Blitz's udder (she was not involved in this story)
The blue is special liniment for her udder comfort, named amazingly enough,
Udder Comfort The stuff smells so strongly of peppermint the whole barn reeks when we use it.
The blue is special liniment for her udder comfort, named amazingly enough,
Udder Comfort The stuff smells so strongly of peppermint the whole barn reeks when we use it.
As in bad stuff comes in them. Last night, after a pretty decent day we got 'em. First the chainsaw died. The boss cuts wood every day for our heat so that was emergency number one.
Then after being out of the barn about an hour and a half doing other work he went in and found that one of Becky's cows, Armada, had had a really big bull calf and had suffered a prolapse of her uterus. Major medical emergency. He called for a veterinarian and we all hurried out to get started on chores early so we could deal with the situation.
Right in front of one of the steers was the still-warm body of everybody's favorite feline busybody, the little kitty who has been in so many photos here, sleeping on calves and snooping into everything, our beloved Tux. It really doesn't pay to give your heart to a barn cat, but we do it over, and over and over again. He was the most special of the favorites.... except maybe everybody's little lovey, Athena. We figure the steer got him because he was always so absurdly friendly with the cows.
He was always good for a nice bit of string chasing too, when you were feeding out hay, or posing somewhere cute so you just had to take his picture. Liz got him from one of her farmers and she cried when she saw him....and I darned near did.
The procedure to replace the errant uterus went much too perfectly. It was all back in and the vet was ready to suture her when the fool animal got mad and threw herself on the floor. Guess what....they had to start all over again. And she landed on the vet and Liz's BF who was helping.
Yeah, there are others who had much worse, but it certainly wasn't the best evening we have ever experienced. We finally got out of the barn around nine-thirty. And then when the boss went back to give the prolapse cow her second doses of her medicines she kicked him in the chest.
He is fine and so far she is fine, and the calf, which she evidently had standing up and dumped on his head, is fine too. So there are three good things to finish up with. Guess that is all we can ask for.
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15 comments:
Oh dear, those are three awful things. So very sorry about Tux. Yes...I suppose it can always be worse, but that's hard to remember when you're right in the middle of a bad-nes.
Hugs to you and Liz.
Wow...you have had a time of it. Hope all the bad stuff is over for a good long time.
Sorry about Tux. When you simply like critters, it's hard not to get attached to all of them even the barn cats :)
Hope Armada does fine as well as her calf and that all humans involved are ok too.
I also hope you have many more good times than bad, and all involved are better today.
I really feel for you......days like that just don't need to be.
Oh dear. I feel bad for you, your cow and calf, your husband, and especially your kitty. We all know, as you yourself pointed out in your last post, that things sure could be worse, but that doesn't mean that the bad stuff we get doesn't hurt.
I'm so sorry ThreeC. ((hugs))
James Herriott's books are full of prolapsed uteri, and it sounds just horrible for everybody involved, not least the cow.
I'm so sorry about pretty little Tux. Animal people just can't help loving animals, and it usually hurts in the end.
Now that your three is over, may you have smooth sailing.
Teri, as you know well, with animals anything can happen, any time, but this was just unbelievable. It went from being just another day to insanity in about two seconds. Thanks
Deb, thanks. I could not believe that he of all cats got killed. He was the smartest, funniest cat we have had in years and years.
Rev. Paul, thank you. so far so good
Linda, everybody has them, but they sure do get you when they come
WW, thanks, I hate to whine with so much horrible stuff happening all over, but what a day! And we all miss poor little Tux
Dani, thank you friend
June, when we were faced with the darned thing, knowing that our favorite vet is out on disability, the first thing that came to mind was James Herriot's farmer friend and the tea tray and sugar remedy. We were wishing that we dared to try it for ourselves. Liz's BF's grandpa, who is a retired dairyman actually had tried it and said that it worked, but we were chicken....thanks for your kind words
Oh honey.
Well this one is hurting us all.
Can't imagine having to deal with it first hand.
I just keep thinking if spring would get on us - things will be better.
I am so sorry.
I guess it's a good thing that your demands are so great that you can't spend too much time grieving.
Dang. Where is spring?
Sorry to read all this. It's just GOT to get better!
Cathy, thank you dear friend. Snowing here again today. I think spring forgot us.
JB, thanks for your kind words. Most of the stuff was just barn stuff, but sometimes it just seems harder than it ought to be.
Oh man! What a day. Losing animals is so very hard, very. Chain saw cost money and that is hard also, but your heart to an animal is more so. Prolasp is Serious stuff...serious. Hope everything turns the other way today.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
This is the first time I've ever used this kind of punctuation, but: What. A. Day. Ugh!
Linda, in the end I guess we were lucky. the cow survived, the chainsaw was repairable. We miss Tux though. He was such a delightful little clown!
Work in Progress, thanks, it sure was!
Work in Progress, Hi Kristen! I didn't realize that that was you. lol Didn't recognize the name of your blog...which is wonderful by the way!
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