Well, last week was not the greatest for my farm. I had a cow that started losing condition some time after I brought them into the yard for calving. I had Dr. Stacey check her on one of her visits to the farm and she confirmed she must have aborted at some point, and she thought maybe she was a bit compacted. We decided to move her to the yearling pen since she would get grain if she was housed with them. She wasn’t happy hanging out with the younger group, but she was enjoying some grain. She continued to lose condition so I asked Stacey to check her again and she said there really wasn’t much we could do and that the most humane thing to do was to put her down. Of course that isn’t a job that I can do. Clayton and Stacey set up a time so that she could do a postmortem. It turned out that she had a large tumor that was blocking her stomach(s), so she was eating but she was not able to get the food passed through to where it needed to go. She was not a young cow, but she was a good cow, and it is sad she had to go out that way. Of course, this is not my favourite part of farming.
Friday night I was doing chores a bit early, as my mom and I were planning on attending the Fish Fry at the Emo Legion. Naturally, when I should have been getting into the shower one of our ewes started to lamb. I waited a bit but knew I was starting to run late so I called Stacey to see if she could watch her while I was gone for supper. (My cameras are done because the bridge that provides internet to the barn isn’t working and with a long weekend….) She finds lambing a bit of a pleasure because they are smaller and generally easier to handle. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I could tell that she wasn’t pushing much which usually means there is an issue. Stacey found four feet and one head coming. Once she got everything untangled, we had two healthy females and one male that had died. This ewe seems to only have one good quarter (udder) so it might be a good thing. But again, this is not my favourite part of farming.
Saturday morning, I was up early to get my chores done and get yearling heifers in. I had a young fellow from Thunder Bay asked to purchase a heifer for 4-H. I had no intention of selling any of the heifers but since it was a young person interested in 4-H I thought I would let one go. Honestly, that and the fact that I have some large bills right now, I thought well this will help! I vaccinated all the yearlings by 8:30 a.m. and waited for his visit. I had sent him some pictures of the ones that I would consider selling and he told me that he wanted # 34. I kept five for him to look over. I thought he might change his mind once he had seen them in person but after careful consideration he still went home with # 34.
Sunday was a busy day of the Big Easter Hunt and cow and calf vaccinations. Maddie and Marlee were a big help in getting the animals in because, let me tell you, though we have been wetter, the mud is deep. I had got a few in before they arrived for the hunt. Once we had that off the list, we headed out to get the remaining cows and calves in. We were shocked to find a dead calf! Likely the biggest steer calf we had. The three of us struggled to get the calf out of the calf pen and into the yard. Once we had the animals all in, we called Stacey and Charlie. If they can they always come and help. We vaccinated everyone and then Stacey did a post-mortem. As we suspected he had a twist in his stomach. There is very little you can do. He died while we did the Easter Hunt and the last group that I had got in came running and jumping and Stacey figures he run/jumped and twisted just the right way to cause this to happen. We were sad. The cow is sad. And once again, this is not my favourite part of farming….
