OK. It has been a rough 36 hours. Or how many hours? Since Saturday morning anyway. It feels like a week. We are not out of the woods yet but I do see the light a little. 
The calf scours have not got the better of us yet. I have three calves looking quite good- still not robust but on the way. Another of the big girls is up and about but still needs a lot of patience to get feeding. But all four are standing to drink. And jump up when i come into the barn. Little is still lethargic – he is good in the morning – not so good in the afternoon, but he is cleaning up slowly and is peeing. He sleeps too much but often is in a different part of his pen each time I visit now which is good. I make him stand up to drink but it does not last long. It just takes so long to get him fed but I have all the patience in the world for little animals. He was also observed chewing his cud though how he got any cud to chew is anyones guess. I give them all lots of strokes and massages to get their bodies working. I can’t tell you how many disposable gloves I have gone through. And a different set of gumboots for each pen. Not good for the environment at all! But the best I can do.
But we need a few more days yet for any kind of prognosis.
They get milk and electrolytes in a four hour rotation, milk at 6, electrolytes at 10, milk at 2 and etc. The milk is still at a third strength. But three times a day. 
And in all this we have lost Godot. Our beautiful white peacock died of shock after being attacked probably by Mr Flowers. (I know it was not a dog as this happened during milking and the dogs were in my sight and he looked untouched). Mr Flowers has been hounding this young peacock since I let them all out. Usually Godot hides in the top of the barn but he must have been caught in the open. I found him with his head hidden under a tree root. (A classic with birds who have been harrassed.) He was alive but let me pick him up which was a very bad sign. I laid him up in the loft close to Mrs Flowers who is his buddy but he was dead in the morning. 
Miserable.
A short life is not a bad life. I say this all the time. But I felt devastated.
Especially after battling for the lives of these calves refusing to give up when when the calf stops peddling and then this magnificent bird dies without a murmur.
But life goes on. An age old saying but a true one. We must keep moving along. So we do.
Tomoyo is getting stronger and more confident every day. She looks after the meat chickens amongst a number of other things and is developing some wonderful skills in the garden.
Do you see that Geraldine is developing her crown? 
I was pruning yesterday. Pigs love mulberries and they actually have a high protein level too. So I throw the branches in with them any chance I get. The piglets grabbed the little branches and ran about with them, in high spirits!
As I was driving back from the barn yesterday afternoon we passed a large fertiliser truck on the side of the road. The man was working on his hitch. I slowed down to go around him and lowered my window to wave and say Hullo. He matched my Hullo with a nod of his head as we do out here and waved his arm to tell us to pass. I saw that he had no hand and the other arm had a little hand up by his shoulder. He smiled at me with his farmers smile and waved us on with a grin.
I am small compared to his heroism. His beauty and determination both captured me and chastised me. I lose a little sleep and I whine. What am I complaining about.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
70 responses to “The Woods”
Oh C. What can I say that the rest of the Fellowship has not already voiced? I am so sorry. But like Kate said, Godot was not quite of this world, was he? Angels are usually quite reclusive and quiet and then disappear, do they not? I think his spirit will live on in beautiful little Geraldine with her exquisite tiny crown. She will wear that for him….He was magnificent and will be dearly, dearly missed…Love to you.
Thank you C. I am so sorry for your loss of Godot, he was so beautiful. Thank you for the lesson. You are remarkable and I appreciate it.
Seeing someone with courage and ability to proceed really does help us when we feel life has hammered us. Things are always there for us to see…things that help us. I’m glad the calves are improving that is a HUGE thing. About birds…sigh….birds are so horribly mean to each other it stuns me sometimes.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
oh dear sweet Godot. I am so very sorry- but such heartening news about Little….life can be hard and then you see the determined man driving his truck and you had such a wonderful response- brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for this blog.
I was never able to figure out peafowl politics. I had a pair for a couple of years – Rudy and Trudy Patooti. A neighbor about a mile away had a single male. One morning my chickens were fussing and I looked out the window just in time to see the neighbor’s peacock run to the yard and hop the fence. He chased Rudy around the yard for a couple of laps, then they switched and Rudy chased him for a couple of laps. Then the outsider jumped back over the fence and ran home. There was never any contact, the intruder never came back. I’m so sorry for your loss, peafowl are such dear things.
Unbelieveable what you all are going through. But you’re doing all so well, with so much love! It is so great. I am still hoping with you and the babies. That’s all I can do, but I surely wanted to lend you a helping hand.
