Thursday, January 10, 2013

Disaster of a day yesterday

On a farm you've got to take the bad as well as the good.
Yesterday was a bad day.

Truffle was due to give birth. The day before yesterday she had been making all the signs. Restless, keeping herself to herself, visiting the dung pile, walking that funny way. We checked her often and everything seemed normal. Sometimes they do this then don't even give birth for another week!

Anyway, yesterday morning she was looking pretty uncomfortable and I had a bad feeling. I checked her and there was a small amount of bloody discharge - I was sure that wasn't right, so we spoke to Christine at Naturally Alpacas and she said - nope not right, call the vet.
The vet was here in 15 minutes - no idea how she managed that. I can only assume she left while still on the phone talking to Lloyd.

The news wasn't good. The cria was very big and in breech position. It was also dead.

To get all this way and to die at the last hurdle. It's completely heartbreaking.

It's also incredibly rare to have a breech. Some alpaca breeders go their whole lives without having one. Poor Truffle was just terribly unlucky. Some breeches can be delivered but again it's incredibly rare and most die. The vet assured us that even if she'd come earlier it was completely unlikely that anything could have been done. And as Truffle had been looking normal yesterday we would have never known.

Not that that makes us feel any better.
Thankfully the vet (who we hadn't seen before) was amazing. Calm, and fast and very caring. It can't be nice for them either.

Truffle is dosed up with antibiotics and anti inflammatories and seems to be alright. She was up and about this morning having breakfast. She still looks a wee bit uncomfortable, but hopefully she'll be ok. I can only think that it must be terrible for her.

The cria is buried near the orchard, along with the chickens, and 2 of our cats, it's getting awfully busy in there :( I hate this.

And we feel like crap.






32 comments:

  1. I am so sorry for this loss there at your farm. Bless your hearts.

    Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady Lorraine

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    1. Thank You, Lorraine
      we're a bit better today. xxx

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  2. Sometimes it does suck, I agree. We've our own little cemetery here too. Hope you have a better day today. Lots of love xxx

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    1. thankfully Truffle seems ok today, quiet but ok. whew xx

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  3. Oh Laura, I am so sorry! I can't imagine how hard that must have been. I know it doesn't help, but there was nothing you could have done to prevent this or know that it was coming. Sometimes those are the hardest things to deal with.

    Hang in there.

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    1. I've spoken to a couple of big alpaca breeders today and it seems that there really was nothing we could have done and it was just incredibly unlucky.It's a relief we did nothing wrong, Still sucks though.

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  4. So sorry to hear of your loss, Laura, my heart goes out to you. Things happen sometimes that are beyond our control, good luck with your other birthings,

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    1. Thank you, Gay. And thank you too for the lovely email. It was so kind of you to take the time to do all that and it really helped. xx

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  5. Oh sad :( I'm so sorry Laura. I can imagine that it never gets any easier to see the loss of life, especially when it's supposed to be the beginning of life. Sending you a big hug. Hang in there.

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    1. It really doesn't!
      But we still have Truffle :)

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  6. So sad for you all Laura. It's a tough time all round it seems. Wishing you happier days - Wendyx

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  7. I am so sorry to hear about Truffle & her cria, some things are not mean't to be but it is extremely sad for all, I hope she will be back to her usual self soon. Your vet sounds wonderful. xx

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    1. Ali, the vet was wonderful. I'm going to organise some cake boxes from the baker in town and then make a lot of cupcakes to the to the vets.We're lucky to have them.

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  8. So sorry to hear this news. Its incredibly sad to lose an animal, large or small.

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  9. Poor mummy....its such a shame when they have done all the work and the babies are ready... :( You wonder if they understand at all...I bet they do.....

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    1. oh I know they do - they must. She looks a bit forlorn today. Bless her.

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  10. So sorry to hear your news. It must be incredibly heartbreaking.

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    1. sure is, you tend to feel a bit battered by it all.

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  11. Each time you have posted photos of your wonderful alpacas I have always been insanely jealous. You take such good care of them that it doesn't seem fair for this kind of thing to happen. I hope Truffle makes a full recovery and that you will be able to tell us some more happy stories about her soon.

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    1. Jo, thank you so much. We really do try to take care of them well, I was terrified there was something we should have done sooner, but I really think it wasn't meant to be. Truffle does seem to be ok today. I'm sure it'll take her a wee while to be back to normal, but at least we still have her. Yep, I'll make sure the next stories are happy ones. x

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  12. Anonymous7:25 pm

    So sad for Truffle and her cria. Sending hugs to you all. Louise

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  13. Oh gosh how truly awful, poor, poor Truffle, and poor little baby, a life unlived is so sad on a farm.

    No more words, just heartfelt prayers and hugs for you all.

    Sue xx

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    1. Always know the right things to say, Sue xxx

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  14. Ohhhh. I'm so sorry. I agree with the others that you take very good care of your alpacas and that these things sometimes just happen. xoxoxoxo

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  15. Oh, no! How sad for every one of you involved! To have such expectation dashed is so heart-breaking. I am sure this was an anomaly then and you'll never have to feel such a loss again. Thinking of you and all the critters you love so dear.

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    1. I hope so too. I supose it remains to be seen if we breed from her again - this shouldn't happen again, but I just feel so sorry for her and what she's been through :(

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  16. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to you and yours and Truffle. Xx

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I love it when you leave me comments, it lets me know there are folk out there reading my ramblings! Thank you, I appreciate them loads and loads
Laura x