Tuesday, March 27, 2012

We learn with the good and bad..

Mr. M and I are not generational farmers.  We started farming when we got married 13 yrs ago.  And we learn as we go.  We are far from perfect, but we love every minute of it.  And especially the livestock part of the farm.  We have learned so many things. 

~how to pull calves
~how to put a chain around a calves neck when pulling without choking it
~how to do and apesiotamy on a heifer
~how to get a momma to take a calf that isn't hers

And these are just a few of the highlights we have learned.

 But what we went through last night takes the cake for now.  Little Miss's heifer was badly, badly bloated.  So bad that I wasn't sure she would survive.  Bloating is a build up of gases in a cows stomach.  And it can be deadly if left untreated.  So Mr. M gave her two tubes of stomach meds we keep for such a case.  And he proceeded to walk her and she was not having it since her belly hurt so badly.  Me not wanting to give our Little Miss news of her heifer dying, called the vet.  Here comes the scarey and oh so cool part.  We cut an old garden hose and stuck one end of it down her throat. Now the tricky part is, one side of the cows throat leads to their stomach and the other side leads to their lungs.  So you don't have much room for error.  Mr. M got the hose in and BAMB! It was like letting the air out of a balloon.  You could hear it coming out of the hose and see her belly deflating.  And the smell was one I have never smelled!  It was the coolest and scariest thing.  Dream is doing much better today.  She's a little groggy and sore, but she should be fine.  Thank goodness!

I love this life and learning all these new things. 
 I love when Mr. M and I are able to do something so amazing. 
 It makes it all worth it. 
 And I wouldn't have it any other way. 



Have a great day!

2 comments:

Alica said...

I've only seen this one time, and that was when one of our cows bloated after surgery for a twisted stomach. Pretty amazing, isn't it! I'm glad Little Miss' heifer is doing much better!!

Cow Pies & Mud Pies said...

wow...have seen that, never personally treated it...it is scary.