Our little New Year's bottle calf has had a rough time getting a foothold in this world.
At one week of age, her umbilical stump was obviously infected. She was exhausted and puny. The vet gave me an arsenal of shots to give her including antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory, and Vit B. She perked right up! Hooray!
Then about 5 days later, she tanked again. This time with a respiratory infection. She became fairly lifeless and I thought she might die. Our vet (Thank God for vets!) said that she needed a different antibiotic to knock this out.
The vet explained that cows have bacteria that live in their trachea. The bacteria never cause a problem until the cow gets stressed and her resistance goes down. The good news is that this too was promptly eradicated with antibiotics! (Thank God for antibiotics!)
My sweet dairy cow, Bambi, has not officially adopted the calf, but does allow the calf to nurse just before I milk her.
At one week of age, her umbilical stump was obviously infected. She was exhausted and puny. The vet gave me an arsenal of shots to give her including antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory, and Vit B. She perked right up! Hooray!
Then about 5 days later, she tanked again. This time with a respiratory infection. She became fairly lifeless and I thought she might die. Our vet (Thank God for vets!) said that she needed a different antibiotic to knock this out.
The vet explained that cows have bacteria that live in their trachea. The bacteria never cause a problem until the cow gets stressed and her resistance goes down. The good news is that this too was promptly eradicated with antibiotics! (Thank God for antibiotics!)
My sweet dairy cow, Bambi, has not officially adopted the calf, but does allow the calf to nurse just before I milk her.
The calf doesn't seem offended that Bambi has to be restrained in a
steel head gate before she will allow her to nurse! I believe she
is thinking, "Rich, creamy milk...Who cares how you get it!!"
It's no wonder that she loves it so much...Look at that cream line! Can you see it just below the "Ball" logo on the front jar?! Yum! We are rolling in cream and milk...so today my daughter and I will be culturing some cream cheese (to have later this week with homemade bagels), making butter, and also making some mozzarella cheese if we have time. Can you tell that I LOVE having a milk cow?!!
And here is a picture of the Living Water Quilt all folded up and ready to one lucky person!
All you need to do is make a donation to Blood Water Mission and your name goes in the drawing for this quilt. (one entry for each $10 donated) You can learn lots more about it here.
All you need to do is make a donation to Blood Water Mission and your name goes in the drawing for this quilt. (one entry for each $10 donated) You can learn lots more about it here.
Many blessing to You,
pam
Oh, she looks so soft! I hope she rallies and gets big and strong! and I forgot about the Living Water quilt - so exciting!
ReplyDeleteI pray your little calf makes it and becomes a fine healthy creature!
ReplyDeleteWe are having a day of snowfall today. My strips are boxed up to go to Karen, and I'll mail them tomorrow after the plows clear things out here in Michigan.