

This morning she is down cellar in the rehab section with Cookie and she was able to stand & try to get away from us. She is munching 2nd crop hay and feeling like a princess. Another 2 days of shots for “Sheep Stress Syndrome” and she’ll be able to go back outside.

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Originally uploaded by The Woolley Farm.

Here is the family of 5 that comes down from the upper woods into the apple orchard every afternoon. The little ones jump and dance and play. The older does stand watch but don’t mind the horses coming up and don’t seem to mind us being out in the yard doing chores. I’ll have to drag the rest of the fall apples out of the basement & put them out in the orchard for them to enjoy.

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Originally uploaded by The Woolley Farm.

Today I looked out the kitchen window and saw 4 legs waving feebly in the far corner of the pasture. I ran out and found Onyx tangled up in the electro net. She was on her back, what shepherds call ‘cast’. Her horns & legs were tangled in the netting and it looked like she had been there since last night.

I ran to the barn & got tin snips and cut the wires. She wouldn’t stand and I knew that she had to get her rhumen back in working order. Being cast can easily kill a sheep. So I got a plastic orange saucer that the grandkids use and pulled/pushed her onto it, then slowly dragged her back to the gate. There was no way to get her thru the gate & into the barn. By this time, the wind & rain had picked up. So I got a plastic sheet, put her on it, and piled blankets on top of her and pushed her into an upright position next to the stone wall.

For the next 2 hours I rubbed her down with towels, gave her sheep drench, and made warm molasses tea & drenched her 2 ounces at a time.

Brandon got home and carried her inside. Her temp was 87* and she should have been dead. We have her on top of the strongest heating duct in our formal dining room (note the antique hooked rugs in the picture) and we’re warming her with a hair blower, towels, the heating duct, and more warm water flavored with molasses.

Meanwhile, Cookie is about the same, still not able to stand and now she’s coughing so we gave her penicillan to ward off pneumonia.

On top of all that, when I was rescuing Onyx I found a baby deer (last springs fawn) that had apparently jumped the rock wall, hit a tree, and broke it’s neck. It’s been dead about 5 days. I wonder if it’s part of the littel family that hangs out in the orchard. How terribly sad. I hate to see nature accidents, but they do happen.

And with 60 head of sheep & goats, we’re bound to have some sick ones or accidents.