Pregnancy Toxemia | St Croix Sheep | And An Intersecting Story of Faith

[@appalachianheartsong5487]

Thanks for the good word my brother, 2 Corinthians is my go to. Always so informative and thoughtful as you layout the challenges with livestock, we truly appreciate your time and efforts. Enjoy this blessed weekend, which I pray is Matthew but acknowledge may be the Book of Revelation. God bless, Dan and Elle.

[@birchfieldfarming]

Thanks, friends…hope all is well down your way! You’re usually a bit ahead of us, and we’re planting early garden stuff now - I would imagine you’re into heavy planting, right?

[@appalachianheartsong5487]

Oh yeah, our brassicas have already begun to bolt, garlic, onions and asparagus are all past knee-high, peas, beets, potatoes etc are all growing well and the sprout house has hundreds of seedlings reaching for the ceiling. I have mowed the pastures once and the lawn around the house several times. Right now I’m prepping the beds around the orchard trees and berry bushes for perennials. Also having big issues with the bees, you may have seen my last episode, and had to split one hive twice…crazy swamp rats :)

[@birchfieldfarming]

@@appalachianheartsong5487 Man, that’s amazing. We have yet to mow up here! No bees in sight. Look forward to seeing your update!

[@tommartin8155]

It's a constant learning journey. They don't call it animal science for nothing. Thank God for you and this media that we can share this information . Eee can all help each other out. Happy Easter.

[@birchfieldfarming]

Happy Easter, Tom. Thanks for being here, and your encouragement!

[@ripdinecola4755]

Sorry about the loss, I know that's tough. Great analysis though, very informative. Keep up the good work. God is so awesome, hard to explain as a mortal man. Awesome hearing someone turning to Jesus!

[@birchfieldfarming]

Thanks for being here, Rip! Hope all is well with you and yours!

[@iangrissett9203]

So sorry about your loss. But very interesting about the meter- we keep the urine strips on hand but only have had to use them once, and they were negative (it ended up being low calcium that was the problem)

[@birchfieldfarming]

Thanks, so much for us to learn with an experience like this. I’ve heard hypocalcaemia can be a late gestation issue very closely resembling preg tox but can be tested with pupil response of light in the eye. Also, didn’t fully understand, but it seems from my reading that the urine strips are testing something different vs the meter strips, even though they are both quantifying in ketones. I wonder if I’d have the same results with my ram and the urine strips?

[@ShepherdsCreek]

I'm really sorry for your loss :( that's devastating

[@birchfieldfarming]

Thanks. It was a tough loss being so close to lambing. I pondered whether or not to take lambs when she passed. I couldn’t feel any movement, so I left them together - seemed like the right thing to do. Hope all is well with your flock.

[@ShepherdsCreek]

@birchfieldfarming aww sometimes these things just happen. You did your best with the tools you had to work with. Hopefully the rest of your flock is doing well. Mine is doing well. It's finally warmed up above freezing here so I'm just waiting for the snow to melt so I can get a few projects done. I need a lambing shelter for my ewes, repair a few fences and put up a new fence so my ram has a bigger spot. He has been wintering in the mobile corral. It works but I'm sure he'd like more room and a friend.

[@birchfieldfarming]

@@ShepherdsCreek Thanks, the rest of the flock is well. It’s always annoying peeling rams off and trying to find another spot, right? One more waterer and area to service each day, but I guess we need them, don’t we?🤠

[@ShepherdsCreek]

@birchfieldfarming haha totally but I'm already doing that. This would just mean doing the same thing just somewhere else. That's fine with me if it means he is happier and it's safer to go in with him when I have to. Being in close quarters with him without room to get out of the way is a good way to get a lot more gray hairs 😆

[@wocoranch]

Awful heartbreaking situation, I'm sorry for your troubles. I wonder if you're not onto something with the funding a formula idea.. I'd be curious to know what other things could be consistently off that would or could be a marker for this specific issue?. I wonder if there is a rapid test for other levels you could then also add in addition to the glucose?

[@birchfieldfarming]

Good questions here. What surprised me the most was how quickly it all progressed. Less than 48 hrs from on her feet with the flock to deceased, so whatever the test it would have to be quick. I wonder too if the more experienced shepherds develop a keen eye/sense for this, which may be about the only way to catch it early! Thankfully not something we deal with frequently. Hope all is well in GA!

[@wocoranch]

@birchfieldfarming absolutely.. hard to be prepared for anything when it comes out of nowhere and shows no signs until its almost too late. I wonder too if some sort of supplements would help, but what ones and when, to know you'd almost have to run a full workup on the animal yet if others avoid it, my guess would be genetically predisposed maybe. So many unknowns. I feel you handled the whole situation appropriately, I'm sorry she didn't respond to treatments. Is there other methods you would try instead if it were to happen again? And thank you! Feeling stalled out a bit but it's growing my patience exponentially lol starting from scratch is wild..

[@birchfieldfarming]

@@wocoranch Looking back, if I could’ve caught her early (still standing), I would’ve administered straight electrolytes and molasses, tried to quantify a ketone reading and then drench with glycol if ketones remained elevated. Yes, I think breeding to avoid the issue (consistently large lambs) is our best approach here. And not intending this to be discouraging (more reverence for what you’re building), but I can’t imagine starting from scratch!🤠

[@wocoranch]

@birchfieldfarming if only that pupil test you mentioned worked as an early detection tool in this case as well. I understand why she would have been culled even if she had made it. Haha and no worries, it's a ton of details and rethinking and more planning just to throw it all in the trash and start over again and again 😆.. we will get there. Plan is to have hoofs on the ground in a year. I don't want to stretch myself too thin this first year and want to watch the weather and water drainage before planning is finalized. So excited!

[@birchfieldfarming]

@@wocoranch admiring this wisdom to take it slow💯

[@hahdyyy]

Sorry to disappoint You..however the All-mighty the creator of all things ( he begets Not, nor is he begotten) he spoke to us through Adam, he spoke to us through Moses & Jesus the son of Mary & he spoke to us through Mohammed. Plus Jesus the son of Mary was just messenger of the all- mighty . worshipping Jesus the son of Mary is the greatest Sin you can commit in the eyes of the Lord the creator of all things. Because he’s the one who created You.