CALF JACKETS FOR MY BABY

This Friday and  Saturday I was busy at the farm all day with chores and scrubbing calf pens and for the first time since I've been working at the farm I had an empty calf nursery. Not for long though.

Sunday morning I had a feeling that there might be a new calf and I sent my husband to check and  he was surprised to find a new baby calf hiding behind a bunch of cows. It was a heifer calf and she was dirty and cold and he carried her in the barn in his arm. She was born in the dry cow shelter which is colder than the barn. It didn't appeared that this cow was going to calf the day before and we were so busy with heard health and rounding all the heifers to be checked for pregnancy and having another bunch bred, so she was left there in the shelter with plenty of bedding Saturday. We also had a Luau and auction to go to.

I quickly prepared the pen with fresh bedding for the mama cow and baby. My husband and I had made plans to go to breakfast with friends so my son fed the calf for me and she drank her two bottles of milk in about five minutes. Sunday evening she again gulped down two bottles( 8Pints) of warm milk and I gave her a vaccine. Then she started to make grunting sounds as if she was having difficulty breathing or was in pain. Later at night my son checked her and decided that her breathing was labored and gave her some penicillin in case she was getting pneumonia.

This morning she didn't want to get up and was not feeling well and refuse even to suck so I just let her be and went to my meeting all day. When I got back she still wouldn't get up for me and I managed to get her to drink about a pint of milk.  So a while ago I went to see if I could get her to take some electrolyte and she even got up and drank a whole bottle. She is getting another shot of antibiotic and should start to feel better by  tomorrow I hope.

Earlier today I tried to get her to stand so I could take a picture but she would not cooperate but she stood up for this picture tonight. So Tammy and someone else were asking about the calf jacket. When it's cold we put these jackets on the new born calves as it takes a lot of calories for them to keep warm and with these jackets they do so much better. The trick is to get them to gain weight as fast as possible.

 Her jacket needs to be wash and hung on the line because it got a lot of use this winter but the inside is clean. Another job for another day.

Some of my empty calf pen. Sorry for the dark picture. There are 10 pens.


  Thanks for stopping by and leaving a small comment.  JB

MONDAY AND ALL IS NOT WELL IN MY CALF NURSERY.

One of my main full time job at the farm is caring for the calves as you probably already know. One of the calves that was born with compromised  lungs wasn't eating well and was a pain to feed twice a day but finally after two weeks, a dramatic improvement happened today and he is finally eating well for a change.  That is one thing to be thankful for but the tiny twin bull calf that was born last week is not doing well since last evening and is running a fever. I fed him some medicine with water and he actually drank half the bottle which surprized me as he didn't want to drink last evening or this morning and didn't even want to stand. He was just like a little blob with fur and had to be forced fed the rest of the bottle. Usually I rarely have sick calves other than the occasional case of scour. They are fun to feed when all goes well but a pain when one gets sick. They are my babies and I care a lot that they be comfortable and clean.

When I walked back in the house after my barn chores I really noticed the pickle aroma in the air and it felt welcoming. My sister in law had droped in for a quick visit to pick up a batch of pickles for her friend and was being etertained by my husband while I took a quick shower. She went home with a bag full of zucchini, and pickles.

I have some monster zucchinis in the garden that I better pick soon. Time to round up my friends to see who wants giant zucchinis to make zucchini bread. My basil is in need to be harvested again to make pesto. I freeze my pesto pre-mix in small batches for use later. I wash and spin dry my basil leaves  and measure 4 cups well packed and put in my food processor and add one cup of extra virgin olive oil and give it a whirl and when fully made into a paste I pack it in 2 cups plastic freezer containers and when I need to make pesto, I simply thaw a container and add the rest of the ingredients and make my own organic pesto. Yum, yum... My favorite is Pesto Chicken Pizza.

Tonight I'm using the 10 minute challenge to start binding my rooster rug. Hurray for me.  JB