The Princess and The Bloat

I have taken some time before sharing how our farm princess spent some time being severely ill, because I wanted to make sure she really was healed before I bragged.  There aren't many pictures, because honestly, I was too stressed to think about taking pictures.

Let's start at the beginning.  This may take more than one post, so bear with me.

The farm's special show heifer that my oldest son is showing this year is known to eat a bit more that she is supposed to.  She was supposed to be in heat (ready to be bred) on a Saturday, so we turned her into the yard in front of the barn with one of the steers.  He would tell us for sure when she was ready to be bred.

All day we kept watching and we never saw anything, but they just kept eating all the green goodness in the yard.  That evening she was a little bloated.  I mean she was a little puffy on her left side up high, but we weren't that concerned and gave her some prairie hay.

When we went back to check her before bed, she was bloated more, so we tried to run a tube down her to relieve the air, but we didn't get any air which meant she had a frothy bloat.  (Remember the Gas-X commercials?  She had a lot of foam built up in her stomach that wasn't letting the air out.)  We gave her a bottle of Thera Bloat that should have brought the bloat right down.  We went to bed, but I couldn't sleep, and checked her again a little after midnight.  She was BIGGER and was showing bloat on both sides which is absolutely not good.

We tried to get a tube to relieve air once again, but got nothing.  We gave her another bottle of Therabloat and nothing.  In a last ditch effort before I called the veterinarian at 2:00 am, I poked her side with a needle.   The needle started to relieve gas, but the needle wasn't long enough once the stomach started to pull away from the skin.

We finally called the veterinarian at 2:30 am.  He tried a tube and said we were correct in thinking that it was a frothy bloat.  He gave her another bottle of Thera Bloat and continued to watch her.  The bloat didn't come down as much as he like, so he gave her another bottle.  At 4:30 am, she came back home and we tried to get some sleep.

At 8:00 am, I went to check her to find that she was still bloated.  Remember, one bottle of Thera Bloat should have brought bloat down on a calf her size and at this point she had been given THREE.  I consulted with my neighbors that used to have dairy cows.  They decided they would gather any supplies left in their barn and come right over.  They looked at her and agreed we HAD to do something more.  We used a stomach pump to add 1 gallon of mineral oil and two MORE bottles of Thera Bloat to her stomach.  We also had our son continue to walk her around the pen.  As he did, she started to pass gas out both ends.  I never knew that those sounds could be music to my ears.

Her bloat finally came down!  Success or so we thought.  I fed her a little grain the next day and she bloated again.  We tried some other remedies recommended from friends.  She continued to eat hay until Thursday.

On Thursday, we couldn't get her to eat anything and I could tell she really didn't feel well at all. She was sweating down her back and she looked like she felt absolutely terrible.  My wonderful neighbors came over again this time with a stethascope.  As they listened, they didn't hear any activity in her rumen (the biggest compartment of the stomach where the fermentation takes place).

I started texted my friend +Dairy Carrie looking for any suggestions at all.  She was discussing the Princess's symptoms with her veterinarian as my neighbor Cindy called her vet.  I had already talked with two other veterinarians that afternoon and was out of ideas.  As we contemplated all the suggestions we had received, I felt the only thing would be to take her to a veterinarian hospital. 

A quick call to the Oklahoma State University Veterinary Hospital confirmed that they agreed with everyone else.  She possibly had a blockage causing the bloat, baler twine in her stomach causing the bloat or tumors on her esophagus not letting the air escape...something.  If any of these were true, she needed more specialized treatment than what we could get locally.

I had not been sleeping much at all checking her all night, so I decided to load her in the trailer and take her to Stillwater, OK that night.  My mom graciously agreed to jump in the truck with me and keep me company.

Check back tomorrow to see what the OSU Veterinary Hospital Staff did to save our Princess.  

Happy Beef Month Everyone!

In honor of May being Beef Month, I have made a video sharing some pictures of our calving season this spring with all those darling little baby calves.  Enjoy!

The calves are much bigger now and thanks to some rain and warmer weather they are finally enjoying green grass with their mothers.

What was your favorite part of our calving season?  What you would like to know more about?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

The Saga of Twin Calves

When everyone saw the Facebook post about the twin calves that were born before the first snow storm, there was a huge amount of enthusiasm.  

There were comments like great, how cute, and a bonus!  Many times ranchers say the same things about twins with a huge amount of sarcasm.  WHY?  You might ask.  Well, you see cows typically only want to take care of 1 baby.  There are exceptions to every rule, but cows are not taught to treat all their children the same and there usually becomes a favorite.  We have seen sets of twins once and never see the second one again because the cow takes it away and hides it.  And sadly someone besides a cow finds it too and has it for lunch.

If we find a set of twins in our cow herd, we pick one of them up and take it to the barn to be cared for in a couple of different ways.  These twins had been taken care of pretty well, but one was visibly colder and wetter than the other one.  We took him.

He got a quick ride home on the back of the pickup in the calf sled.  The dogs watched over him. 

When we got home, we put a calf coat on him.  Left him in the calf sled, out of the wind, and in the sunshine.  It was a nice day it the temperature reached 50 F, so he was warmed up in no time. 

We had a heifer give birth to a still born calf a few days earlier.  She still had milk in her udder, so we decided to try to make a foster mother out of her.  Foster parents are great, but in humans it is their choice, this heifer did not say pick me!  We said you look like the best candidate.  Now we had to convince her that she will make a good mama.

This heifer actually acted like she liked the calf, but did not want to let him nurse.  We put her in a squeeze chute to contain her and helped him get some dinner.  My Farmer even sat by the calf helping him keep his balance in the awkward position of nursing in the chute.
 See he can be sweet! 

