Wins & Losses

Bruce got to the barn this morning and decided he would help feed the pneumonia goat again by milking the doe and feeding it with a syringe.  Its was still on antibiotics and doing ok but the jury was still out whether we would keep it going.  He fed it, played with it, put it back in its fence and then proceeded to mix feed for the cows.  The next time he came by the kid had managed to catch its foot in the fence and fall with its head tucked under....and suffocated.  Frustrated and disappointed doesn't even put a dent in how crappy Bruce felt about it. Now we have a distraught doe wondering why we don't bring her kid back.  Its one of those things that happens and puts a knot in your stomach.  Bruce is convinced that sometimes thats just God's way of stepping in and providing food for the coyote's and eagles.  Bummer regardless from our perspective.  We have a weather forecast this week of 3-5 inches of snow and lots of wind so Bruce decided to take advantage of a very still day and fill the feed box again.  Our son Jim came home and took the time to help me attach a welded wire fence inside the cattle panels that create the goat yard.  There are a few that stick their heads through the way it is now and get their horns stuck.  Bruce has had to rescue someone a couple times a day so now thats taken care of.  The cow that had twins once again needed calcium.  Transitioning from twins is sometimes a struggle.  She did pass her drug test so all the cows are now being milked into the tank.  It sure helps streamline milking when we get back to that point. This morning I put calf coats on the heifer twin and 2 bull calves and moved them outside into the hutches.  I like hutches.  The calves do great, especially in winter because they stay dry and have the desire to eat, much like the difference in peoples appetites in winter and summer.  The complaints about hutches are they tend not to be very friendly to the feeder.  I am lucky that mine are just across the driveway from where I get their feed ready and its just over the hill so the wind is blocked some.  I kept the pneumonia heifer in just because she had just been stressed with sickness and didn't need to handle a move this soon.  I also kept the bull twin in.  He is bright and aggressive when he eats but still not breathing normally.

(Filling the feed box.  While he does this there are a bunch of gates open so the cattle get locked behind the bunk until he is done.  There is a conveyor in the bunk that spreads feed and then the cattle can eat on both sides)