Passing, eggs & activity

It's been a month and a lot has happened on the farm...

First and foremost we lost our precious Velvet. I came home to find her huddled in a corner and so bloated you could have poked her with a pin and she would have popped. What she got is actually called "bloat". It is common in ruminants as they require the ability to allow the excess gas to escape and usually they are great at burping and passing it but in some cases they get into either excess amounts of grain or lush grass and this can occur. The large animal portion of Vet Med attempted to relieve the gas by normal means but this did not help. Shortly after us leaving her in their care she went down hill and surgery was her only option. They pulled over 10 lbs of grass and grain from her rumin. She came through the surgery fine but then stopped breathing and they couldn't bring her back. We had taken Lucky, her kid, over to be with her but he never got to see her. When I went to pick him up the next morning he was hoarse from crying for her. It took almost a week for his voice to come back. It was a very sad day on the farm...at least for everyone except maybe Mike as he doesn't get attached to anything. They are all my babies and I do get attached.

Onto happier items of news...we have some layers finally. Brown eggs are finally on the menu. I know we have 3 of our 7 hens laying. We are getting a consistent 3 eggs a day now. Once they all get into the groove we'll have more eggs than we will know what to do with.

Garden is planted...corn, green beans, carrots, watermelon, cantelope and pumpkins are in the big garden with room for the squash once the fence is up. Otherwise the goats will just eat it before it has a chance. In my flower garden which has corners of completed areas I've added a spot for the tomatoes, banana peppers, chili peppers and golden bell peppers. I figured to keep them closer since once those start growing it will be a daily task to harvest. Hopefully this years attempt will get us something instead of go to weeds like last year. We were much more organized.

I don't think I've missed anything new except to report that all kids are doing fine. I enjoy going in every night and getting my nibbles and hugs from all.