April Monthly Update
April Week 1:
April week one was a week filled with trying to stabilise Velia and figure out what on earth went wrong. She was about 280 days gestation (bun cooking average is 340 days), and mid March she had a medical crisis. We didn’t share the ins and outs then, because we didn’t know what was happening or what would happen next. She moved into the barn ahead of schedule to help her on what we were expecting would be box rest and/or early delivery of a sick or already deceased foal. Thankfully, I can share now that none of those things happened, but having her in the larger barn was well worth it regardless.
I can confirm that after copious rounds of tests, scans, bloods, cross party discussions and more tests, Velia is mostly out of the woods. In summary, because it is LONG (and covered at that length on TikTok for 280-290 day updates), the following happened with a 95% likelihood:
Late march, Velia had mild colic, explosive diarrhoea, discomfort and lethargy
Immediate poo sample of the explosive part sent for testing the same day (Friday night)
Velia moved to foaling box
Monitored over the weekend with soft stools, self resolving colic, poor appetite
Monday April Week 1 FWEC (fecal worm egg count) back as part of stool test, 135 reported (not high, deemed low)
Tuesday blood testing for pregnany hormones, encysted small redworm and general health panel
Wednesday health panel back, low albumin (blood protein), inflamation markers high, otherwise ok
Thursday fecal nasties test back clean
Friday hormone test back (took an AGE), pregnancy still live, slightly lower than normal hormone levels - potential placentitis for inflammation levels alongside gut issue, run around the county for 3 hours on a bank holiday to find drugs
Saturday drugs all begin administration. These included antibiotics, gut binders, a wormer (just in case), anti-inflammatories and Regumate, a hormone to try hold the pregancy in case of placentitis.
All Week 1 of April, Velia fine in herself (this is important), with a minimal but slightly changing bag (of milk, slightly early like this is a sign of something wrong with the placenta)
Because Velia had moved into Granary B early, Kenny hadn’t had a chance to put some lighting in there. That happened this week (see below). We also desperately needed to find some alternative forage in case our bales were the problem causing the stool issue. A temporary stop gap was fine and it started ok, but soft stools returned right at the end of Week 1. Found some bagged bales of haylage, switched to this, stabilised (ish) again. One test still outstanding, the encysted small redworm blood test, but medication ongoing throughout.
Given all of that, Dan was pressed for time. He did, however, manage to get the downstairs bathroom floor boarded, sealed, and primed:
The biggest progress in the farmhouse this week was that the entire dog room got plastered 🥳 It started with prep, of course, so every joint was taped and then the beading went on.
Over the course of three days with lots of animal gaps and a photoshoot to help with too, Dan then plastered the room from top to bottom:
Technically, that wraps us for Week 1. FAR less progress than planned, but when you know the background things, it does make sense! It also explains why I’ve only added the week 1 update now, as I’m writing this at the end of week two. Speaking of…
April Week 2:
We may as well start with Velia again and in Granary B. We were still waiting for that encysted redworm blood test and it finally came back on Wednesday this week. She’s been ok over the weekend and generally much better in herself, and the bag had receded too, which is good! The test for her antibodies flying around fighting these tiny worms, however, showed almost critical levels. She came back with a 48, where 50+ is critical, and 35 is deemed high.
That’s good and bad news, because all of her symptoms could be explained by larval cyathostominosis, the random emergence of a ton of these tiny critters all at once in spring. It’s not great, obviously, but it suggests that perhaps placentitis isn’t here (which is GOOD), and that our treatment regimen could have been potentially lifesaving. It does mean that her burden is likely resistant to the wormers we used for these worms back in autumn and a different approach will be needed, but we at least have answers.
This result brought about a whole new resurgence of vet tests, because Connie & Tuna needed testing too (bloods and poop FWECs). Inside week two, I have their FWECs back already and neither are problematic there, and Velia’s repeat showed a reading of 0, so this wormer is not one that the worms are resistant too - YAY. Still awaiting blood results for the encysted type, which will probably take around a week.
Velia also had a scan to check the foal and placenta on Thursday, and the foal is moving with a nice big head visible on the camera, with the placenta looking ok. It is very slightly thickened but not to actionable levels so we have to hope the antibiotics took care of anything that may have been there, and that she’s ok to go to term. Of course, we’re prepared for other eventualities.
Of course, Dan lost time here again this week. I had a non-moveable zoom call right when the vet was able to visit, so Dan did horse things for 2 hours. We also got the delivery of our haylage from our new supplier, which I’d already organised before we new the encysted results for Velia, and Dan was roaming around on the quad helping herd escapee cows with the farm lads this week! He did also help get Velia’s barn a bit more horse-prepped by installing her hay bar and tie rings. She obviously appreciated this very much!
Again, another week heavily eaten into by impromptu horse, cow and vet things. Dan’s not having a clean sweep at April so far!
In the farmhouse, a few things of note happened that are well worth sharing. First in the dog room, where the visible truss got sanded and the room got mist-coated twice by hand:
Next, in the hallway, where the last remaining door opening got studded and boarded ready for plastering, as well as (finally!) the front raised surround of the kitchen hearth:
Outside, we also needed to start field sectioning again for nursery paddocks, so we got some round posts, a ‘man-breaker’ manual knocker and set out knowing we’d be fighting rock. These are not permanent posts, so they just needed to be ‘good enough’ to run light lines to on the corners.
All went in ok and straight apart from the last one in the bottom paddock, which could only find its way through the sheet of blue rock here on a slight tilt. Honestly, after the fortnight we’ve had, we just accepted defeat and left it a bit wonky - it’ll do! Permanent fencing will be peckered in and properly strained, but at least we can have straight lines of rope now without plastic sag!
Dan ended this mission with 3 x open blisters on his hands, but the posts are in, and they’ll tide us through for now. Our permanent fencing was planned for this spring, but without finance in place it doesn’t make sense to invest in it just yet.
Finally, it’s been a really busy procurement period with lots of little bits and some big(ger) bits coming this week, including the lounge curtain poles, office & lounge window coverings, and foaling cameras too. Last week, Kenny prepped us with a decent consumer unit inside the west barns too, which means we can run cameras, internet APs and switches using PoE without a power problem.
I’m a still wading through PtP, switches, access points and cables… I will figure it out soon!