Oh, and poor beautiful Godot. I cannot believe it. Makes me sad.
Thank you, Celi, for taking your spare time to tell us your news.
All blessings upon you.
I am so sorry about the loss of Godot. He was a beautiful bird.
Thank you, indeed! You can’t imagine how we depend on you, Cecilia, perhaps even more than all your creatures. I draw, I think all of us draw, spiritual and actual physical sustenance from you. No wonder you’re exhausted. If ever anyone is in the trenches, it is you. Slugging it out. Soldering on.
I too want to offer my condolences for the terrible shocking loss of lovely, lacey Godot..
I’m so sorry to hear about Godot 😦 farm & ranch living can be so heartbreaking. Glad the calves are perking up, hopefully they are out of the weeds.
Take care Celi 🙂
Robin🐥
Sad news indeed about Godot. It’s good to stay positive, but you are also allowed to feel sad and have a whine…you’re only human after all x
I still have not understood yet, what’s going on with this “rescue calves”. Isn’t it a crime to take those little ones away from their mothers at that early age? Furtheron isn’t it a crime to make money with such helpless creatures? A crime but never being avenged. – I have difficulties to imagine how all that works, how it can be. As I understand (from comments) there more farmers that buy those “rescue calves”. – If you (or s.o. else) would not have bought them, what would have happened? Would they let them die just so or yet trying to make money and to sell them to butchers? – Oh, all that cruelty just for money. It makes me sick… and rather furious.
It helps me a bit out that Poppy and her family are doing so well.
Again wish you all the best concerning Farmy Clinic. Hoping you soon will be out of the woods, as you expressed it.
To have milk you will have calves, every year a milking cow has another one and all those calves cannot possibly be milk cows too so the calves are sold on.. to be raised for meat. Which is ok. But these ones are really having trouble making me think they were not left with their mothers for long at all. But it is a reminder that if you drink milk – even goats milk – there are unwanted calves and kids so the milk can be drunk – this is why i prefer to do everything on a tiny sustainable scale.
I stopped using all dairy because of this heartless waste of lives….my small protest over 30 years ago when I first learnt that here in Australia bobby calves from a dairy herd can be just left to die after birth, taken from their mothers and left. I hear the mothers on the farm across the river, crying for their babies, it’s heart breaking and cruel. I choose not to eat meat, but I would rather see these bobbies fed up and then become chops and steaks, instead of this terrible waste and disrespect of life. It makes me very angry.
I agree.. and this is one of the corner stones of what i am doing here.. i am minding these calves for a friend who has had such bad luck lately – but even so, I don’ t think I will do it again – they came in so depressed.. I will go back to raising my own.. lesson learned
Thank you for your kind reply you two! I am so sorry (and angry) for that. I did not know that background. I like all dairy products so much (ok, I try to buy organic), but this makes me shiver. I knew for chicken, the little unwanted males are just shredded alive en masse. I will try to do some research to get some info for my country concerning cows. It really makes me sad. – I’ve also heard (and seen in a YouTube film) such a cruel thing related to sheep for getting wool – it’s called mulesing (esp. in AU and NZ). Terrible. One has to be aware of all things, eating, drinking, crocheting, knitting – all is heavily loaded with human cruelty. Oh my… where has mankind gone to…… Money, money, money – nothing else counts…
I had to google ‘mulesing’ because I had never heard of it. How awful, but I’m happy to let you know that NZ farmers have not done this for at least 10 years. That is a happy note on what is a sad Farmy day. Nice the baby bobbies are improving though. XO
I have never heard of that before either.. I will look it up
I, too, am sorry to hear about Godot. He will be missed. Your story of the farmer touched my heart. It’s true that we just always Count our Blessings. It’s ok to whine once in a while, though, just so we move on. For the record, though, I don’t really hear any whining from you. You bless all of us each day with your words. Thank you.
That was supposed to say “MUST” always count our blessings. Sorry!
I have been busy over the weekend with family stuff, so it was a shock to come back and read about the problems in the nursery ward, and to top it off the death f Godot. Do peacocks struggle with jealousy? I hope the worst is over by now and you find some timew to rest. Healing hugs for all wending their way over the pond.
I am so sorry you are having such a rough go at the moment. The death of Godot would be hard enough but on top of all the stress you are dealing, that can’t be easy.