Lops of Enchantment

One of the most basic of all animal chores that applies to the needs of the entire animal kingdom is to provide a home, habitat, or shelter. All shelters have similar purposes such as safety from predator or storm; places to sleep, roost, or nest; or simply a place they can call their own. However, every shelter also has unique characteristics to meet the specific needs of the animal in question. A chicken coop, for instance, usually provides the chickens a place to roost and a place to lay eggs. Even though chickens and turkeys are similar, a structure built for a chicken in mind falls far short in meeting the needs of turkeys. Every creature has basic likes and dislikes. A wise and successful breeder bears this in mind when designing a home for whatever animal they choose to raise.

Because of this, I did not haphazardly move forward in the design and construction of our new goat barn and goat corral without first spending some time with our goats in order to get some basic understanding of their likes and dislikes. One thing I’ve learned is that goats, at least our goats, do not like rain. The slightest sprinkle sends them scurrying for cover. They will forego their favorite pastime - eating - in order to avoid being hit by even one drop of rain. I was surprised by this. Perhaps this is a New Mexico goat phenomenon only, where none of us really know what to do when it rains or snows. I can’t imagine a goat in Portland, Oregon having a similar psychosis. If it did it would surely starve.

So our goats do not like rain. Our shelter then, needed to be rainproof. I learned very quickly that our turkeys do not share this same hatred for rain. In fact, quite the opposite. They seem to love the rain or they’re too dumb to know what to do about it. I’m not sure which. (I want to go on record, however, that I do not share the dumb turkey opinion that many people have. Turkeys are wonderful and amazing creatures. They perhaps have a simplistic view of the world, but the joy they have exploring their world each day is beyond compare.)

Second, a goat enclosure has to be secure. Any gate latch is fair game and, in most cases, they’ll eventually figure out how to undo it. It is not that they dislike their enclosures; it is simply that the grass on the other side is always greener. They could be standing knee deep in fresh weeds and spend the entire day reaching through the fence for the piece of brown, dead leaf on the other side. If they were to somehow gain access to the other side, then they’d strive to get through the fence to the green weeds. There is simply something in their brains that causes them to endlessly push at their boundaries.

Finally, there must be entertainment. Their favorite game is king of the mountain and if anything is available that will provide them a height advantage, they will play the game for hours on end. If they do not have a device to climb on, then they will revert to the only other pastime they know called “escape the fence.”

I know I said “finally” already but there is one main attribute of a goat yard that is a must in every case: Food! Goats are grazers, which means there must be some fresh food entering one of their four stomachs at all times. Without an ample supply of food available, every non-food item in sight becomes fair game. Needless to say, a hungry goat is not a happy goat and an unhappy goat owner will lose property and limb to the hungry goat if care is not taken.

So, I’ve built a goat barn. (see pictures under “Other Animals.”) We’ll have to see if they like it or if renovations are in order. The first night it became available they slept in the overly crowded dog house they’d been using. If they continue to snub my wonderful creation, I just may have to move the dog house into the barn - that’ll show them.

When you raise animals there are certain things that need to be done in order to insure a healthy environment for the animals. There needs to be a fresh supply of food and water every day. Cleanliness of the living conditions must remain a constant priority. In a closed environment such as a barn, fresh air and temperature are concerns that must be managed and controlled. Without a constant focus on these issues, not only does it become unpleasant, the health and well-being of the animals is at risk. The worse the conditions become the more likelihood for sickness, disease, and death.

This week I struggled with the health and well-being of our aquarium. Fish tanks are completely closed systems. Every detail must be managed and kept in balance. Last weekend I purchased some new fish for the aquarium. Apparently, these new fish brought with them a pathogen. This is not an uncommon occurrence with aquariums. In most cases, when the aquarium is healthy and stable, these pathogens are easily managed. Our aquarium, however, was on the edge of unhealthiness. The first sign of a problem came with the death of a cat fish.

Any death of an animal brings that animal’s environment in question. Why did it die? Was it eating? Drinking? Was it to hot? Cold? How are the other animals doing? Are there any signs of stress? Is there anything to be done to fix the problem?

As I mulled over these questions with the aquarium I began discovering signs of stress within the community. I analyzed their water and discovered the root cause. I began to take steps for treatment by attempting to adjust the pH of the water. More fish died. I treated for ick (a disease that is prevalent with fish when under stress). More fish died. I changed water, added chemicals, and picked out more dead bodies. By Friday it appeared I was going to lose the entire population. In five days the aquarium had gone from a community of life to a mausoleum.

