First Aid on a Ewe and Basic kit

One of the lifestyle changes that we quickly learned living on a farm and having animals is performing our own veterinary care on our livestock. We simply cannot call the vet for every little thing or have them come to the farm to do wound care daily. We do call the vet, but only when it is necessary and often we call to make that determination. 

That means we have to learn to give shots. This means we manage a pharmaceutical selection in a fridge. This means we have to not be squeamish. 

Knowing this level of animal first aid, having supplies on hand, and maintaining a good relationship with our vet has saved the lives of several animals on our farm.

Last week after shearing the sheep, somehow one of the ewes sliced a tendon on a fence. I went to take naked sheep pictures and found her bleeding and limping.  

So yesterday a friend was curious and asked what this was like so I thought I would post a walk through of the wound care:

First, when any injury happens it is important to clean the injured area, with sheep that means shearing bald around the area. Then they need an antibiotic (penicillin) to ward off infection and a tetanus shot. These guys sleep outside on the ground or in hay and the common tetanus bacteria is found in dirt (not rusty metal, like most believe). 

This is wrap and bandage that has to be daily changed for a while. The cut is just above the joint.

Her niece is in with her. They are 2 weeks apart and are best friends. Sheep are social animals and need a companion or the depression that sets in can hinder healing.

First we remove the old bandage. This stuff is what we call vet wrap, but it is exactly the same thing used on people- a self sticking bandage.  This part seems to cause her more discomfort than any other part of the process.

Notice I have a towel under where I am working. That is to keep hay from getting in the wound while it is exposed.

Chad is in charge of holding her while I do the work on the wound. Keeping her calm and not freaked out keeps us all safe from injury.

This is Ichthammol: hoof treatment, and skin antiseptic goo (Ichthy-goo for short). This gets applied to the wound. Gloves keep things cleaner, but also touching the wound with my bare hands to spread the goo does not appeal to me. You know? I am double gloved so I can slip the goo'd glove off and then still have on a glove to do the next part. 

Then the clean bandage goes on. In this picture you can see the old Ichthy-goo, not blood.  The actual cut, while serious, is actually pretty small.

The new wrap goes on. To get the tension right and not too tight, pull the length out to wrap and then wrap it around. I  took this one twice around the wound, once below the joint and once at the joint. 

And then she's good. It does look like it is healing and she is starting to put weight on it. I might have the vet come out and look at it next week to assess the next step in wound care- leaving it open to air and wrapping at night maybe? Or going more days between changing. Not sure how long we have to use Ichthy-goo either. We are learning that is for sure.

This wound is different than the predator injuries we have dealt with before. It was a clean cut and small. That doesn't mean it isn't serious though. The vet's first assessment was that if we don't get through this she might need amputation or to be put down. We are making this huge effort so we at least save her lamb. Even so, the vet is happy with her progress this week: clean wound and putting pressure on the leg to walk with it.

What we didn't have when we had our first animal related emergency injury was any supplies at all. I called a neighbor at midnight because when Chad hauled 4 injured lambs last year into my kitchen, all bleeding and torn up by a fresh coyote attack I had not a clue what to do or what to use. If I could go back and give the old me a list of basics this would be it:

Vet wrap. Lots of it. AT least 3 rolls.
Vet spray- a gel type spray on wound cleaner and protecting cover
Gauze pads, lots of them
Honey (to get the animals out of shock and hydrated, we mixed honey in warm water)
Penicillin and disposable hypodermic needles
Tetnus and disposable hypodermic needles
rubber gloves, both surgical ad dish gloves
a shearing razor, electric
mints, strong ones for people to suck on while working so the awful smells don't cause additional problems (like people puking)
tweezers
peroxide
fly spray made for wounds- we lost a ewe last year to screw fly larvae and almost lost our Hobbit dog too.

and bottled clean water.

Most of this can be kept in a fishing tackle box for easy to go access. Often we use a 5 gallon bucket with a cover though.

It isn't much, but that's a better start than the nothing we had on hand.

What would you have?

