Standing on her own feet

On Wednesday evening, we attempted to get Pinkie standing by using a makeshift sling. This was a last resort for us. She had not stood for 9 days and if we failed to get her on her feet, she would have no future. Our attempts failed. We returned home very upset knowing we would have to call the vet in the morning to put her to sleep.

I returned a couple of hours later to lock up the henhouses and check on Pinkie. There she was standing on her back legs! Perhaps we wouldn’t need to make the call after all. Perhaps we could take a decision in the morning as she was at least trying to get up.

So in the morning I checked on her. She made repeated attempts to get up. In the late afternoon, she got onto all 4 feet and even took a few steps out of the goathouse. She was on the mend!

There is still some way to go. She has, after all, had a major operation. But the only call I expect to make to the vet now is to say that Pinkie is getting better.

This is the first time we have tried to breed the goats. We have learnt a huge amount, even if it was the hard way. We will decide whether or not to attempt to breed Pinkie again in the future, once we know her condition after recuperating. One thought I have is to consider getting another Golden Guernsey nanny, possibly a kid born this spring, to keep with Pinkie. Our plan had been that we would keep a nanny offspring of Pinkie had the birth been successful. But all this is for decisions over the next few weeks. At the moment we are just pleased Pinkie is recovering.

Meanwhile, she is producing lots of milk.

Until 2009 I was working in London, UK, but I gave it up to pursue a life of self-sufficiency. My aim is to grow or forage for all my food, produce my own power and live a healthier and greener lifestyle. I left London to return to my home village of Sunniside, near Newcastle, in the North East of England. I have a couple of plots of land there as well as the garden of my house. Our village is a commuter area for Newcastle but we are surrounded by countryside which we use for picking wild foods. My mission in life is to show that it is possible to live well without destroying the planet in the process. I am also keen to ensure knowledge of historic recipes and cooking is kept alive. I regularly try out recipes from old cookbooks using the food we have grown. I make videos about our progress and about how to cook home-grown foods. These can be viewed on www.youtube.com/jonathanwallace.
www.self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com