That evening the same thing, she wasn’t going to let him nurse.  We put her in the chute and this time she still kicked him.  Poor little guy!  We put a “flank rope” on her.  This rope kept her from kicking the calf and he could get his belly full for the night.

Again the next morning, she talked to the calf like he was hers, but if he went near the udder she kicked and butted him.  Back in the chute again, but she didn’t kick when he nursed.  I didn’t have to put on the flank rope.  (Whew, I hate putting my hands and head close to kicking feet.)

Then there was a miracle!  I walked into the barn and saw...success!!!

And again that afternoon! 

 He was getting pretty active and she thought about kicking him a couple of times, but decided she better not.  

Of course, his brother is doing fabulous out with his mama in the pasture.  I put a purple tag in him (different that the other calves), so I could check on him easier.  They are doing wonderful and she is taking excellent care of him.

We were lucky that both of these calves were bulls.  When a heifer calf is born twin to a bull calf, she has a 95% chance of being sterile due to the increased level of testosterone in the uterus during gestation.

-A Kansas Farm Mom 

Snow Day! Oops, I mean Ice Day!!

We are super happy to get any moisture that falls from the sky these days.  We knew going into this storm that we would be right on the line between snow and sleet.  It turns out we were on the line between sleet and freezing rain.  So far, we still have power, but I am exhausted!  We fed the cows this morning in the rain and went back when the rain stopped to unroll hay, so the calves would have a dry place to sleep tonight off the icy ground.

I saw today that Beef Magazine is having a Winter on the Ranch photo contest.  I have numbered all the pictures and would love to have you let me know which pictures we should enter.  Farmer Randy took some of them and the boys helped out, too. 

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11. This little girl got a trip to my house for a couple of hours to warm up.  She is back with mom now in a barn for the night.

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With all the sleet on the ground, Farmer Randy thought we should have sno-cones.  :)

I am super tired from walking in the sleet and taking care of 3 calves that needed a little extra attention.  Let me know your favorite picture either here in the comments or on my Facebook page.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Nesting in a Big Way Part III

Part 3 of my nesting that has been going on is a bit different.  There are 10 things that I make sure are taken care of in my own home before the calves start to arrive.  This is very similar to the list I had and many others have before they have a baby of their own.

1.       I make sure the freezer is stockpiled with meals that can be warmed up by anyone in the family.  If we have calves that need special attention, I am typically the NICU nurse (I have a little more mothering instinct than the other members of the household.  This means that Randy or the boys are in charge of meal time and all 3 of them are at least capable of running the microwave.  Here is a list of items currently in my freezer:

•  French Dip
• Cheesy Enchiladas
• Christy’s Not so Famous Pork Loin
• Grandma Jessie’s Zucchini Cake
•  No Boil Lasagna
• Easy, Beefy, Cheesy Burritos
• Pork Chalupas
• Smoked Beef Brisket
• Beefy Nacho Potato Soup  
• Barbecue Meatballs

2.       A snack supply is a must.  If there is a birthing emergency, lunch time might not come until 2:00 if ever.  Often we keep some packaged emergency snacks in the feed trucks with us just in case.

3.       We get up in the middle of the night, usually around 3 am to check on the heifers (first time mothers) to make sure they aren’t having any problems.  This means a nap in the middle of the day is needed or A LOT of caffeine and sugar.  I try to stock up on pop before we get started.  I am well into week #1 of the nightly checks and have only begged to have a nap twice.  Pretty good for me. 

4.       Adult beverages are also a necessity in my household.  Some days things don’t go as they should or we spend a couple of hours with a special patient or two late at night.  When we are wound up on adrenaline, sometimes a beverage can help you sleep a whole lot better.

5.       I always make sure the mudroom is clean and organized before calving season.  This room of our home becomes the calf NICU.  Any calf that is having a hard time immediately after birth may get brought to the house for some special attention (including middle of the night feedings) and extra monitoring.  Just imagine having a 4 legged newborn in your house, except they don’t cry, instead they get up and bump around until you feed them or take them back to their mama.  :)

6.       Speaking of the mudroom, lots of laundry detergent is used in my house over the next 5 weeks.  Not only to our clothes get pretty gross helping new wet, slimy calves, but we also use blankets and towels for the calves and they need washed as well.

7.       It’s always a good idea to keep a supply of bleach or other disinfectant around.  The blankets, OB chains and calf bottles all can use a good wash and disinfection when multiple newborns are involved.

8.       Now, here’s one most wouldn’t have to worry about: Birthday Treats.  Our 7 year old has a birthday right at the beginning of calving season.  I try to make his treats for school ahead of time and freeze them.  I never know when a weather system will move in and  cause calving to move earlier.  Cows are just like people and that due date is usually plus or minus 10 days.

9.       As a mom, we also try to work on school Valentines ahead of time.  Remember, I have 2 boys that hate to write and if the weather is cold and wet it is likely that we will spend more time in the barn than in the house leading up to Valentine’s Day.

10.   I also try to keep all the laundry washed and put away while I have time.  I also take advantage of sunny warm days when the calves start arriving to get caught back up on the laundry.  The boys do like to wash the laundry this year, so maybe they will help out some, but they hate to fold and put their laundry away.

My friends all think I am organized and I think I have them all fooled.  I try to control what I can in my life, because I know when I walk out that door in the morning surprises can be around every corner.

Have a great week everyone and be sure to follow me on Facebook to see new baby calf pictures.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

You might also like:

Nesting in a Big Way Part I

Nesting in a Big Way Part II