Sad ....

 

 

This is a very sad blog, unfortunately little Zaroo died yesterday after a battle to save him...we tried everything to help him but in the end things weren't meant to be.

He was only three weeks and one day old a very brief life so cruelly taken.Unbeknown to myself as I thought he was doing fine.  He became lethargic three days ago and I wasn't happy with him, he was treated for a range of potential issues from slight constipation to an infection, his temperature was low the first day he was off colour and it continued to drop the next day, he was given Baycox, Baytril and a little enema to see if that did the trick, sadly he only deteriorated and yesterday although being turned out for a brief morning spell I decided to bring them back in as I was not happy with him.  He was bottle fed with milk and honey and the vet was consulted.  The vet was on route and poor little Zaroo fought one battle after another to hang on to his precious little life.... I spent what seemed ages hosing him  down under his belly to try and regulate his temperature...

The vet arrived and I just knew that it would have to be a miracle for this to be a happy ending.  He was given plasma & glucose and a little sedative to ease the stress on his heart.... I was advised by the vet that the outcome would be bleak ... we had just given him his glucose and sadly he died in my arms ... such a shock.  The sedative helped him pass peacefully I guess it was just too much to hope for a happy ending.

So yesterday was a very long and traumatic day.  It has been suggested that he died with Septicaemia, brought on by his inability to absorb enough Colostrum from his mother in the first few hours of life .... How could we know, there is very little that can be done once the infection gets a hold and its a silent killer.  This has come as such a shock, as he fed really well and appeared to be doing fine.  Last week he was running around the field with Zambo.  I thought all was well.

Holly is obviously looking for her baby and they say time is a great healer ....for all of us, such a shame.  His little life was short and precious, he is sadly missed.

We are trying to accept and come to terms with the events of yesterday .... just goes to show, you never know what life has instore.

Still Waiting !!

 

 

 As usual its been another busy week.  We are still waiting for new arrivals, Zambo & Zaroo are now real pals and have lots of fun playing together and when they have tired themselves out they like to sleep together ... it takes lots of energy to grow up beautiful !!

 

 

Marquette is hanging onto her baby along with the three other girls who are due ... any day now.  She looks fed up, I wish they would all hurry up .... maybe tomorrow will be the big day and no doubt they will all arrive together .... that will be manic !!  I do hope not !

 

Zanzibah Zyisha .... has now grown up.  I can't believe that she is nearly a year old.

 

Zaroo is now bigger than little Zambo ...and he loves to pester him, how the tables have turned ...as Zambo was a real pest when he was days old.

 

No rest for the wicked .... just a little job on the 'to do list'  I've been busy spreading 50 ton of crushed rock on to the yard area in the hope that it will be much drier and nicer under foot in the winter time.  I have another 20 ton of smaller rock to dress it off and part of the area will be finished.  Hopefully this will be all done before the haylage bales appear.... some time soon.

 

Nearly finished..... I now have two more piles, just waiting to be spread. This was a photo before they arrived. 

 

Oh, yes .... a few minor adjustments around the buildings, I decided to move some nice little Fir trees as they were growing under the electricity wires, then thought it would be a good idea to have a gap dug into the bank where I have now relocated my manure heap....the idea is to get the yard all tidied up and then when its time to do the muck spreading to load the muck spreader on the field side to try and keep the area tidy .. so this is the new cut through being dug in, with the big digger and the trees being dug out.

 

Finished ...the trees are now located up the field and the gap is complete, I have already moved the manure pile into its new home !

 

So hopefully we will get organised before the weather turns.  The pending job is the haylage .... and

waiting for the new arrivals !

 

 

Centrifuge First Plasma Run !!

 

Yesterday afternoon was the very first time the Centrifuge was being used to harvest some life saving plasma.  Gerry & Lucy from Coire Alpacas came prepared with two bags filled with blood donated from two of their resident stud boys.  Their vets had harvested the blood then it was transferred over to us for the big day. The aim was to harvest some plasma to have in case of any emergencies that might arrive, as their cria are due any time now.

 

 

 

The Centrifuge worked well, it is a time consuming process, however the end result is worth all the effort.  It took approximately four hours to decant the blood into the centrifuge, we did not know what ratio we would obtain from each spin, but we were very pleased with the amount of plasma harvested.  We did eleven spins of 120ml, each spin gave over 60ml which is more than one full syringe.

 

We ended up with 11 full 60ml syringes.  I was doing the drawing off from the blood bag and decanting into the centrifuge tubes and Gerry was busy drawing off the plasma into the syringes.  The plasma was placed into a freezer bag and taken back to Coire HQ !

 

It was around 7pm when Gerry finally left with his precious cargo !!

 

I think it was fair to say that we were both impressed with the Centrifuge process .... it takes time, but you can't rush these things and the opportunity to have your own plasma can be an invaluable one. 

 

 Unfortunately up here in northern Scotland this option is just not there, but with having the centrifuge facility here ... now it is !

 

Hopefully it will not be needed, but it is a great peace of mind to know that you have the option in emergency cases.

 

So the Centrifuge has done it's maiden voyage ..... I shall tweak a few minor adjustments but overall it was a great success.  I think we both quite enjoyed the whole process, I was very satisfied that we had managed to obtain our goal  .... A good job, well done.