More health stuff

It's pretty quiet with the herd just now. All are fine (dare I say it!).

The crias are growing well and now it's hard to tell some of the white fluffies apart. Almond, the brown one, is easy!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon checking them and giving their annual Lambivac booster (against clostridial diseases). The youngest cria, Askival, was due his second booster, so we used the rest of the vial to vax the adults. All went well, just the usual spitting and growling when they were being handled.

As we're leaving most of the herd open till next spring, some of the girls are - to put it indelicately - gagging for it. Every time we're working with them they think a male is about to be produced, so they either stand like a rock waiting for his ministrations, or drop to the floor. This can be quite handy when doing vaccinations, but not great if you're trying to move them about the pens!

We think we have three preggos - Bella, our big Alianza girl who did not have a cria this summer, maiden Sidhe and Hayley, who just doesn't act right if open so was mated in late summer. All are to Ashby our black boy, as our main stud Groove was not available at the crucial time.

Choccie had a swelling on her udder last week, so I caught up with her to have a good look, and it seemed on inspection and feel that one teat is just much more developed than the others. I took warm cloths with me suspecting a blocked duct, and put those on, massaged down towards the teat, and I think perhaps there was some yogurt in there which came out, which would indicate a blockage or small lump, although her udder felt soft and not lumpy. I also picked a small lump on the outside, which was pusy, so I think maybe I caught it all in time. She is fine now and certainly plenty of milk was skooshing out, and Almond is feeding fine from her.

Tannara's abscess continues to improve. It is still not totally healed over and still a bit scabby, but I picked off most of that yesterday and it was not oozing any pus. The swelling on her bone has gone down too. We'll continue to keep a close eye on her over the colder months.

Speaking of which.... we've had a couple of frosty mornings, but this week's been much milder and the girls have been sunbathing in their alternative field - their main one with the proper field shelters is being rested for a few weeks ready for winter.

That's it for now.