Sometimes Farm Life Sucks

The past 36 hours have not been the brightest in the Rice River Lamb Co. After three years of lambing without predator difficulties, I have become too complacent. Nate found the remains of two lambs on Wednesday night. He and the vet both think it is an eagle or other large bird since a fox or other four legged would have been able to drag the whole carcass off. Of course they both had to be ewe lambs: Erin Go Bragh, half shetland, half icelandic, and Tillamore Dew- one of Scar's ewe lambs. So now we are on edge, scanning the field, scanning the sky, and spending more time then I would like just counting sheep!
The herd of Highland cattle had grown by one on Sunday. Black Beauty, the old (at least 12) black highlander gave birth to a red calf. Since the cattle are new to us and we are new to them, I had been just giving them space. She kept him towards the back of the corral, much like the other mama cows had done initially. Well, by Wednesday night he wasn't doing well: moving slow, lethargic, with a hunched up body. I could not get him to nurse on his mom, but did get him to take 20 oz. of milk replacer from a bottle. We moved the pair into the barn and hoped he would make it through the night. Yesterday morning he was worse, and after much debate Nate headed on the 30 minute drive to the vet, at 6:00 in the morning (Thank you Jerry!) They tubed him, and then made the realization that he was blind, and had some other problems. I had noticed his eyes when I got close enough the previous night, but just figured in his distressed state he couldn't focus. The decision was made that the humane thing was to end his suffering. The vet's thoughts were a virus in the cow during pregnancy could be the cause. We know that the previous owner had been having his own health problems and not given the cattle all their vaccinations regularly, and that we had to get everyone back in condition. Hopefully we can quickly enough without any other big problems.
To top it off I had a sore throat that grew progressively worse, and I realized it was more than just allergies. Add to that Kohen complaining of a sore throat, so we skipped out of school yesterday morning for a visit to the clinic. Two strep cultures and shots later we were on our way home, with 24 hours of contagiousness left. Coupled with the sore throat I was running a fever of 101.5, and totally wiped out. The animals don't care though when they need water, hay and grain.
On a lighter note, Gertie's eleven babies are growing wonderfully. I never knew how cute baby pigs are, or how noisy when you are trying to catch them to lock them in the shed for the night!
The nights have been well below freezing the last few, so I'm glad that I haven't planted the gardens yet. My hope is to feel better by this weekend and get all my starts in along with some lettuce and peas. The new/lower garden plot has been taken back from the pigs but is a long way from being ready for planting. We will see what the long weekend brings.
I better get moving- Isaiah has his St. Jude's Trike-a-thon at daycare, and I need to sneak into school and grab my grade book. Grades are due today- means school is SO close to being over, and more of my time can be spent on the farm.