The animals here at Valley Brook are an eclectic group that share there space and live basically strife free.
This short recap is meant to illustrate my attitude toward the animals, and hopefully the people, that I come in contact with. About a week ago we were tagging the kune piglets. Two of them were male so I wanted to clip teeth on them. The little black and white one bit me. My reaction, a surprised laugh and I said' "The little bugger bit me." I then approached his head again with the terrifying set of tooth nippers. "He bit me again." I commented, quietly, and proceeded to clip the teeth, with blood running from my thumb down my arm. Is this a normal reaction? It was actually a tiny wound but I have done the same thing many times. I want to stay calm around the animals and the people I am working with. Once we were working angus cattle though a stock chute. I was running the head gate. A cow kicked the sorting gate which swung back and smacked the lower part of my thumb like a baseball bat. Despite the pain, numbness and swelling I never reacted and continued with the job at hand never letting those around me know that I had been hurt. Yesterday, I was feeding marshmallows to the animals in the barnyard. One of the big spotted commercial pigs in the picture above missed the mini marshmallow and caught my pinky nail. We had visitors, so with out a word I went into the feed room, quickly wrapped some vet wrap around the finger and continued showing the people around. Then I loaded two of my dogs up and took them to their vet appointment. They are white dogs. I was getting blood all over my shirt and the dogs. I took the vet wrap off and the vet and the techs took a look at the finger. The nail was ripped completely out of the bed with a couple of small tears next to the nail. They felt I should go to the hospital, which I did, after I took the dogs home. They said that the nail would die but they put it back in the bed and said that eventually a new nail would grow out. Someone asked if I was mad at the pig. Why would I be mad at the pig. It was an accident. If a 300 pound plus pig wanted to hurt me, it would be a lot worse than a damaged pinky nail. In each case I had put myself in the position which caused me to be injured. The animals were just being natural. Does anyone else react like this or is it just me?
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LauraI am a daughter of God. I am a wife and a mother. I am an animal lover. I have devoted my life to the care and well being of animals. Each one has taught me valuable lessons. Each loss tore a piece from my heart. You are welcome to share some of my experiences here on this page. Archives
March 2020
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