New Baby reindeer to my herd

Love and hugs; we can't make it better, but we care very much.

 

Sending hugs and virtual chocolate your way! I'm sorry we can't do more.

 

I am so sorry for hiding but it is so difficult sharing the joys of a baby being mischievous one day and the next I find it dying and have to face everyone and say it's gone and in such an awful way.
I have lost 6 of the 8 babies with no warning. Healthy, happy and playful one feed and that next, either already dead or bleeding profusely from the rectum and no way of saving them. Two bodies have been at Gov research labs and after 3 weeks of tests, I have nothing conclusive, just cause of death "loss of blood!! And to top it all I lost my heart reindeer Katya, last week. I am not sure if connected at all as she wasn't obviously bleeding but her symptoms of drinking regularly as she faded makes me wonder if she was trying to replace fluids from a bleed? I haven't had her PMed as still terrified of the vet/lab bills that will be coming in over he next couple of months (and she was still alive when vets left, but only for about 5 minutes).
One of my remaining calves, Jasper has found that tool box is a great step to raid feed bin as he hasn't the patience to wait for me to mix his breakfast... Guessing Uncle Boris has been giving him tips.
Baby Jasper continues to be very forward, and has now found that the toolbox can be used as a step to access feed bins while he awaits me mixing up his breakfast.
His sister Hazel, is inquisitive but nowhere near as bold.
I find that baby boys are always more foreward.

I am hoping that babies Jasper and Hazel may have now built up immunity to whatever has been killing their younger siblings. x
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Oh BoHoKaren, I'm so sorry.

I don't even know how you found the strength to come here and give us an update in the midst of this awful tragedy (thank you). Don't apologize for hiding - we all understand you need time to grieve. I hope things start looking up for you soon and Jasper + Hazel remain healthy. Take care of yourself in the meantime.

 

I am also so so so very sorry for all of your loss. And Katya too!!
I did greatly enjoy your pic of Jasper and description of stealing food....Boris is certainly teaching him tricks! Reminds me a bit of Hector.
All my male animals have usually had the biggest personalities.

 

My heart aches for you! So many sweeties gone, and dear Katya also.
Thanks for the delightful photo and story about Jasper. I hope he and Hazel will remain healthy and bring you much joy. Every night comes to an end, and it is my prayer that morning is dawning for you.

 

So sorry for everything you have been through recently. Jasper has certainly got a good tutor in Uncle Boris, I hope that he and Hazel continue to thrive.

 

There are no words. Hugs to you and yours.

 

I also join with all who have expressed their heartbroken and loving support for you and your wonderful herd, and echo Willow's beautiful, hopeful prayer that "...morning is dawning for you" !

In the hope of adding a small ray or two to that prayer:
I would like to suggest for all of us who might be able/want to, to contribute a little financial donation here or there during these difficult times, to help with those awful Vet bills! I do not know how to set this up, so ***if someone else does and would like to set it up***, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Karen, would you be receptive to us doing this? Most of us have been with you and your herd long enough to have our hearts truly 'invested' in what happens to you and all your "Lovelys"! In this situational disaster, I feel certain that many of our hearts want to help in any way we can, and in this way we can reach out to you and all you have given to us with your posts and pictures and sharing of your
wonderful herd! "A dollar here, a dollar there"...it all adds up, no matter how little or much.
Please say yes!

 

I would be happy to donate to help with the vet bills. Just let me know if it's set up. (I can't do it myself because I don't know how to do it either.)

 

Thank you Lily and Rivak for your incredible offer but I must decline, for now, I will keep fighting on. And so too is Gandalf - ARRGH he's getting ready to scare the pants off me again. My worry is next year's calves if the vets can't find out what went wrong this year.

Gandalf update.
Without living with an entire bull, it is hard to describe how they change when getting close to the RUT (Jekyll and Hyde).
He has really piled on body weight, his neck is getting really thick and strong, the heat in his antlers is cooling, so they will no longer grow (but also means he is close to stripping his velvet), the vents under their eyes start to open and he gets an angry eye.
His pushiness at feed times has changed from fun to trying to dominate me - getting very close to him becoming extremely rutty (I will only hint at 2 stones increasing). He is getting very serious (and scary).
Frodo, second bull is nowhere close to worrying me.




