Mostly spent crawling around in the cellar checking phone lines because the other computer wouldn't dial into the Internet and I needed to update some cow files. After hours of such messing around I discovered that the computer dials up just fine....just not from the cow program PC DART. So I guess that will need some work the next time the tester comes.
We also have a problem tonight with a poor cow having trouble calving. Some idiot hunter spooked all the cows into a headlong run down the hill yesterday and the result is she is calving early and it is not going too well. She just isn't ready. We gave her a bottle of calcium and came over to the house to give her a little time and privacy, since she is a very nervous animal. A nice thing for us....a valuable cow, a potentially valuable calf and some jerk hunting out of season (you can only hunt before noon and this was mid afternoon) on posted property going after a five pound bird causes this and we lose. And the cow loses. And I am very afraid that the calf is going to lose it all. Thanks to whomever it was for a lot of trouble and a miserable night.
***Update, the calf finally was born last night at about 10:15. It was stained all yellow, from being stressed in utero by the difficult birth. The cow had trouble I think, because she was at least a week from being ready to calve. Her pelvic ligaments had not relaxed at all yet. Thankfully, the calf, a bull, was very small and refined, so she was able to squeeze him out somehow, through the too small passage. Anyhow, she is up this morning and eating and he drank most of a bottle of colostrum, so he will probably be all right.
I'm sorry to hear about the hunter. I hope the cow and calf are fine.
ReplyDeleteSara from farmingfriends in the UK
Ugh...sorry about the idiot. People just don't think, do they? And then if they do, they think "oh, it's just some stupid cows..." Hmm, wonder what they would think if you interrupted their life?
ReplyDeleteSara, I am not sure how they are going to come along. We are doctoring the cow and the calf was at least alive when it finally arrived late last night. Thanks
ReplyDeleteCCG,Thanks, we get so frustrated with them. We are surrounded by houses now and they have no idea that the animals are anything more than decorations on the hillside.
So glad the calf made it into the world alive. Hope mom and baby recover well.
ReplyDeleteWe have idiot hunters here as well. I won't take the dogs for walks during hunting season.
threecollie what season is it there? I hope the new baby makes it, keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteBaby seemed okay when i was in the barn this morning. very active. running all over. making my morning chores miserable.
ReplyDeleteDon't you mean toms only?
ReplyDeleteAMWD, it is such a shame. We have over three hundred acres, much of it under fence and there is not time of the year, even though all our land is posted, that I can freely take my dogs out in the field with me. There is ALWAYS somebody else out there. Some have dogs with them, most have guns. In turkey season they are hiding in the bushes....
ReplyDeleteJoni, Spring turkey...no hunting after noon, toms only
Paints, he isn't too bad off all things considered. He drank most of a bottle, but I think she was at least a week or ten days from being ready to calve. She seems better than I expected after all the trouble she had getting the calf on the ground.....and I am glad.
Yes, Paints, thanks, typing fast as I am supposed to be working on the Farm Side
Man. This is where the wusses get separated from the real players. My hat is off to you. I'm afraid I'd be like the little servant in Gone With The Wind. I'd be running out the door screaming "I don't know nuthin' about burthin'.
ReplyDeleteOh! That sunset picture is awesome.
ReplyDeleteCathy, well, we get a lot of practice...all fifty-something of them have calves every year if all goes well (which, of course, it doesn't actually). Most of them calve without aid, but we are always watchful and have to help sometimes. I much prefer the times when it isn't the middle of the night...
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was so pretty that I was supposed to be helping my son drive cows back up the hill, but I went and grabbed the camera instead. I took pictures of his truck so he wasn't mad.