[theholisticgoat]

This is an experience I posted about in May of 2019 with water hemlock. I want to point out that though we had 3 cases early on, we have not had another case of suspected plant toxicity here since. I believe strongly that they pass on the wisdom gleaned and what we’re seeing is the result of generational wisdom. We’d only just moved to this place (from a dry lot) in 2016, so as the animals learned what to eat and what not to eat, they became wiser and encountered fewer problems. Now, onto the quote:

“Had an interesting experience last night. We were in bed and heard a doe start crying. She had extreme bloat and was in great distress. We lost 2 goats last year to what I later concluded was hemlock poisoning. Symptoms after the fact are severe bloat and green frothy foam at the mouth, so when I saw her bloat that was my first thought. The bloat immediately started subsiding with one dose of activated charcoal. We gave her 4 doses (3CC ea) and by then she was acting much more relaxed.

This was the first time I’ve had to use AC, wish I’d known to suspect hemlock last year when my favorite yearling died.

As for the hemlock, we’d kept them off the lower pasture until the grass got tall so they’d hopefully ignore the hemlock while we keep working to remove it all. Looks like that plan might not have worked.”