Sick Mama Cow

Well, I went out this am and 31 has mastitis. She is prone to it so we have been watching. This is the kind that doesn’t show up on the ‘litmus’ test. I milked as much as I could and could still not get enough bad milk off the quarter to put the meds in the teet. So, off to the vet I went to get antibiotics, pain killer and oxytocin. I gave her 35cc of antibiotic , 10cc pain killer, and 2cc oxytocin in the muscle this am and that same amount of pain killer and oxytocin this evening before milking. She is to get pain killer 2x daily if she is in pain, oxytocin 3-4 times a day and antibiotic today and again on Wednesday. What a hard time. She is still eating so she should be ok, but it is stressful.

On a good note, she was letting the baby suckle on the other 3 teets tonight when I went out there and that is a good sign that she isn’t hurting as much as she was this morning.  Well, we will have to discard the milk for 3 days after her last antibiotic (it will go to the calf) and then we will have lots of milk!

We lost one of our bee hives. I think the hive beetles attacked. We still have one, but will need to buy another next spring. I am very sad at the loss.

I hired a young man last week to work on the fence. He is coming back tomorrow to work on fence and a water collection project we are adding to our barn. Gigi and I are painting wood panels for the completion of the hexayurt this coming weekend. Yay!

I saw a living model of paddock paradise! I was so excited that I turned around, drove by again and stopped at the house to ask about it! The lady was very nice about it and walked out to the paddock to discuss it. She had what looked like a maze made out of white electric tape. I was enthrawled! I have been a bit intimidated at thinking how I could use this great pasture management system on my 7 acres… but when I saw it in use, I finally figured out how to do it in steps and make it work for us, cows and all! I’ll give you more specifics as I figure them out on our pasture. Oh, boy! Another project! Just never have enough to do ’round here!

Co-op price list

We finally got it! The newest price list is posted on the site. The next order will be September 14th. Check it out and get your orders and checks to me by the 7th if you can.

Farm Journal 8/23/09

Well, our new heifer is healthy, however, 31 is not letting her nurse. So we are milking 31 and bottle feeding the heifer. That will make her more friendly anyway, so we don’t mind. We haven’t come up with a name yet, any suggestions are welcome!

31 has a hard spot on her udder but she doesn’t have mastitis.. hope it will clear up as her milk comes in.

New Calf!

Shabbat Shalom!

Yah has blessed the farm again with His increase! 31 had her calf today! It is a heifer and she is gorgeous! She has a white spot on her face and a white leg (She is a spotted Jersey). I will post pics soon. Mama and calf are doing great. We will be milking Mama this week because her utter is so big and the calf could not possibly use all the colostrum. We will save it for future calves or to sell. We will have extra milk for sale in a week or so.

Co-op News 8/13/09

It has come to my attention that several people are not getting our emails from the list serve. Please check your settings on your email servers to make sure it is not being sent to the spam folder or deleted.

We will also be posting on the new blog on the website, so if you aren’t getting the emails you can check the blog and find info here.

We will be having another co-op purchase on September 14th, we need your orders in by September 7th so we can get the correct prices to you. The prices are not correct on the product list. Once you receive the correct prices you can mail or bring by a check to cover the purchase.

Sorry to all that missed the last co-op purchase.

Busy Times

I have been so busy… Satch and Kevin have been keeping chores up. I was in B-ham with Shelly for her neuropsych eval for possible brain surgery. I spent Sunday with PK in the morning for breakfast and shopping and with Shelly all afternoon running errands and hanging out. Monday and Tuesday I spent the day at the hospital with my mom. She had part of her thyroid removed and the goiter and nodules removed. She is doing fine, but I’m tired.

While at the hospital with nothing to do, I read a novel called Etta. It is set in late 1800’s early 1900’s and is an historical fiction about the life of Etta Place, the infamous running mate of Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy. It was a great story filled with all the great things a good novel should have. It is difficult to know where reality/history ends and fiction begins and this makes for a very believable epic.

Tomorrow I take my FIL to the doc and should be settled down again for a few days. Monday and Friday next week we have appointments again. I was looking forward to the start of school, but that will have to be on hold for another week. Maybe we can get started Monday morning and take Friday off.  Praying for Yah to continue to lead and guide us, keep us and train us as we walk this tedious journey.