Heat, July 18, 2012

How naive I was several weeks ago. The heat did not stop, the drought spell has continued. This is being reported as the worst stretch of heat with drought since the 1980's. Everyone is miserable. The lambs do not seem to be losing weight but I don't think they've grown either. Bob had last week off. He did all sorts of glamourous things with his time such as watering the garden, filling water tanks, weeding, and best of all....running stool samples to the vet in Ionia. Running stool across county lines is a thankless and dangerous job. Well, not either one of those things, just makes it sound more intriguing. The first run was made Tuesday morning. One of the ewe lambs was droopy, meaning she looked like she'd lost weight, was moving more slowly to the grain trough, and her mucous membranes were very pale. Flashes of Lucy's illness and death came flooding back. The verdict was nematode worms. Thankfully not coccidiosis! Still dangerous, we wormed each lamb for three days with a worm medicine more specifically for nematodes. The initially afflicted lamb is holding her own but is still not interested in grain and has not regained her lost weight. The second stool run was made Thursday morning. Violet, one of Sweet Pea's kids had diarrhea. The diagnosis this time was coccidiosis. We treatment course for the three kids was five days of oral medication. Last year we treated four lambs for 14, yes, 14 days with oral medication. A 50 pound kid is much easier to catch and treat than a 100 pound lamb, and a 5 day medication course beats 14 days hands down. I've picked blueberries for several weeks. A hot and sweaty job. The yield has been remarkable considering the crazy weather this spring. I found a recipe for blueberry BBQ sauce....unreal! Maybe everything should be slathered in blueberry BBQ sauce for the wedding dinner. Bob thinks this is a great idea! Carmen