It seems, while looking back in time, that plans we made usually came together pretty much on time and within reasonable limits. This Farm has other ideas about plans and always has.
For those who would rather not read explanations and carefully worded prose I'm going to suggest looking directly down to the bottom of this article for the Cliff Notes. But you will be missing out on at least half the fun of reading how simple plans can be completely ruined in just a few hours time and we made a whole lot of careful plans. . .
When we decided to begin our farm project we had a long history of goal setting and a pretty good record for achieving the goals just as we had planned. You can read how our Farm project began by clicking here. But the history of this project has not gone entirely to the form we created. In fact, much of our plan, though never quite failing in some way, has never followed the forms we put down.
Oh sure, you might say, we found the Farm, cleared the land and built the house, among other key features of our grand design, but nearly none of it happened how we planned it and almost none of it came in on schedule.
As for Rocketdog Bassets . . . We had big plans. Big - carefully crafted - plans.
We started Rocketdog just as we had intended. We acquired good dogs according to our plan and began a real breeding program which included a schedule (and everything). We included in our plans a means of sustaining the program through multiple females and made sure all pf it was ethically correct. We definitely were never going to exploit our dogs or do things that even looked sketchy. We bred CarmelCorn SanDiego according to the plan and when she proved unsuitable for breeding we found a good home for her. The Cinnamon Bear came along well and did two of our planned three litters and we followed our plan for rehoming her too (to quite a bit sadder result). In fact, our plans went along fairly well and pretty much as we intended.
But when it came to Laffee Taffee, the first pup bought following our acquisition of the Farm, things never went to the plan. She never showed any outward signs of coming into season and became pregnant the first time a bit too young and before we had the facilities ready for whelping. She threw great pups but just couldn't get with the program at all. Taffee gave us her third litter, in three seasons, essentially burning through a five year plan in just two years. Now we are faced with a wonderful young dog, which ought to be removed from our breeding schedule, spayed, and retired to a new home, four years ahead of the plan, which we will never rehome (because we stopped trying to do this). Taffee has broken every plan we made and we are now faced with something of an ethical problem: Do we retire her here and keep her for the next twelve unproductive years? Or do we allow one more litter, damn the ethics, then spay her and retire her here? Both solid questions requiring a solid answer But these are not the only questions.
We got Abba Zabba and her littermate sister Bit O'Honey following our move to the Farm, while living in our tiny home. We tried to make them both wait until two years old, but Bit O'Honey and ClarkBar snuck off before we could catch them and so she had her first litter six months or so earlier than we would have hoped. Honey had a small litter of fairly good pups. Abba Zabba didn't seem too interested so we figured she'd be sequestered with ClarkeBar this Spring as would be normal. But Taffee once more, jumped the line. We caught her doing it and immediately locked everyone down to prevent any more surprises. This is where our carefully made plans, and their contingencies, began to run off the rails.
As Taffee's due date approached, and while we still had not built the proper kenneling facilities, we decided to move her into the new Farmhouse and began preparing space for whelping. We had a nicely made plan for a comfortable place in the Pantry and began making the plan happen. She was due for delivery this coming Tuesday and all was going along under some perceived measure of control.
But this morning, when Ann went out to feed the others, Abba Zabba failed to report for breakfast. Ann fed everyone and went out to the dog yard to find Abby had delivered four pretty little puppies without showing any signs of pregnancy at all. She had whelped them unaided in the back of our large heated doghouse and was happily keeping them there the whole night through.
And, within five seconds of finding these puppies, every single plan we have ever made got called into question.
But the issue goes even farther out of whack. You see, hounds are cooperative animals. The females often have something called a sympathetic pregnancy and exhibit signs of becoming mothers even when there is no chance of babies showing up. They can put on weight and even express milk while waiting for the opportunity to help raise the pups that do show up. The Cinnamon Bear often would nurse Carmen's pups, though not efficiently, just to help out. So when Bit O'Honey started showing signs of milk production we really didn't think much of it. Abba Zabba showed no signs of a sympathetic pregnancy, or any other signs of real pregnancy either. So, because Honey is our developing Alpha, it didn't seem too much of an issue. Now we are not so sure. Honey seems ready to whelp her second litter in the next few days. So all of our carefully made plans and actions don't seem to have made the slightest difference in Natures plan at all. We may end up with three litters this week.
BUT, this is not a case of making lemonade from unexpected lemons. Breeding is a big part of our economic plans and this unexpected boon only moves things along a bit sooner. What we have here is an unexpected slug of additional work that we must deal with in the moment and a real question as to our ability to plan anything at all.
The difference between strategic planning and tactical response is where we find ourselves today. All of our careful strategies seem to have failed (miserably), but we are "good on our feet" and can organize our responses in real time and on the fly. Things will either work themselves out or we will work them through.
As of this very minute we have nine pups delivered, expecting two more today and perhaps five more tomorrow. It's possible that there will be more, or slightly less, but we are preparing for any eventuality. We have begun wildly expanding our plans to have one litter in the Pantry to having three. The biggest problem we face now is caring for this huge amount of dog life to happen in a house where we insisted there would never be any dogs allowed. But, so much for plans.
The key will be to maintain gratitude for the good and constructive ignorance of the possible bad. We have to decide if any planning will be worthwhile going forward, but I'm pretty sure of my eventual answer to this. We have to look at our ethical assumptions and make new decisions about who we are and who we think we were, to see if changes need to be made too. All of which sounds a bit like planning, which we might no longer be competent to do.
For now were are grateful for the increase in our flock, and mindful of the amount of additional work we must do to get through the next ten weeks. These ten weeks were going to be used preparing for our Farm plans, and they still will be. But it is going to be a long and difficult, but prosperous, Spring.
Notes: These are the broad strokes . . .
- We intended to breed Abba Zabba's first litter this Spring.
- But Laffee Taffee obviously jumped the line and ClarkeBar got to her before we had any notion
- We locked ClarkeBar and RockyRoads up immediately upon seeing that Taffee had been bred.
- All three of the girls immediately went out of season.
- We figured that they were being cooperative, something Hounds often do.
- Taffee's gestation went along as normal as the earlySpring rain.
- We began preparing a place inside of the New Farmhouse for whelping.
- Towards Taffee's due date Abba Zabba and Bit O'Honey began producing milk.
- We figured they were having sympathetic pregnancies, it happens all the time.
- As it turned out we had three pregnant females.
- Abba Zabba showed no outward signs of pregnancy.
- We found Abby in the dog house this morning with four beautiful pups.
- Taffee went into labor yesterday and began delivering Sunday.
- We are assuming Bit O'Honey is also pregnant and will deliver very soon.
She went into labor around midnight today. - So we will have three litters of pups this Spring and none in the Fall (God willing).
