When Life Give You Lemons

     Okay people, so I know that I am an AWFUL blogger. But life happened. Last week, I was working. I have been helping on my aunt and uncle's dairy, Heart-O-Rose Dairy. I was all pumped and ready to go and talk to all y'all about facing adversity straight in the face, when an emergency wandered its way onto the farm. One the Mont Billiard cross cows, was beginning to calve. In the past, she had no issues with the process, having healthy calves while being able to be integrated into the rest of the herd with no issues. But that day, I could tell that something was wrong. Seeing that she was having trouble, my uncle assisted in the delivery. Dairy calves, even half beef calves, are usually 50-60 pounds, but this was not a regular calf. This one, was more Mont Billiard than dairy breed, having the characteristic large head and broad shoulders, and on top of that, it was a bull calf. A 130 pound bull calf. By having a calf that big, two major things can happen to the mother, milk fever and/or nerve damage. Milk fever is when the mother is depleted of calcium, this causes temporary paralysis and without the right amount of calcium in the right amount of time, it can have lasting effects on her. Nerve damage is when a calf as large as the one she had pinches and smashes nerves, also temporarily paralyzing the back legs. This condition has no treatment other than steroids, which an organic cow like her cannot have, but with time the body with heal itself. It may take days, weeks, months, and could possibly never heal.
      So we could better take care of her, we had to move her to a clean area, out of the maternity pen. Using the assistance of hip lifters and equipment to lift her back legs so she could walk on her front feet to the hospital barn. Needing her colostrum to feed her newborn calf, my uncle and I milked her by hand and then gave her the necessary amount of calcium to help her if that was the issue at hand.
    As soon as she was administered the medications permitted, we waited. Soon the time zone for the calcium to kick in came and went, ruling out milk fever. And then the real wait game continued. Bringing her water, plenty of feed, and lifting her occasionally to milk her, all we could do was wait. For the next few days, she stayed where she was. It took almost a week before she was able to stand by herself without crumpling to the ground. Because of her not being able to move very far, we moved her calf to stay with her.
     She continues to do better day by day, but the unknown is still in the horizon. But in the end, that is farming.
      So that concludes why I am such a terrible and very inconsistent blogger. But the story came out to show that without farmers that are willing to make the sacrifices that are needed to keep feeding the world, the world would starve. Although my uncle is serving a niche market, he is still working day in and day out and going the extra mile to making sure that the cows in his herd are cared for. And in between all that, he was racing Mother Nature to get his seed in the ground before the heavens opened up and the rain came down on the drought ridden soil. Thank God for farmers.

Stay tuned next week for an ON TIME blog post (I promise) about how to pack for a week long trip in a small bag.
Peace, Love, and FFA!
McKenzie