We farm bloggers tend to share all the good stuff that goes on around the farm and just deal with the bad stuff on our own. That's okay, most people don't want to see blood and manure, but some days I just need to vent.
If you're here just for the good stuff, stop after the second picture.
The Good:
The kids are bouncy and active and too much fun to watch.
Asher got introduced to Onyx's kids and loved them. How could he not? He insisted on staying with them while I put Onyx on the stand.
(Some semi-bad: Onyx came down with mastitis the day after I brought her home two summers ago. Now little tiny babies eschew her damaged teat. I think the milk comes out too fast on that side and seems to choke the little bitties. I put her on the stand this morning and milked that side out. I ran a CMT test on it and got a little bit of gelling, but that's not uncommon in colostrum. She seemed much relieved to have some pressure taken off. I also treated her feet which seem much better but we have rain here today).
More Good:
Hubby brought home a package of beef liver from a customer. I don't like liver, so I thawed it and was going to throw it in the crock pot for the dog and chickens. When I removed the freezer paper, I was greeted by two lovely steaks. Dinner was delicious!
Next up, The Bad. You can stop here. I'll "see" you tomorrow.
The Bad:
I disbudded Cheery and Gleeful this morning and was just starting to feel good about my disbudding abilities. Everything went well on Cheery. I put her back in the barn and did Gleeful. That went well too. Then I went to check on Cheery again.
Poor little thing was a bleeder. I had to heat the iron back up to cauterize the bleeding. It took two more times with the iron with 15 minutes between attempts to finally get the bleeding to stop. Poor little tike. I felt awful. Of course, she's up all cheery and bouncing around now. Sometimes I think it's harder on us than it is on them.
The Ugly:
And finally, The Ugly- Poor Cara Bleu's eye. She's not even opening it a crack like she did yesterday. I treated it last night with livestock eye ointment and this morning I washed it well with saline and treated it again. Cara Bleu may get a trip to Auburn U. tomorrow if she's not looking better. I wouldn't wish this on any of my kids, but why couldn't it have been one of the bucklings?
Thanks for hanging in there with me and I'd appreciate any more advice y'all may have on Cara's eye.
Poor little Cara Bleu...
ReplyDeleteAre you sure there is nothing stuck in there? A piece of hay or something in the very top or bottom continuing to scratch her eye,
Uhhh. Your starting to scare me now. We just got a dehorner, and our going to be doing our kids ourselves this year. It's going to be really hard for us to suck it up and and get it done. Dreading the thought.
Kimberly
Please don't let me scare you about disbudding. It really is harder on us than them. I think she just had very thin skin as a minimancha. Her head is also smaller so the iron tip didn't fit flat against her skull. You can do it!
DeleteI can't tell if there's anything in Cara's eye- it's so swollen shut. Yesterday it really looked more like an injury to the surrounding lid than anything in the eye itself. I'll try to check again.
I won't disbud my babies until I have more goats. It kills me and it's worth $12/kid to let someone else do it :)
ReplyDeleteI agree there is a lot of blogs that show that beautiful side of homesteading and there is a lot of negative. The good always out weighs the bad though and that's why we carry on :) I love your posts good, bad, or ugly your blog is an excellent resource!!!
I hope Cara's eye gets better, keep us posted
I feel bad turning anyone off from doing their own disbudding. Really, it's not so bad once you see that the kids are up bouncing around like nothing ever happened even though they were yelling at you minutes before.
DeleteThanks for stopping by my blog, Kelly. It's nice to have a support group.
Does she have an inverted eyelid??
ReplyDeleteI have had a few lambs with that.
Sorry to hear about your disbudding experience. I have heard that can happen. Thankfully we have never experienced that.
Glad she is doing better.
The eyelid was normal. She just injured it somehow- silly little thing. The vet thinks she will be okay.
DeleteI'm rather terrified to deal with an inverted eyelid. I have a pretty tough stomach for most things, but eyes make me wobbly.
I.m so sorry Cara is having eye trouble. I have only ever had 1 doe to get something in her ewe and I had to get a tiny little tube of very expensive ointment to put in her eye. It could be she's just gotten some dust or dirt and a sliver of hay in there. I hope she's better soon.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the ugly. I really debate sometimes about putting bad stuff on my blog. I have never had any mean comments though. You do what you do and that's that, right? If people don't like, it, they go on to the next blog. It a FARM for Pete's sake!
And that's why I take all my kids to my good friend Kendra. She does a good job and I just stand there and watch. No problem. I just cannot do it myself. I have an iron but cannot do it. It's well worth loading up allt he kids and the 8 bucks. Or swapping soap and jelly.
I like to see the ugly too. Sometimes I feel like everyone else has a perfect, clean, dry barn. That they pick up every pile of poo as soon as it hits the perfectly fresh straw. I do my best, but that's not the way it rolls around here.
DeleteI still think I'd like to charge to do disbudding for people who don't feel like they can't. Even this wasn't all that bad. I was just concerned that it took so long to get the bleeding stopped. I was thinking $15 a kid.
Your right. We do tend to keep the bad and ugly to our selves. But thanks for sharing. I know I can learn from others!
ReplyDeleteI hate the smell of the dis-budding when we have done the calves. And I feel awful too.
Burning hair just doesn't smell good. It makes my clothes smell like it too.
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