Nottingham Hollow Remembers....

All of us here on the farm experienced our first loss on April 9th- April 10th. Clara's cria, born on January 26th, passed away during the night. Lord Darby was thriving - in 10 weeks he had gained plenty of weight bringing him up to 44 pounds. There was absolutely no indication that there was anything wrong. He was brought to the State Lab for a necropsy and the preliminary results are in but really don't tell us what went wrong. We are hopeful that further testing will show something.

Clara seems to have handled it quite well. She was in the barn that morning with the others and came out with them when we went out to check him. He was behind a tree and we could tell he was on his side. She did a fair amount of humming while we were there and I guess it is safe to say that the herd said good bye... again. After making arrangements to take him in for a necropsy Chuck went out to pick him up. He walked back towards the barn and again they surrounded Darby. Clara checked him again and then just walked away. We really think she must have said her good byes when it happened. Thankfully she has been okay since then. It is her first loss (except when they left after being sold) as far as we know. She's going to be thirteen in May - I am sure her maturity helps.

Until the next time....