Bernard with a beard has appeared and is cutting the hedges on the lane – at last. The air is full of the scent of cut vegetation intermingled with diesel. The lane is full of pot holes but it will be marvellously wide now if bumpy.
Alex spotted one of the cria coming up the hill real slow on Saturday. He’s eight weeks old and just stood there in the yard with his ears back. When we weighed himn he was about five kilos lighter than another cria the same age. Chas put his new IGG kit to good use, took a little blood, spun it in his new small centrifuge and found the level was just 688, far too low. The cria got 120 mls of plasma IP and a big syringe full of antibiotic, stayed in the barn at night with his mother and out in the garden during the day. When we tested his level again it was up to 1400 which is more like it and the cria is now back in the field, still a little slow, but eating well. We suspected septicaemia as its membranes were a bit red but they have returned to a normal pink now. I am very suspicious of cria as sometimes they perk up and the next morning they are dead but not this one!