There's always a first...
After over 5 years of living on the dairy here, there still seems to be "firsts" happening. Things that have never happened here before that is...even for hubby; and he has been running this dairy for well over 20 years.
A couple of years back he went up the road to check on a cow that was due to calve. There she was, standing there grazing, seemingly unconcerned about the calf that was dangling from her backside. It was almost all the way out, except for the back hips; the front hooves hanging just above the grass. It was alive and bawling occasionally. Hubby chased her with the 4-wheeler, managed to hop off and grab the calf, which fell out with no injuries. He said it was the beatin'est thing he'd ever seen.
The first time I came to visit, back before we got married, there was a calf here with no tail. It was a weird looking thing and ended up dying before it was a month old, I believe.
Way back before my time here he also had a calf born with no hair. He gave it to a vet, who said it died as well.
There was another first while I was here, but it was really bad and ended with a bullet, so I won't go into it.
Then yesterday another bad deal. A first calf heifer had a bad calving (calf died) and ended up with calving paralysis. She couldn't stand up. We don't have the equipment to treat this, even had she been worth treating. So today the neighbor is butchering a fresh beef. Hubby's never even tried to give away a downer like that, but this neighbor (who's only lived in the area 3-4 years) does butchering quite often, and was willing to take her. So that's that. I'm praying it never happens again, but you never know.
A couple of years back he went up the road to check on a cow that was due to calve. There she was, standing there grazing, seemingly unconcerned about the calf that was dangling from her backside. It was almost all the way out, except for the back hips; the front hooves hanging just above the grass. It was alive and bawling occasionally. Hubby chased her with the 4-wheeler, managed to hop off and grab the calf, which fell out with no injuries. He said it was the beatin'est thing he'd ever seen.
The first time I came to visit, back before we got married, there was a calf here with no tail. It was a weird looking thing and ended up dying before it was a month old, I believe.
Way back before my time here he also had a calf born with no hair. He gave it to a vet, who said it died as well.
There was another first while I was here, but it was really bad and ended with a bullet, so I won't go into it.
Then yesterday another bad deal. A first calf heifer had a bad calving (calf died) and ended up with calving paralysis. She couldn't stand up. We don't have the equipment to treat this, even had she been worth treating. So today the neighbor is butchering a fresh beef. Hubby's never even tried to give away a downer like that, but this neighbor (who's only lived in the area 3-4 years) does butchering quite often, and was willing to take her. So that's that. I'm praying it never happens again, but you never know.
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