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Wednesday 9 June 2010

Mixed blessings

Today has been a bit of a roller coaster emotionally, poor old (5yrs) West has never been far from my thoughts , and after the initial flurry of activity to get a postmortem sorted at Shrewsbury VLA there is not much more I can do except sit and wait . The vet says it is unlikely to be anything that will be of concern to the others, fingers crossed, the wethers in the field with West have all looked a bit subdued and a little bit lost , but maybe that's just me. Talking to the local farmers , who have been very sympathetic , a diagnosis is emerging - apparently yesterday at approx 2.30 threre was a humm dinger of a thunderclap and a lot of lightening ( thou not the rain we so desperately need) and all the animals went berserk , the sheep farmer said all his sheep were shocked into silence and then all hell broke loose. Could this be what killed West? the timing fits , my rough estimate was that he had been dead about 4 hours when I found him at 7.30 , judging by the level of rigor etc , and there was no sign of a struggle , heart attack is where my money goes at present.

Anyway on a happier note , i collected our puppy , Jasmine, today. She is an 8week old black lab , and truly gorgeous . The boys are thrilled with her , and she is currently sleeping peacefully after a very tiring 20 minutes with the boys !

5 comments:

Debbie, Barnacre Alpacas said...

Glad to hear you have something possitive to focus on, I'm sure the puppy will keep you all entertained.

Eliane said...

Sorry about West. Will be interesting to hear what the cause was.

As for Jasmine. How lovely - I'll tell the girls. E will be excited and L a bit nervous. Have you any pigs this year or are sticking to alpacas, cats, chickens and dogs....?

Millie said...

So sorry to hear about West. I always get nervous during thunderstorms because my cows like to stay outside under the trees, and lightening strikes are always a threat. Glad to hear the puppy is great.

Patou Alpacas said...

So sorry to read about your terrible news. I can only imagine how you must feel.
All the best.

Lois Evensen said...

I'm so sorry about West. Yes, I am sure animals can die from shock when they are terribly frightened. What is so sad is that even if we are with them at the time we cannot explain that thunder and lightning will be over soon.

On your happy note, WOW! A Lab puppy is one of the happiest things that can happen to any family! We have two Labs and love them silly. :)