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OMG Karen, Gandalf has amazing antlers and his body is solid and I would imagine very scary to be near! He is a big boy! Please do be careful when you are around him! I do hope those lab tests will show some reason why all those babies died and what caused it!
Thank you for the beautiful pictures!

 

He is such a gorgeous and imposing guy! I know you are experienced, but please take extra care right now to judge when to separate him with the ladies. Maybe a bit early this year?

 

He certainly is a very impressive young man with those antlers. Just make sure he keeps them to himself and not in you!

 

Sand, all test (4 weeks testing the corpses, at Gov research labs, including histology) have now come back with nothing conclusive! Cause of death "loss of blood" Hey ho, I knew that as blood peeing out of their rectums as they died. Still beyond. My 2 remaining calves seem to have built up immunity to whatever BUT I wish I knew what or next years babies may also drop like flies!

 

Hey Karen, have you reached out to the reindeer community in other countries to see if they have ever come across something
like this in their countries and if so were they able to find out the cause, you probably have done this already, but just a thought!

 

Reindeer are extremely susceptible to cow and sheep diseases and should not be kept in the same grazing areas. Even visitors may bring parasites from other ruminants into their shoes.
After all, some of the reindeer were acquired from Finland in the past, so you can also try to get samples here for examination.

The causes of death of dead reindeer in Finland are studied at this specialized institution:

https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/en/about-us/contact/offices/

Oulu
Address: Elektroniikkatie 3, FI-90590 OULU
Visiting address: Elektroniikkatie 5, 90590 Oulu
Phone: +358 (0) 29 530 4924, from the 2nd of January 2019 +358 (0) 29 520 4181, +358 (0) 40 515 4325, +358 (0) 29 530 0400 (switchboard)
The office in Oulu conducts animal disease-related research and expert services. The office’s focus areas are wild and aquatic animal diseases as well as livestock diseases and post-mortem examinations for the region of Northern Finland. Special parasitology services have been centralised to the office in Oulu, and it also houses the national reference laboratory for parasitology.

 

Thank you so much Ipsi for those contact details and it is certainly something I will pursue if calves are lost next year from the same symptoms, if I can get carcases to them fresh enough.
As to biosecurity, they are kept as a single species (apart from the cat) and the occasional visitors we have, who have been near other livestock, have to disinfect their feet.

Sandollar, I reached out to reindeer communities, with many members from many continents, but nobody has had deaths with blood loss alone from rectum -scouring containing blood has been seen in other species but these calves had perfect pellets prior to bleeding out. They have been tested for anything our labs can think of that would cause bleeding even if asymptomatic for other problems.

For now, nothing else I can do until (if) I loose calves next year bleeding out

 

Gandalf is very scary looking in that first picture. The Angry Eye would scare the willies out of me if I was nearby in person. You are a very brave person to be able to handle him!

 

He's not too bad at the moment and won't be until he strips his velvet. His testosterone is increasing (as can be seen by his thickening neck and massive weight gain, also the increase in the size of his two "adornments") but my segregation of him and his girls will take place rapidly once he strips that velvet as that says his hormones are starting to go through the roof and he's getting ready to fight..... and with the bulk he has put on this year says to me, I will take no chances when he gets angry. .
I am still undecided as to whether to take off his antlers as soon as he strips velvet (& therefore no feeling in them), or give him a small dose of female hormones.... He is a lot more dangerous during the rut than Frodo is, Frodo I never interfere with but Gandalf gets so angry that he stabbed one of his girls last year.
Routes to go? 1, take off antlers. Seems to make sense to make sure his girls are safe, but that means I can no longer catch him during rut, as with antlers he will fight the gate as I approach so I can easily chain him to gate if need be, but once they are off nothing to tie him down by and he'll still be angry.
2, give him female hormones, they can turn him back to a pussycat but 1/2 a ml one way or another and he will not be interested in the girls at all, and that is his purpose in life.
Or option 3, which I think I am going to START with - don't interfere with him at all, thinking last year's female stabbing was an accident. His paddock "should" be secure and I have an almost perfect feeding/cow segregation system in place so that I can close gates so that I can feed without ever sharing his space and just see how we go, day by day! It will be stressy but.... this is how the best wild bulls should be, big strong and prepared to take on the World.