November 11, 2021
I find real contentment with the
constant routines of daily life. Inevitably,
however, when a nice routine is established and it feels like everything has
come together, something unexpected shakes things up. That’s life.
The incidents that shake up routines are often, in fact, positive events;
however, any break in the schedule can create chaos, especially with dairy
animals involved. Just like my bovines
who require a few days or even weeks to adjust to something new, I find
creating new patterns or adjusting existing patterns to accommodate something
new takes time and energy that I would rather put into something other than
change!
At any rate, this week began peacefully. The three cows in milk were coming in from
the field voluntarily at the appropriate times.
A workable balance between having enough milk to make cheese but not
feeling overwhelmed had be achieved by share milking with the calves. The garden mostly dormant, save some cold
weather crops, no longer demands my attention. And, not yet falling into the rush of the
holiday season, things seemed briefly manageable. Tuesday
morning, full of energy, I
jumped immediately into making cheese. I
hoped to have it completed and my milking finished by mid-morning, so that I
could split the rest of the day between sewing and writing. I was down to my final stretch on the cheesemaking
and anticipated leaving the kitchen within 30 minutes to go milk the cows when I
decided to call Mike and make sure he had made it to Staunton safely. We talked a few minutes and then hung
up. It wasn’t long before he called me
back saying “I forgot to mention that I went up to the barn before I left this morning,
and I didn’t see Dottie or Princess. You
might want to check on them.”
I became concerned enough that I abandoned my cheese,
thinking that I would slip out, assure myself that all was well, then return
and finish the cheese before heading out for morning chores. Dottie, our smallest heifer to date and a
product of four generations of selective breeding, was due with her first
calf. We had an ultrasound to confirm
her pregnancy. The dates the veterinarian had given us from the ultrasound seemed
to correspond with the date I had last seen the bull’s intensified interests in
her. I was fairly confident that we knew
when she was going to calve. Mike and I both noticed a couple of weeks ago that
she was changing dramatically in appearance, her udder developing and her
ligaments getting looser. We had moved her closer to the house so we
could keep an eye on her, but I kept telling myself that we had a couple more
weeks and that her December due date was correct. What I should have remembered is that her dam
has a small, compact udder and does not blossom the way many of my cows do
right before calving.
My eyes searched the
steep bank looking for some sign of occupancy, and I saw Princess grazing alone. I felt an urgency to find Dottie who typically
stuck close to old Princess for comfort and companionship. Unable to see the level area on the top, the
only conceivable space a smart cow would give birth, I picked up my pace, breathing
heavy as I sprinted up the steep incline.
There I found Dotting sitting comfortably on the ground with a very tiny
calf, wobbling around her. I gave a sigh
of relief that they had made it this far without any complications. However, I felt a sense of urgency to get both
mom and baby to the safety of the barn where I could make sure the calf
received his first meal of colostrum (an event that must take place as soon as
possible after a calf is born to provide the calf with the immunities it needs
to get a healthy start). In addition,
the steep incline simply wasn’t safe for a newborn calf who wasn’t steady on its
feet. I thought about getting the ATV
but felt the new momma would lose track of her baby and not follow me down the
hill. I didn’t want to stress her. I wanted her to go willingly with the
baby. Knowing my back would pay for it
later, I scooped the little guy up in my arms (after I had checked to see if it
was a heifer or a bull calf) and began walking with him. He was a slight bit damp but mostly dried
off. This gave me a clue that he had
been born for a while and I was concerned about getting the crucial amount of
colostrum into him as soon as possible. Dottie
wasn’t sure what I was doing because she couldn’t see the baby in my arms. Occasionally, I would have to put the baby on
the ground and allow her to come and sniff it before I picked him up again and
moved a little further down the hill. The
process seemed interminable, but we eventually made it to the lot by the barn. I tried helping the little guy get to the
teat and suck, but Dot kept stepping away each time. I knew I needed to get her in a smaller area
where she would have less space to step away from the baby. However, Mike had removed the gate that I
needed to shut Dottie into the shelter. I
muttered under my breath (well perhaps I more than muttered) and went in search
of something I could use to block the cow and calf inside. I had a smaller gate, but it didn’t reach entirely
across the space and I was having trouble lifting it onto the hinges. I hung the gate by one hinge and left it dangling
at the bottom since I couldn’t hold it up by myself to align the hinges. I then
went to find a plastic pallet to tie to the other end of the opening to take up
the space left by the shorter gate.
Baler twine always comes in very handy is situations like this and can
be a farmer’s best friend. I used it to
secure the pallet and to secure the bottom of the gate I couldn’t get down on
the hinge. I grumbled although there was
no one there to hear me, that I had told Mike to leave a gate up at the end of
the shelter (and I had expressed the desire that it should MATCH the rest of
the barn as I was tired of gates that were an eye sore). Always needing to re-arrange to accommodate a
pressing need, the original gate had been used to separate the shelter creating
two spaces out of one. By closing off
the end of the shelter I now had a space between it and the second gate where I
could put Dottie and her calf to work with them. I scooped up the calf again and placed him
inside the shelter. I gave Dottie some hay
and grain to keep her occupied and tried once again to get the calf to her
teats to nurse. Each time I would get
him to her udder, she would step to the side just slightly making it impossible
for an inexperienced newborn to latch. I
needed a smaller space. So, I wrangled
the longer, heavier gate around a support beam making the space several feet shorter,
and using more baler twine, tied it in place.