What I realized from this example is that Earth, immense in its natural resources and bounty, is a closed system. Just like the aquarium, to remain healthy things have to remain in balance. For forty years, since the environmental movement in the late sixties, we have become slowly aware that our planet is not healthy. We first focused on streams and lakes where we saw the impact of poor management of our wastes and pollutants. We then came aware of our brown clouds over our cities. We passed laws to create clean air and water. In some areas, things improved.

We then became aware of greenhouse gases and global warming. It was alarming and yet, far off. We had faith in the immensity of our closed system. It couldn’t be as bad as it seemed. Someone would fix the problem; someday.

Someday is now… This summer the North Sea will be completely free of ice - the polar ice cap gone. Symptoms of global warming, from a dramatic increase in skin melanomas to excessively strong weather systems, are becoming more frequent and severe. The fish tank we call Earth is sick and, as a result, we continue to see a dramatic increase in the demise of our health and well-being.

The difference between the Earth’s problem and my aquarium’s problem is that there isn’t going to be a large hand reaching into the aquarium we call Earth to fix the problem. We have to fix the problem ourselves - each and every one of us. What can we do in our small, insignificant way that will help? Carbon-monoxide gases are the cause of global warming so the elimination of these gases is the cure. We may want to point the finger to large corporations as the culprit and we may want government to find a solution but the true source of the problem and the only starting place for a cure is us - the individual.

I recently read in a book by Barbara Kingsolver entitled “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” that most of our current food supplies travel an average of over 1500 miles, “from farm to fork.” It is estimated that if every person in the U.S. simply chose to eat locally grown food for one day per week, over 1 billion barrels of oil would be saved - each week! A billion barrels of oil not burned into carbon-monoxide gas by simply eating from the garden one day a week.

To me, this illustrates the power of one. The decisions we make as individuals can make a difference but, most importantly, is the only true solution to our global problem. As a caretaker of our aquarium, what life-style changes are you willing to make? The Earth is truly depending on you.

It was an exciting time.

Over the past 48 hours our animal family grew by 22 through the amazing miracle called birth. We had 17 Holland Lop babies from four does born and five Americana chicks hatch (see pics under “other animals”). The more I experience birth the more amazed by it I become. Only God could have designed this miraculous process.

Watching a new life come into the world and recognizing the complexity of growth from one cell that has already occurred is mind boggling. However, the aspect of birth that strikes me most is the struggle. Birth isn’t easy. It is a battle between life and death and the odds are not in favor for life. Anything and everything can and will go wrong. Because of the likelihood that something anywhere along the way could go wrong, makes a successive birth all that more of a celebratory event.

22 live births - YEAH!!!! Shout for joy.

But what of the others? Yes, there were others that didn’t make it.

We have a REW Netherland Dwarf doe, “CU” who has only produced some blood in her nest box. Something is obviously wrong. It is possible she has a giant that will not pass her narrow birth canal.  It is possible she has aborted in late term. It is possible…  anything is possible including her own death. There is not much we can do but watch her struggle. We do not believe in the use of oxytosin as many rabbit breeders do simply because we’ve never been able to gain access to it. There are times, such as this, where a shot of oxytosin would help, but generally, the birthing process works fine on its own. There are also natural foods, such as raspberry leaves that help stimulate birth but we do not have any and she isn’t in the eating mood… so we wait and see.

We also have 19 eggs that didn’t hatch. When I open the unhatched eggs I am likely to find fully developed fetuses that simply could not fight their way out of the shell. We are currently learning our way through the “egg hatching” process. Apparently we are struggling with humidity issues in our incubator. (Imagine that, humidity issues in New Mexico). Even though they say never to do this, I helped two chicks out of their egg casing. They had worked for 24 hours to escape and were not making progress. I could see that they were tiring and would end up dieing. So I helped. One seems to be okay, scrambling around the wire trying to establish its footing, etc. The other one probably won’t make it. It is on its back, unable to gain its feet.

There will also be those that die. In dwarf breed rabbits such as Holland Lops and Netherland Dwarfs, the dwarfing gene can be a killer. Some rabbits are born with a pair of dwarf genes. These are called peanuts. They will not live more than a day or two. Out of the 17 live births, we probably have three peanuts struggling to survive but without hope.

There are many more hurdles to overcome in these new lives. Some will not make it but, amazingly, many will. What a process!! It is a miracle each and every time and it is always deserving of a party. When the fireworks fly into the air this weekend we will celebrate many things and new life will be one of them.