It is amazing how much we can pick up from browsing this forum over time. I have been vaccinating the pregnant girls regularly with ADE, but have not been so vigilant with my 2 wethers. I noticed they were both cushing a lot and were hesitant to wander too far. Upon checking my records I realised that it is about 5 months since their last ADE and due to a very wet winter and spring I decided to do them again. These boys are quite large and can be a challenge, so I thought I'd use the pen packing principle and load up the pen (10 X 10), but only 1 of the girls wanted to play and the others all stayed out. I knew I would have been chasing them around the pens for ages if I didn't change my thinking, then I remembered seeing something about using a gate to create a small chute. OK, enter plan B - I was able to manouvre Tom, the larger of the 2 along a side wall and bring the gate right around to create a chute for him. Voila! Tom in a chute, I just leant over and gave the injection and we were all happy. Jerry was very similar, except that he decided to cush, so I just knelt down and injected him on the side facing me through the bars of the gate instead of leaning over him and doing the opposite side. No one was stressed (especially me), there was no chasing around, grabbing, fighting, kicking or spitting and it was all over in about 2 minutes. I love the principles taught by Marty! there is always an easier way to do things that respects the animals and still achieves what you want.