Buying a farm, updated

When I was little I wanted to be the first to volunteer to colonize other planets. Yes, I am dissappointed that now I am older, the chance has passed me by. Even if they were to open up a space station on a moon tomorrow, I am a proven risky breeder and too old. Bah.

But the daily chores on our farm made me realize that we are still colonizing THIS planet. Yesterday, I decided that sheep chores in February in Iowa is like sheep chores on Hoth. I need better gear or I am going to end up frozen and stranded with no Han Solo to rescue me.

Then my friend Jenny asked me for advice about buying a farm.

So I pointed her to this post.

But you know what? There's more. More that I know now.

#1 advice: Go slow.

If you build all your fences first, without knowing what you will need, you'll regret it. Same thing applies to buildings and business. As you grow, you'll see with experience what you will actually need. If you buy all your stuff up front, you'll have a lot of waste.

If something is hard, go slower. Running faster will only wear you out and ruin your common sense. Work smarter.

That said, other issues that I learned along the way:

11 acres or more=ag tax. HUGE difference over residential property tax. HUGE.

5 miles or less from fire department= insurance cost is significantly cheaper than if you are 5+ miles away. Not only that, 5 miles is a long way when your house is on fire or your kid is stuck in a hole.

Water. If your well is contaminated it is annoying. When you use that water to water livestock? Yeah. Rural water is expensive to pipe in, but still reasonable for people water. EXPENSIVE to water your livestock with. Just saying, because that's what we do. Don't even ask me about the bill when someone left the hose on overnight. Sigh.

Septic. Composting toilets are nice and all, but most people want a regular flushing toilet and sewer pipes that don't freeze.

Meth labs. Just trust me and walk the woods and pastures thoroughly before you buy. Our place is meth lab free, but I saw a few farms that were not.

Old abandoned wells. Know where they are.

Sensitive crop registery. Iowa has one. If you plan on not having all your bees killed and your livestock covered in soybean bug spray chemical hell, then register your farm.

Be prepared for your neighbors to hate you. Especially if you are doing things organically or naturally. More so if you register as a sensitive crop. Double that if you end up shooting their dog that is killing your livestock (didn't happen to me, but my aunt said to add that bit.....).  

More to come.....

Freeplay......

Dr. Cute

My Baby Babywearing

My Blueberry Girl babywearing her toddler girl. She said she was proving to me that I could still wear her. 

Note the criscross straps for better back support, but the waist strap is why this is a kid's MeiTei. It does not wrap and tie in the front, even on a 3 year old. Meh. The kids needed one to play with.

WHAT! She said she was giving the baby mommy milk in private, so she doesn't make anyone feel weird. She does NOT get that from me.

That's better.  Also, yup, nursing her toddler doll. Ha.

And if FaceBook takes down these breastfeeding pictures, I am going to laugh really, really hard.

Making Soap with Lye: Almost Wordless Wednesday

Almost wordless because I have to note, I am not in these pictures at all! This is my new neighbor and friend Karen Y. who is a wonderful resource and has twin 4 year old daughters that are a delight and a good match for my two boisterous girls. I am starting to get to know families in our area and drive to the big city less and so far I have been really blessed with friendship!

Mixed Emotions

It is true.

I stopped writing the blog. Honestly, I stopped hitting publish. My draft folder is full.

2011 was a horrible wonderful year. Mostly though I was stomped in the face by it. It has been hard to get up.

Last Spring Isaac was diagnosed with 22q11 deletion syndrome, also known as (Partial) DiGeorge Syndrome.

Go ahead. Look it up. I did. If I thought the lab test mishandling during the pregnancy was bad, the slam down of being told this and looking it up....I have no words. And that's why no blog.

Worry was my mantra. That's a hard word to breathe day in and day out. So we started the rounds of tests to find out how 22q has settled in his body. Renal ultrasounds- check- he has both kidneys. Echocardiogram- check- his heart is perfectly formed and functioning. Immunology doc was a total jerkwad and even though he SAYS all the results came back perfect, he wouldn't hand them over to me. That's a whole story of its own.