This time, Dottie was in a small enough space that she didn’t try to
sidestep but each time the calf, with my assistance, would get his mouth on her
teat, she would raise her foot and push him off. I honestly have never seen a gentler push
from a new momma. Usually, when a cow
won’t stand for a calf, they kick quite forcefully at the calf. Dottie wasn’t comfortable with this new
nursing routine (as any mother who has nursed a child knows, the process can be
painful in the beginning) but she wasn’t aggressively trying to keep the calf
from nursing. However, the process wasn’t working for either of them.
At this point, I felt
like I just needed to get some colostrum down the little guy and worry about
the whole nursing process later. I didn’t
know how long it had been since he had been born, but it had been a full hour since
I had carried him down the hill. I left
them alone and went to the house where I thawed some frozen colostrum by
heating it gently on the stove and then I put it in a bottle. Sometimes, newborns won’t take to the artificial
nipple right away or they simple become too tired or weak to nurse properly. I hoped the little guy would take to the
bottle and get the colostrum he needed.
Sure enough, he took it willingly after I squeezed his mouth down around
the nipple once, giving him a taste of the warm milk. I was careful to give him just enough to coat
his stomach and get him started, but not enough to satisfy him. I wanted him looking for more milk and
returning to his momma. He did exactly as
I had hoped, finished the bottle, and ran over to momma to try to get more
milk. Again, she wouldn’t stand still
for him. I knew he would be ok for a bit
and I wanted to leave them to bond, hopeful that momma would start to calm down
a bit. Since I hadn’t milked my cows yet, I set about to do that. Once I completed that task, which took about
an hour, I tried once again to get the newborn calf to nurse, but to no avail. I went back to the house and warmed up more
colostrum, again being careful not to get so much that it would satisfy
him. I knew I could keep giving him
small amounts throughout the day if I didn’t get Dottie to the point where she
would nurse him on her own. The little
guy took the bottle right away and with gusto this time. Once he finished, he ran over to momma and
again tried to nurse. This time, after a
few gentle swipes with her foot, she gave in to his persistent efforts and allowed
him to nurse. She would push him off
from time to time and shuffle around a bit, but he had enough warm colostrum in
his system from the bottles I had given him and had gained enough strength that
he wasn’t giving up this time. Once I
was satisfied that he had nursed adequately, I knew that I wouldn’t have to
bottle feed him again. He had the hang
of things and momma was standing well for him.
When I got back to the house, I realized that my cheese had
been sitting for 2.5 hours instead of the remaining twenty minutes that it
should have set before I drained the curds and put it in the press anyway. That’s the way of it on the farm. Day in and day out things stay the same,
until they don’t. In a moment, a day’s
schedule can be turned upside down. The best course of action is to just roll
with the disruptions which takes real effort for a individual like myself who
comforts themselves with routines.
November 13, 2021
This week has passed by quickly. Except for the excitement of the new calf, it
has been quiet and busy. Keeping up with
the milking, taking care of the animals, preparing our meals, making cheese –
these activities fill up my days and anything over and above can be difficult
to fit into the schedule, at least if I want to try to keep the bulk of my work
within a 10 to 12-hour time period.
Sunday, I took time to sit with my friend who has cancer. Wednesday I took time to walk and visit with
another friend. When I have been able to
find a few minutes here or there to sit down to the sewing machine, I have been
involved in making new curtains for the entire house. It started out that I wanted to replace the
kitchen valences (which I still have not done) but my excitement over new
fabric and the small makeover that new window treatments bring to a house, soon
led me to spending far more money on fabric than I had intended. When I take on a project, I do so with an
intensity that doesn’t allow me to rest until I have accomplished my goal. At first, I attacked the project with such
urgency that it wasn’t the least bit fun for me until I realized what I was doing,
slowed myself down and began to enjoy the process. It’s hard for me to see a row of windows on
the sunporch and only part of them dressed in new curtains and the rest waiting
naked for me to finish. Slowly, with a little
sewing each day (until I finally found an afternoon when I could devote several
hours and an evening when I sewed well into night while waiting for Mike to
return home from Staunton), I managed to get the curtains made and hung. I still have some hemming to do, and the
kitchen windows yet remain untouched. Most
of this mini makeover is mostly completed with curtains completed for 18
windows. The addition of curtains to the
sunroom for the winter will help to block out the cold and give us more privacy. Mike looked around last night and stated that
the house looked “homey” and that my efforts had made it cozy and
inviting. I felt genuine pleasure that
he not only noticed but also liked what I had done.