Animal Care

A bunch of rescue animals requires a good deal of care, and these last weeks have seen the shearing the sheep, deworming of the mob, and the start to extending shelters and creating new pastures.

Shearing

As summer hit, poor Lammie Basson and Baarrbara were clearly suffering. It was time for shearing. Basil fetched and sharpened his shearing scissors and Lammie and Baarrbara were enticed into the stable with food. As usual everyone got in on the act, especially Charlie the wayward goat who had a long stand-off with Lammie just as things were about to begin.

Deworming the mob

You know that sweet farmyard smell. It’s been around the farmyard for months and people (myself included) often sniff the air nostalgically and say ‘ah that lovely farmy smell.’
Well, turns out the smell comes from ascarids, an internal parasite affecting the large intestine. It’s treatable with a broad spectrum dewormer. So armed with ropes and injections, we tackled the job of separating and confining animals, holding them and injecting them. It was rather hilarious and the most trouble we had was as usual from the goats who gave us a runaround to catch them. After the treatment that sweet smell disappeared overnight.