I need to back up a bit with my postings since I am a bit behind. I guess I will report in categories : )
As mentioned before, we tested milk Friday night. We have since had a chance to actually review the results of the evening. The heat has taken its toll, not on everyone but for a few. The cow that stands out the most gave 115# the previous month and only 64# this time. She was also the cow in the barn that most noticeably did not handle the heat very well. We will see what the rest of the reports say later this week.
The cows were out during the day on Saturday. The original plan was to let them out for awhile but it didn't get too uncomfortable until later in the day. When that happens they tend to congregate in one place and create a mud hole. Prepping them for milking took much longer than normal because they were all dirty. We were also pleased on Saturday that there were 3 cows in heat. Hopefully their breeding's will result in pregnancies, regardless of the heat. When we were done milking we noticed that there was a cow that would probably have her calf over night. She was a cause for concern for a number of reasons. Besides the obvious heat issues she was an older cow. She has staph aureus which challenges her immune system. It took us a long time to get her pregnant and she was very heavy. She was showing signs of milk fever which is a calcium imbalance. We don't see milk fevers very often any more. Years ago, before feed testing and nutrition balancing it was fairly common. Initial symptoms are cold ears and lethargy. In more extreme cases you have a 1500# cow staggering around as though she is drunk. The next level is they can't get up. Perhaps the most dangerous situation is the cow who is staggering on her feet since she can easily hurt herself and catching her so you can treat her can be dangerous for us. The treatment in the more extreme situations is a vet call and an IV treatment. This cow was a bit unsteady on her feet so we ran a bottle of calcium under her skin and put her in the pasture right across from the barn by herself. I woke up about 1:45 and made a trip out to check on her. She had already had a nice heifer calf that had crawled under the fence and laid down. She was definitely not happy with the calf's choice since she couldn't get to it. I came back to the barn and then went back and gave the calf its roto corona virus vaccine. I made the cow walk around for me and she was doing great so I headed back to bed : ) Sunday the cows stayed in the barn during the day. Our fresh cow needed an additional dose of calcium under her skin in the morning but had cleaned over night so she was doing well. The day was again hot and humid. Today the weather was a repeat of yesterday. The only thing saving us from pure misery was it stayed cloudy. Joe was here and helped milk and then pressure washed 9 empty hutches and washed all the feed pails. Bruce dealt with a cow that had a very sore foot. As it turned out she had a bunch of sand and grit worked in through a sole crack. No wonder she was limping! He cleaned it up, treated it, and put a block on the good side to take the pressure off the sore side of her foot. In the process she managed to fall down in the trim chute once Bruce took off the belly bands that are used to help her balance. She managed to get back on her feet (this is a fairly enclosed space) and walked back to her stall. Other recent cow events to note are a couple of teat injuries, although minor ones. It is a mystery how cows can step on teats when they are outside in what is considered the perfect environment. We treated one cow for pneumonia last week. With the heat it is surprising we haven't had more. Our most recent milk culture came back fine. Nice!
The calves are doing fine. I only have 3 in hutches currently which is a nice change from having so many in early spring. The last calf is now past the point of the new calf concerns, and the one born over the weekend should be on track to do just fine. They don't read the manual, but I am hopeful.
We could use rain. The humidity along with our clay soils are really keeping the corn growing. The soil holds moisture (earlier a problem, now a blessing) and the humidity in the air also minimizes the plant requirements. We are now seeing signs of leaf hoppers in our new alfalfa seeding. Signs of trouble are yellow v shapes on the leaf tips caused by a toxin that they inject when the suck out the plant juice. We may need to spray for them which is something we have never had to do before. So far the pasture is still in good condition but keeping the cows in means they aren't harvesting like they should. It also means our haylage in the bag is disappearing faster than we would like. When the cows are out Bruce adds 250lbs. in the mix. When they stay in the haylage needs to be increased to 1000lbs.
Vicky was here today. Lower milk production and lower butterfat tests, along with higher somatic cell counts are common with the heat. We are not alone in our frustrations. Prices for soybean meal is expected to go up due to heat in Texas destroying the cotton seed crop. Cotton seed is another protein source to feed cows and having less of it available will create a higher demand for soybean. She suggests we consider contracting some of our soybean needs to control our protein costs. We discussed fly control, timing of worming everyone on pasture and also what amounts of corn to feed to those on pasture to keep it in their diet and help them grow. She was glad to hear we have bred quite a few animals and has high hopes for pregnancies, although the heat may complicate that.
Yesterday was again a special day in Wisconsin with the 2nd half of our property taxes due. Another $3500 out the door. Enough said.
Recent breakdowns have been minor. We had a tire on the tractor with what turned out to be a valve stem problem so that was relatively cheap to fix. The tractor fuel tank was leaking but that ended up being a loose fuel return hose. A water float came lose and had to be replaced in the pasture.
The goats are out routinely. They have decided they don't have to respect the fence where they were in. The dog loves this....the farmer is less than pleased. Today Bruce built some temporary fence around areas of the farm where we can't mow. The goats can eat and do clean up duty.
Mike continues to work hard followed by napping : ) We did manage to get a video of him cooling down after working. We have a shallow water tank that he uses when he is hot. He is the only one who decides when he is warm enough to use it and how long he will soak. He hates the camera but was warm enough that he was sidetracked and didn't notice. We have never had a border collie use a tank to cool down before although it's very common for this breed to like one. In the pasture he will crawl into the cattle water tanks to cool off if he decides he is too hot. Those tanks are much smaller so he makes us smile and when he gets done we just dump the tanks and let them refill. Tonight it is 83 degrees with a dewpoint of 83. 99% humidity. Winds 3mph. The dog was more than willing to take a dip in his tank tonight when we got done : )
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