Feels Like A Monday

Yesterday morning we managed to get feeding and milking done in a reasonable time.  The heifers cooperated and there were no new calves to start the day which was a surprise in itself.  We went to an early Easter dinner at our sons, 1 hr 40 min from here.  Had a very enjoyable afternoon, left an hour later than planned and milked last night.  Ed did the feeding for us but we came home to a new bull calf, a cow that was causing enough concern that Bruce called the vet to schedule a visit this morning and a calf that wasn't willing to eat.  The cow involved in the drug residue scare passed her drug test.  We will never know whether she would have passed earlier or not but it was nice to just add her back into the routine. We managed to get through it all but it was definitely an exhausting day!  Bruce arrived at the barn this morning to find another bull calf had arrived and the cow causing the concern last night was dead.  At least the calf was doing better.  Given the fact that the cow had a lower than normal temperature last night and her abdomen was bloated this morning we suspect she had an ulcer that perforated or some type of stomach issue which caused peritonitis and eventually death.  In any case, she saved us a vet call because there isn't anything you can do to prevent the same outcome. Just another frustration.  Today the newest calves got moved out into their hutches and the cow was taken out of the barn and composted.  Bruce does this by burying her under corn fodder stacks.  By fall there will be nothing left but a few of the biggest bones.  The pens got bedded again and the feeding got back on schedule. With the milk check coming tomorrow I spent part of the afternoon paying bills and writing our monthly paychecks.  By milking time tonight the last heifer due this month had delivered a bull calf.  Having 3 brand new heifers to milk tonight made for a long and late milking.  They all had cooperative calves which is very helpful from my perspective.  It is always interesting that these heifers were all bred within 30 minutes of each other but freshened over a span of 12 days.  We now have 3 cows left to freshen this month.  Today we had blue sky, sunshine and green grass so it was really a pretty spring day.  After traveling yesterday today felt like a Monday.  We will see what tomorrow brings.