April 2023

       

Seems hard to believe a third of the year has vanished without trace! We got some nice rain over the last week of March which was wonderful to finish off the crops, although the overnight temp. also dropped dramatically with April …. 
Wills came from 22’C at night to 5’C on his first morning home, so it was lucky I thought to put a coat on him. Hopefully the frosts will hold off for a few more weeks and allow for some fresh growth.

Autumn’s a great time of the year and I’ve been enjoying Livvy’s pups who are going through that extremely cute phase at 5-6 weeks.

I threw in some fresh hay yesterday and they had a lovely time attacking it. They’re in both pens, the four smaller ones get a little bit extra to help them catch up.

 I think I updated the pups for sale page about Sass. She mated Blye very early in her cycle and Em let her run with old Sheps Joaker 5 days later. Well, she whelped 4 days after the first date and the colours of the pups are a dead giveaway! Definitely by Joaker, although we will test them to be sure. Funny how you learn to roll with what life serves up….a lot of trouble was taken to ensure Mina got in pup to Joaker but she missed. Quite possibly because the vet collecting him managed to get some blood in the semen, which was surprisingly good quality for an old boy. We’re just very happy to get a litter by Joaker, and NINE boys! The smallest one died, sadly.

Sass and her eight boys. DOB 19 March, above photo April 5. A red/tan, a fawn, maybe 3 blue’ tans and 3 black/tans.

Next bit of excitement was Midnight having four nice bitch pups to Eventine Comet(Blackdog Thunder x Tracker Gillette). 

The mention of excitement isn’t accurate, on reflection….. Elwanvale Sunny was due on the same day as Midnight and I’d booked her to come down prior to whelping in case she had pups that needed fostering. The morning she was to leave Bracewell she couldn’t stand up…a snake was No.1 suspect so Derek headed off to the vet in Rocky who gave her a multi anti venine shot before discovering she had low blood glucose and hooking her up to a dextrose drip. As most vets would, they blamed the raw diet and put her on dry puppy food, the worst possible thing to do. Strange that she was the first ever bitch to present with this in 20 years of feeding raw! 

Long story short, after a few days of slow recovery she went home and whelped 4 days early, 7 pups, still alive at present and we have everything crossed. I must thank Marina Angel Smith, our health advisor who must get really sick of us asking questions! This was out of my range of experience and proved to be a very tricky one to sort out; also very expensive with the top quality food bought to tempt Sunny, and also Em’s Manuka honey supply when she wobbled again at home.  Patience was running thin when she turned her nose up at some Wagyu steak! The only good bit was the vets charging cost for the anti venine. The holistic advice isn’t promising, as an underlying health issue might be the cause. The only other possible one we can think of is a lifetime of dry food prior to her coming to us, and that’s just guessing because it’s what 90% of people feed. 

So next drama. Well, not really, but a bit wearing. Naka was on heat up north and I was very keen to mate her to Landy as I’d missed the opportunity last time(she went off the day she arrived). On her first heat she refused to have anything to do with Landy….had just gone off.  Her second heat, it had been raining solidly for days and I was minding a dozen or so outside dogs so I took the easy way and mated her to Brock. With that history you might understand why I wanted to do a blood test to check just where she was at, and that was the drama! Toowoomba Show holiday, only vet available the emergency one who wanted her in early and an extra $20! I explained that she was up near Gladstone so early wasn’t on. The Oakey one had gone home at 2.30 on my way back…. The good part was catching up with Em and the kids and having a quick chat to Sean and Evonne Barrett at Woolooga. Still not sure about taking her to Landy, so rang the Warwick vet who couldn’t do it early enough. Of course the end result was leaving her near Texas and having to go back to pick her up! Landy kept asking me why, he even nibbled along my arm, he was very funny…..”come on, you usually do better than this!” I need to trust the Sigometer more, he didn’t bark all night under her kennel!

We’re very keen to get some pups on the ground by Gibson, so when Wayne Lucas offered a loan of his nice bitch Pax/Polly(Brock x Poppy) for a litter it was gladly accepted. Poppy and Heli are both by old Chopper. I’ve warned Em that might be enough for now, we already have 24 pups under 7 weeks!

I took Vamp down to Arthur for a couple of weeks and she looks lovely, very happy with her. This is a long video but she’s worth it!

There had been some heavy rain in the Condamine catchment and it was running a banker. Good to see.