Wednesday May 30, 2007

I was exhausted all day today. Am finding that since my back injury I am even more easily tired than usual and what would otherwise be small amounts of work leave me exhausted and hurting.

I went to town to get 10 bales of straw (for the birthing stalls) and the last piece of equipment we needed to try stitching our new Foal Monitoring system into the mares. When I got home Dave and I took the mares over to the vet stocks we made last year and did the procedures. It basically involves stitching (with needle and surgical thread) a plastic transmitter to the mare's vulva (under the tail). This is the first time I have done a medical procedure like this on my own and I was quite pleased with it.

We then spent an hour or so putting up the antennas and setting up the alarm box that the transmitters send a signal to when the birth begins. Then we fed animals, moved the two mares to the birthing pastures and I walked Destiny down to the Back 20 (she has been in a stall all week because of some swelling in her leg).

As we were feeding we found that one of our ducks just hatched out a whole bunch of adorable baby ducks. She has been nesting in the greenhouse that is attached to the house - a safe, warm place. I brought her water and food and locked her in so the cats don't get her ducklings.

For the fifth time this week we saw a coyote in the yard. Earlier in the week we lost a baby goat to the coyotes, and we have also lost an adult goose, we think. We tried to shoot the coyote (the only way we can protect our animals if Louie is not always here) but it ran before we could get the gun up. I wish there was a better way to keep them away. I don't want to hurt them - they are neat animals. But I have to protect my stock and they are getting very brave.