Bottle Calf!

Sorry for missing a day, I've been writing furiously on a post about immunity management for our 22q series, but I keep remembering things to add to it.

In the mean time, twice a day I have to wash bottles and make formula......for a red angus baby heifer calf. She's Lily's bottle calf, to show for Clover Kids at the county fair. We'll raise her up and keep her for breeding or trade her back to the ranch for a beef steer. We'll see. Susan Maribelle Test Red Stamps is growing on us. She's a sweetie.

You know aside from the dreaded cow spit kisses and Lily getting it into her head that Susan can suck her eyeballs out. Lily gets up early and forgoes some evening activities to manage the electric fence, make sure she has water, and feed her the bottles twice a day. It is a big responsibility, but she wants to do it.

When you give a kid a responsibility they ask for and set them up for success, then they often surprise us with how capable they are.

We all have our part in this project. Lily feeds the bottle, I do the dishes and mix the milk, Holly keeps Lily company and is emergency watch (if the cow hurts Lily or Lily needs me ASAP, Holly is the runner).

First Aid on a Ewe and Basic kit

One of the lifestyle changes that we quickly learned living on a farm and having animals is performing our own veterinary care on our livestock. We simply cannot call the vet for every little thing or have them come to the farm to do wound care daily. We do call the vet, but only when it is necessary and often we call to make that determination. 

That means we have to learn to give shots. This means we manage a pharmaceutical selection in a fridge. This means we have to not be squeamish. 

Knowing this level of animal first aid, having supplies on hand, and maintaining a good relationship with our vet has saved the lives of several animals on our farm.

Last week after shearing the sheep, somehow one of the ewes sliced a tendon on a fence. I went to take naked sheep pictures and found her bleeding and limping.  

So yesterday a friend was curious and asked what this was like so I thought I would post a walk through of the wound care:

First, when any injury happens it is important to clean the injured area, with sheep that means shearing bald around the area. Then they need an antibiotic (penicillin) to ward off infection and a tetanus shot. These guys sleep outside on the ground or in hay and the common tetanus bacteria is found in dirt (not rusty metal, like most believe). 

This is wrap and bandage that has to be daily changed for a while. The cut is just above the joint.

Her niece is in with her. They are 2 weeks apart and are best friends. Sheep are social animals and need a companion or the depression that sets in can hinder healing.

First we remove the old bandage. This stuff is what we call vet wrap, but it is exactly the same thing used on people- a self sticking bandage.  This part seems to cause her more discomfort than any other part of the process.

Notice I have a towel under where I am working. That is to keep hay from getting in the wound while it is exposed.

Chad is in charge of holding her while I do the work on the wound. Keeping her calm and not freaked out keeps us all safe from injury.

This is Ichthammol: hoof treatment, and skin antiseptic goo (Ichthy-goo for short). This gets applied to the wound. Gloves keep things cleaner, but also touching the wound with my bare hands to spread the goo does not appeal to me. You know? I am double gloved so I can slip the goo'd glove off and then still have on a glove to do the next part. 

Then the clean bandage goes on. In this picture you can see the old Ichthy-goo, not blood.  The actual cut, while serious, is actually pretty small.

The new wrap goes on. To get the tension right and not too tight, pull the length out to wrap and then wrap it around. I  took this one twice around the wound, once below the joint and once at the joint. 

And then she's good. It does look like it is healing and she is starting to put weight on it. I might have the vet come out and look at it next week to assess the next step in wound care- leaving it open to air and wrapping at night maybe? Or going more days between changing. Not sure how long we have to use Ichthy-goo either. We are learning that is for sure.

This wound is different than the predator injuries we have dealt with before. It was a clean cut and small. That doesn't mean it isn't serious though. The vet's first assessment was that if we don't get through this she might need amputation or to be put down. We are making this huge effort so we at least save her lamb. Even so, the vet is happy with her progress this week: clean wound and putting pressure on the leg to walk with it.

What we didn't have when we had our first animal related emergency injury was any supplies at all. I called a neighbor at midnight because when Chad hauled 4 injured lambs last year into my kitchen, all bleeding and torn up by a fresh coyote attack I had not a clue what to do or what to use. If I could go back and give the old me a list of basics this would be it:

Vet wrap. Lots of it. AT least 3 rolls.
Vet spray- a gel type spray on wound cleaner and protecting cover
Gauze pads, lots of them
Honey (to get the animals out of shock and hydrated, we mixed honey in warm water)
Penicillin and disposable hypodermic needles
Tetnus and disposable hypodermic needles
rubber gloves, both surgical ad dish gloves
a shearing razor, electric
mints, strong ones for people to suck on while working so the awful smells don't cause additional problems (like people puking)
tweezers
peroxide
fly spray made for wounds- we lost a ewe last year to screw fly larvae and almost lost our Hobbit dog too.

and bottled clean water.

