April 2, 2021

We completed our annual physicals on most of the Farmyard critters last month. Miss Piggy went offsite to be checked out. She was sedated for bloodwork and tooth work. She had one tooth removed, and her bloodwork was “perfect” per Dr. Mozzachio.

The beginning of March, Dr. Cochrane gave Lightning, our donkey, a clean bill of health. The end of the month, Dr. Cannedy did the same for the goats, alpacas, and cattle. Vaccines, deworming, and hoof care were on the docket.

A few of my favorite photos below.

First, the goats were locked in their stall, with their yard-mate ever so close by:

Dr. Cannedy often brings students, or veterinary interns and residents with him. This visit was no different. As you can see in the above photos, Dr. Cannedy’s team works with our staff (Shayna and Heather) to manually restrain the goats for all their work, including the hoof work.

The cattle are trained to walk to their chute, where most of their veterinary needs can take place. Given their size and strength, the cattle chute keeps the humans and the bulls safer. This year however, Dallas needed to be sedated to trim his very long dewclaws. He was given an injection of sedative while in the chute, but then let out so he could go down on his own in the yard.

Once down, Dallas’ head (eyes and ears) was covered to help reduce stimulation, and then the work began on his hooves.

Dr. Cannedy filed down all of Dallas’ hooves, and then, used drugs to reverse the sedative. Dallas was standing up in a matter of minutes and was eating again soon after.