In the second of our series on successful breeding, Jack Smellie talks to her vet Kate Stevens
Our very first livestock birth back when we started out as smallholders was not a birth at all, or at least not a live one. It was two aborted kids on day 120 of the pregnancy, the tragic result of what our then vet suspected to be tick-borne fever in their mum a few days earlier. The goat in question, Whey, had had a soaring temperature and had been very poorly for at least 24 hours. We hadn’t even heard of tick-borne fever but when we spoke to the vet the next day, we remember saying with glee how Whey was so much better now, only to see her face fall. ‘The kids may have died inside her,’ she said. ‘Whey had a very high temperature and it may have been too much for her unborn kids to cope with.’
Whey was seemingly fully recovered, happily chewing the cud and looking very huge around her midriff. The vet was right though. So we then asked the inevitable question: ‘What could we have done?’ The response was: ‘Nothing really...’ Well, we could have treated both our goats with a spot-on or similar (we treat our dogs after all) - that may have helped.
Our initial call to the vet when Whey became ill had been made on the emergency line. Kate Stevens, our current vet, estimates that 80% of the emergency calls received at her practice will be to do with breeding or breeding related incidents (and we were given very similar figures by two other practices we spoke to). A certain percentage of these calls could perhaps be avoided if the livestock breeder had done something different or was experienced enough to deal with the situation themselves.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2017-Ausgabe von Country Smallholding.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2017-Ausgabe von Country Smallholding.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
The Secret World Of The Honey Bee
Who knew that honey bees are the best builders? Nicola Bradbear from Bees for Development reveals how they build their parallel wax combs with extraordinary accuracy
Tip the light fantastic
The latest offering from Ifor Williams Trailers is the Single Axle Tipper, which is simply perfect for small-scale farmers
The legacy of The Good Life
The Good Life captured the public’s imagination when it first aired in 1975. On Country Smallholding’s 45th birthday, Jeremy Hobson looks at this and other programmes with a self-sufficiency slant that have captivated urban and rural dwellers alike over nearly half a century
‘The hens took shelter under the pig trailer in the paddock'
A tree Armageddon frightens poultry diarist Julian Hammer’s flock and leaves him with a mammoth clear-up job
Tools of the trade
In the second part of his mini-series on tools that are useful around the holding, Kevin Alviti takes an in-depth look at the iconic scythe, a thistle paddle and forks that were once virtually indispensable to small-scale farmers
The nightclub bouncer of the sheep world
Adam Henson waxes lyrical about the Texel, which boasts such a stocky body that it resembles a box of muscle on four legs
Buying on a tight budget
As demand for smallholdings increases and prices continue to rise, is there a way to achieve your dream without forking out a fortune? In the first part of a new mini-series, Liz Shankland explores the possibilities
Crazy for crafts
In an ordinary back garden and single paddock near Kidderminster, Kay Dalloway has created both a thriving smallholding and a successful fibre business — all while working full time for the NHS. Helen Babbs drops by to find out about her ventures
Game on
A little preparation in the autumn months will help to make the transition into winter smoother and put your garden and tools on a better footing come the spring, says Stephanie Bateman
1975 And All That
Country Smallholding is 45 this month. To celebrate, Jeremy Hobson takes a look at some of the changes — both good and bad — to small-scale farming over that near half-century