Most of this can be kept in a fishing tackle box for easy to go access. Often we use a 5 gallon bucket with a cover though.

It isn't much, but that's a better start than the nothing we had on hand.

What would you have?

Dancing Queen

Last week we visited the DM farmer's market. We did two weeks worth of grocery shopping, fancy cheese included and left with loaded bags. On the way out Lil'Bug sees a guy with a cool guitar and a neat drum and asks please to go dance please! Of course!

Thank you Chris for sending me this link, she is indeed our dancing queen. :)

I've not been blogging, it's true. I apologize. Grades are in and half the garden in the ground. Perhaps I shall find time again. ;)

I have a couple hundred photos to sort and post too which will hopefully come this week.

In other news, despite my insane business, I managed to get something started that I've wanted to do for a while: Simply Food, Nothing Extra. I'm still gathering up local foodies so if you know any, send me a note. I've been reading Iowa mom and farm blogs and there are so many incredible recipes and ideas, all which helped me on my quest to better eating for my family. So why not gather them all up? It is finally out there, beautifully designed by Diana and starting to fill up with incredible recipes. :) Check it out!

We also have the chicken run done (baby chicks are all outside), a new mower and tiller (Yay mother's day! and thank you Nana and Pawpaw) in the garage, and we are in the middle of Spring planting (just 1/2 the beans, all the peppers, brussel sprouts, and squashes left to go in when the rain lets up and I can get a new bed tilled). Also looking for some piglets. Dearest is building a pig hut in preparation.

And.......uncovering the fireplace......

And.......uncovering the fireplace......
A lovely surprise. :)

All clean!


Fitting that their first snack in the farm house is apples. They were contentedly munching for a good 20 minutes, which is how I managed to get everything swept and the downstairs windows washed. The boiler guy was up and down and in and out draining radiators, but the kids were amused. I put together their toy bins Nana got them (me) for Christmas and then we explored.

What I found in the "not really a room" secret space I will post later this week. I just about teared up with glee. It was like old house karma cashed in. I hope we can find a way to put it back......I know, I don't blog for a week and then I leave with a cliffhanger, unfair!

Dearest is staying at the farm all alone this week and we just bring him food and more blankets (thus the effort to get the fireplace working and I wouldn't be surprised if he moves his bed to the main room.....). He's making progress on the heat situation, the bathroom issues, and such. We miss him terribly, but are faring well packing and baking and cleaning.

I was contacted this week through facebook by a very long lost friend. That plus packing reminded be to be incredibly grateful for Dearest being in my life. We'll be celebrating our ten year wedding anniversary on Sunday. Yes, TEN. Time sure does fly. Of all the times I moved as a kid, they were all sudden, sad, and abruptly cutting off with established relationships. As an adult, we've moved around Des Moines, but always because we wanted to and because it meant adventure and promise. I found the Dutch hex Dearest's grandma gave us on our first anniversary, it happens to feature the colors I picked out for the farm house. We never hung it here at the haunted mansion because we were pretty sure the neighbor delinquents (the 8 year olds behind us) would use it to perfect their egg aim. Anyway, sorry for the ramble, its been a long day.

And yes, I'm on facebook now. And yes, if you're my "friend" you can see the photo she tagged me in and check out my 1990 3-4 inch tall bangs. Geesh. I think there's as much product (specifically Aquanet) in my hair in that photo as I'ved used in the last 15 years! *(Edited to add said photo....I am in the front row, right side.....):

Our New Tractor

We purchased the Ford tractor, which turns out to be a 2N instead of an 8N. I'm still happy with it, but somewhat frustrated due to the lack of hydraulics. It'll be a great lawnmower and an adequate snow remover and post hole digger if and (most likely) until we decide we need an upgrade.

Pics of the tractor on the trailer - it's parked at a friends house until we get onto the farm in December.

Tractor Time!

Battle of the tractors!


John Deere 60 with front loader


vs.

Ford 8n with mower, snow blade, chains, post hole digger


For general farm like chores, mowing 6 - 10 acres and removing snow on the driveway. I test drove the ford and it's in good condition.

Who wins?