Wow, what a difference a weather front can make! After 2 days with record setting temps we wake up this morning to 55 degrees, mist and wind. While this is much more agreeable to the cattle, we were once again digging out the sweatshirts and coats. One thing Bruce is back to doing in the morning is mixing feed. For awhile he was able to mix the feed for 24 hours and then feed the mornings feed after we milked the prior evening. The warmer weather causes the feed to heat and spoil faster so even adding a preservative in and spreading it out wasn't working well. Keeping feed fresh in summer is a constant challenge when it is hot. Bruce went to get the cows this morning and found one had a bull calf over night. We have a trailer for our 4 wheeler so we just go out and put the calf in the trailer and bring them home. Someone has to ride with the calf since a ride usually isn't in their plans. Depending on the calf, the ride can be pretty basic or a wrestling match with bruises to prove it. We had a vet call again today for the fresh cow. Her list of ailments include ketosis, heavy lungs, a fever, 90% uterine cleaning/closing, mastitis in 1 quarter and a sore foot. With the exception of the foot the rest of her ailments are all predictable with the having twins and hot weather combination. She got an appetite drench again and an IV to treat the ketosis faster. She will be on antibiotics, 25cc injections into the muscle for a few days to treat the lungs, uterus and mastitis more aggressively. The whole focus is getting her to eat and not get a DA. Bruce had started working on her foot before the vet arrived just in case she had a DA and needed surgery so the vet watched Bruce finish her foot before he could check her. She had a bruise on the bottom of her foot that was starting to abcess, presumably an injury from stepping on a stone in the pasture wrong. We had another cow that had started to limp so Bruce worked on her foot also, finding a similar problem. It is possible too that feed changes lead to abcesses also. Bruce removed the hoof area around the injury so it could drain and then applied an iodine & sugar poltice to draw out the infection. Both of them are quite stylish now wearing blue foot wrap. : )
With the misty weather the hay making was put on hold. The day disappeared much more quickly than we would have liked but Bruce did manage to get the pens on the back of the barn cleaned. I needed to regroup the calves in there to make more room for some I really want to get in from the hutches. The east side of our barn has 4 pens and it is my preference to have no more than 6 in the 2 bigger ones and 4 in the starter pens and I think I can make that work out. One of the twins wasn't feeling quite like he should this morning so I put electrolites in his milk right away. I can't say I was surprised, hot weather creates its own predictable list of cattle issues. Tonight he seemed more stubborn than sick so we will see what the morning brings.
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