Picspam 1, Another baby calf
Slowed down a bit right now; I did a really stupid thing and put my weight down on a step that was (1)slanted (2)green and (3)wet and inflicted myself with a bruise which is phantasmagorical, horrific, and painful. So I have just as much work to do but am even slower than usual.
This is Miu-Miu, whose mother, Yum Yum, stands behind her (and yes, that's a skit of slushy snow on the ground behind them). Eight years ago, Yum Yum (whose mother was Zig Zag) had post natal exposure to Bovine Viral Diarrhea. It nearly killed her; I spent ten days going out into the field and tube feeding her special medicated, high electrolyte formula, each time being sure she'd be dead when I found her. On the eleventh day, I approached with the two liter bottle of warm formula and the two feet of brewers siphon tubing, and she jumped up and ran off faster than I could catch her.
Sometimes, now, the work is worth it.
Including the work of vaccinating every calf within 48 hours of birth for several varieties of clostridiuum and BVD. The Blackleg, redwater fever, tetanus + four other related infections came in the spring of 1995 when there was an outbreak population of White Fronted Geese sharing the pastures with the Canadian geese and the cattle (that's the vet's attribution, anyway; all I know for sure is that we'd never seen it until that year); the BVD cane in 1996 with a new bull. We've now got Leptospirosis to vaccinate for, again; it's a disease which is endemic in bird populations and has a 20 year or so cycle. One does not vaccinate for lepto unless one knows it's around, as the vaccine itself is an abortifactant.
Julia, more farming stuff.
This is Miu-Miu, whose mother, Yum Yum, stands behind her (and yes, that's a skit of slushy snow on the ground behind them). Eight years ago, Yum Yum (whose mother was Zig Zag) had post natal exposure to Bovine Viral Diarrhea. It nearly killed her; I spent ten days going out into the field and tube feeding her special medicated, high electrolyte formula, each time being sure she'd be dead when I found her. On the eleventh day, I approached with the two liter bottle of warm formula and the two feet of brewers siphon tubing, and she jumped up and ran off faster than I could catch her.
Sometimes, now, the work is worth it.
Including the work of vaccinating every calf within 48 hours of birth for several varieties of clostridiuum and BVD. The Blackleg, redwater fever, tetanus + four other related infections came in the spring of 1995 when there was an outbreak population of White Fronted Geese sharing the pastures with the Canadian geese and the cattle (that's the vet's attribution, anyway; all I know for sure is that we'd never seen it until that year); the BVD cane in 1996 with a new bull. We've now got Leptospirosis to vaccinate for, again; it's a disease which is endemic in bird populations and has a 20 year or so cycle. One does not vaccinate for lepto unless one knows it's around, as the vaccine itself is an abortifactant.
Julia, more farming stuff.