Calling all phatties! We've got a phriend in a time of need. Sue from The Critter Ranch emailed me earlier in the week with some very sad news. One of her most beloved Llamas- Cover Girl lost her battle with a mysterious infection. This is an issue I've been seeing with several of the alpaca/llama ranchers I speak with regularly. Losing a productive animal is hard on the bottom line, but even harder on the heart.
Sue and other artist/farmers can expect to pay certain vet bills with the care of any fiber animal, even budget for emergency care in cases of illness or injury, but when situations arise where you need to go the extra mile for a beautiful animal and our economic situation being as it is, there are times when having a 'critter ranch' can be extremely stressfull and worriesome.
The following is Sue's account of the events that has taken place recently:
O.k. here goes back the end of August we where doing a general Herd health check up Cover Girl was two weeks post delivery of her baby boy (Merlin)… She seemed thin… The vet did a complete work up Blood tests, took samples of poop for testing. Test came back that she had some concerns so we treated her, blood tests said she had some sort of infection so we treated with antibiotics. And retested after three weeks…. Blood was same still showed infection & the other issues where worse!!! We then treated very aggressively giving her and her Baby extremely high doses of medicines…Treatment took a week to complete. Three days after we completed the treatment I took more samples. The Vet said first glance we might have this thing licked….But she had become so week & had continued to loose weight to spite my giving her all the grain & hay she could want. We added a Supplement called Jump Start on Friday morning three times a day My Husband & I hand fed her…even gave her water by hand… But She continued to get weaker … the Vets where called in an emergency on Saturday because she would no longer get up, but would roll onto one side to nurse her baby…This concerned me because she was giving him all she had…. Sunday she couldn’t stay upright would fall over flat on the floor, so we Propped her up with Bails of hay one on each side so she could stay upright……She would only eat her grain now. So we continued with the hand feeding in hopes that the Protein & energy booster would build her up…After 5 days of hand feeding standing her massaging her legs and seeing to her day & Night…Monday she seemed brighter even the Vet came by and said so… I became very hopeful for a complete recovery…But My Hopes where dashed when I came in The Barn Tuesday Morning (5am) to find her slummed over and in what seemed to be considerable pain… I called the Vet to come and do what I thought was the most humane thing…But before the vet could get here, She Passed in my arms with one last low llama Hum like she greeted me with each day. I became a wet puddle I was so devastated by this loss I couldn’t even speak to anyone. This was the first Llama I had to say good bye to. We had our first Llama Funeral which I couldn’t even attend. She was the Best llama I ever met she loved people, could be handled by my two year old Grandson & was never cross loved drinking from the hose played in the sprinkler…would talk to people, Llama talk but it seemed like she would carry on a conversation with you… I miss her.. Then The Bill Came now don’t get me wrong this llama was worth every penny of it & then some just in what she meant to me!!! But the Bill is here and now I have to raise the funds …With sales & Jobs to pay over $1000.00 Vet bill..
Sue would like to offer these batts for a giveaway. We'll be doing the giveaway all weekend so you can help us bring attention to Sue's situation and supporting small farms/ranches in general. It's so good to know that fiber you purchase from a small farmer like Sue was produced from a beloved and nurtured animal. Please visit Sue's shop, comment about something you like here, and a giveaway winner will be drawn on Monday. There will be 2 separate winners with 2 (2oz) batts each! One is a beautiful bright rainbow colorway and the other a rich, deep fall colorway.
Sue, our thoughts are with your farm this weekend!