So we went to Minnesota to a Children's hospital where they know about 22q and they actually treat the patients and Mamas with respect, like a partner in patient care.

So far, the only thing we can find is that his motor skills are slightly delayed and he's slightly low on insulin growth hormone factor. Even that low is still in normal range. He's little. 5% range. But he's a funny little dude. And so happy! And I am only 4 ft 10 inches, so being little is genetically possible.

And he's deaf. How deaf we do not know, other than Moderate to severe hearing loss. We have a test next week to determine extent and fit for hearing aids.

I struggle with sharing his story here. I struggle with opening up my child's medical file for the world to see when he has no say in it. And if I start getting more readers? My life as a reality show via blogger?

But what if people started hearing our story? Started advocating for their own care? Saw how beautiful children with genetic anomolies are? Prayed for us, prayed with us? I don't think we even shared his diagnosis with our church. I have totally turned in. Many of my friends don't even know.

I'm just not settled yet. I don't want to get attention for his medical condition and struggles. That's not fair to him. I know because I grew up with seeing that played out and how that can feel. Not cool. But there are other families out there, moms who feel as alone as I do at times, struggling too.

Tonight in one of the online support groups I found, a particular thread caught me off guard. and I ended up sobbing again. I'm up until 3am most morning and up again at 7am. Working these days on 4 hours of sleep. I'm here, but not really here for any of my kids. Caught on the phone with specialists, researching medical articles, traveling......or even just thinking and reflecting about it. Then on the floor doing physical work with Isaac. Praying that he catches up. Praying that the doctors will leave us alone, that someone will say it was all a mistake, another lab mix up.

Then grading papers, farm chores, selling pork, paying bills, keeping house, laundry, dishes, cooking.....

And at the end of the day there is nothing left of me. So tired.

Just watching the baby sleep can send me into tears. He's so perfect. So sweet. So happy. But he has this 22q11 dna sequence that has parts missing and that means something. But what? How will it show up? Why can't we find it? Not knowing is so hard. So grateful that the big pieces are ok, heart and cleft and thymus, but something is missing and we don't know what.

SOPA and PIPA are huge obstacles to the continuation of free speech and a free press. It's clear that the politicians supporting them have no idea how the fundamental pieces of this legislation will effect everyday life on the Internet. It's not about piracy - it's about greed and control. http://sopastrike.com/

This link has a good example of how law abiding web sites would be shut down by this legislation - http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111220/03135817138/myth-that-sopapipa-only-impact-foreign-sites.shtml

Lots more information here - they've been following this story for a long time. http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=sopa

Physics

New Traditions

Real tree. Surprisingly I am not actually allergic to pine trees.  

I got rid of all the plastic balls and pretty for pretty's sake ornaments. I was hesitant because we have cats and little kids. What I kept was anything handmade, glass, or nutcracker themed because I love that ballet a lot. The kids make ornaments in art class and we have plenty besides that. The tree may not be loaded with baubles but it is very pretty.

My brother, Uncle T, brought his beautiful family for a visit. We made Tootalini's and drank lots of coffee. He is just back from Afghanistan and is hanging a soldier ornament. Then of course his wife broke out into song and dance, "Soulja Boy".....cute. And kind of ....well, I hope my girls never get the references in it. Thank you Urban Dictionary. 

Lil'Bug carefully hung each one, on the right side of the bottom of the tree.

I pointed that out. She called me a grinch.  I wore my elf hat, she wore her elf hat. 

Lil'Bug decorated most of the tree. Blueberry Girl crashed early, but when she got up in the morning and every morning since, she says, "Good MORNING CHRISTMAS! GOOD MORNING TREE! HAS SANTA BROUGHT ME A POGO STICK?!" and then she checks. Not yet kiddo.

Cousin J. The artist! 

Watching Annie. The room always gets like this mid afternoon.
 

Is it just me or is it hard for other people to see their little brothers all grown up?

Speaking of little brothers......Zap is giving his sisters a run for it this week, He bites now. He has two itty bitty teeth on the bottom and he leans over to fake out a kiss.......CHOMP. Giggle giggle. And then he laughs some more.