There's nothing more joyful to me than new life.
The thrill of a healthy new calf and doting mother cow is one of the sweetest things I know.
With the birthing of animals, mostly, things go right. I mean in the grand scheme of things, considering all that could go wrong, mostly they don't. However, sometimes they do.
When we moved to Laurel Fork and Maple Lawn Farm, I had not intended to buy anymore cows. My plan was to simply to retain heifers born here that I thought would improve my herd goals and keep my herd numbers small. But, I needed a new bull and my husband fell in love with a little cow in that herd and she had a friend, and before I knew it, we had impulsively bought two more cows. And, we have paid for that decision. Such is farm life. We win some and we lose some. Some cows are easy keepers and others.......well, saying they are difficult is putting it mildly. And this particular cow has been nothing but difficult.
When we bought her, she was a dry cow (not in milk) but pregnant. I should have questioned the previous owner more intently, or perhaps, to give this individual the benefit of the doubt, they truly did not know the more serious problems that plagued this cow. We had been told this individuals cattle had mostly been "hands off", not milked through their lactations, instead just relieved a bit in the field right after the calves were born. When this particular gave birth the first time on our farm, we faced a malpresentation of the calf, which ended up in death for the calf and a retained placenta for the mother. Then, when we began to milk her, we realized that she only had three good quarters. One quarter was completely dead and another quarter had a serious case of mastitis. We also found out that she was not fond of being milked. The cow kicked for a good six months or longer before she finally settled down and gave in to being milked without a confrontation in the stanchion. At one point, this cow had kicked with such fury she barely missed my face, but in trying to jerk my head back, I had knocked my only pair of glasses off and she had smashed them in the ground with her feet. Milking her was a rodeo at first, but eventually with persistence on our part, she settled down and became easy to milk and we looked forward to the next calf.
Nine months after she was bred back, we watched as she labored for two hours and still the calf did not progress. Remembering our last birthing experience with her, I made the decision pull the calf, which we did. Fortunately the calf was presented correctly this time and we had timed the pulling of the calf so that both momma and baby were ready. The mommas pelvis was just too small, even though the calf was not big, and she had been unable to move the calf down the birth canal in a timely manner. It was a rough birth, but the calf was healthy and momma, although tired, seemed to rally once the calf was on the ground. She licked him clean and called to him to nurse. We had to assist the little guy in finding her teats and continued to help him nurse for a few days until he got the hang of it. He seemed to be doing well and momma cow, although a little lethargic and off her feed a tiny bit, seemed to be bouncing back from the difficult birth. Daily, I separated her milk from that of the other cows and when I strained it, the milk looked great. I was thankful that she didn't seem to have any signs of mastitis with this freshening. Everything seemed to be going well, although there was something underlying that troubled me about her disposition, energy level and feed intake.
Then suddenly, things were no longer well. Just like that, overnight, she developed a terrible case of raging mastitis in the quarter that she had issues with the previous lactation. We could have dealt with the mastitis without too much difficulty even though it was a bad case complete with a fever, but it was also obvious by this time that she was suffering from ketosis. I knew it not only by her physical symptoms of lethargy, not wanting to eat, and the neurological aspects that sometimes manifest themselves with this diagnosis, but also from the strong acetone smell of her breath. Just like that, we had a life and death situation. We began administering antibiotics for the mastitis as well as some injectable, fast acting vitamins to boost her system. We also infused the quarter which was hot to the touch and rock hard. In addition, we had to set up an IV and administer dextrose multiple times to the cow over the next few days. Getting her back to feeling like eating has not been easy. We played around with different types of hay we had on hand, offering her a veritable buffet of samples to see what she wanted. She began to pick at grain and then to eat it slowly over the next few days. The days were long, the weather dreary, and the depression she exhibited spilled over into the atmosphere of the entire farm.
She is currently eating better and not as lethargic, although not her normal quirky self. We are seeing improvements and I feel like she will pull out of this but she was a very sick girl, and it is going to take some time. Her milk production went back during all of this and she did not have enough milk to feed her calf, so we began bottle feeding him with milk from one of the other cows. In the last few days, he has begun sometimes refusing the bottle because his mother's milk has started to produce a little better and he seems able to get what he needs from her.
The cow's condition is not something that is transferable to the other cattle, but we have kept her to herself because she has not been strong enough to compete with the other cattle or to fight the extreme mud and adverse weather conditions we have experienced recently. This makes extra work for us but it is what we needed to do to give her a chance to heal.
Farming is always a challenge but some days, weeks and months are more challenging than others. Still, I have never considered giving it up. Mike sometimes asks me, "Are you ready to quit yet?" I always give him a resounding "NO". This is my life. It's what I love. I pray I am able to keep going for many more years but I know there will come a time when I won't be able to do it physically anymore. That, in itself, makes me appreciate each day.......even the hard ones.
