Always in a storm.

It wasn't bad enough that Daisy had her calf four days early, she had to do it early in the morning, in a snowstorm, on a day that we were expecting sixty to a hundred people to attend an event in our Sugarhouse! I had thought that I was better prepared for the arrival of her baby, but apparently, this was not the case...

As I struggled to clean up mama and baby, check their health, and create a cozy home, the rest of my family and friends tried to prepare for the soon-to-arrive guests. 

We managed to get through the rest of the day quite well under the circumstances. 

Sunday passed with very little turmoil.

Monday was a different story.  

I noticed that the calf was slightly weak, and suddenly we realized that none of the family had actually witnessed him nursing. I decided to check out the situation.

When checking on Daisy I found that two of the four quarters of her udder were full of mastitis!  

One panicked call to the Vet, sent me running to the store for milk replacer and medication and several other things. 

As good and gentle as Daisy is, she never was trained to milk. 

I had to "strip her out" twice a day to rid her of the infection. 

Poor Daisy and poor me! 

She kicked and bruised my arms, not viciously intending to harm me. 

But, as if a fly was bothering her. 

Who could blame her? Mastitis hurts! 

The infected milk is like cottage cheese, thick and painful to milk out. 

Mastitis can be caused by the calf not nursing enough or by bacteria getting into the udder. In layman's terms, infection in the milk.

Obviously, the baby couldn't drink from mom, so not only was I milking an untrained cow, I had to teach the baby to drink from a bottle which proved to be slightly tricky as well.

 It took two hours on Monday morning for him to figure out what the bottle was indeed for! Five days of stress, worry, and smelling like a cow later, her mastitis was under control. 

The outcome looked good!

Then this happened.
 I went to feed the baby and stopped dead in my tracks, a warm calf bottle in the crook of my arm! There was bloody stool all over the calf and the bedding! Another panicked call to the Vet, only to find he was closed. I called some cattle farmer friends and got their advice.

A quick trip to the store for meds and supplies as they were closing soon too.
Thank Goodness for meeting a Vet there! She told me which needles to use, and what to do and how to give the shot! In my rush, I forgot to ask her name, but to you, a huge THANK YOU!

Long story short, I got him back nursing on his momma and he is improving. All systems are working, he is gaining weight. I'm not

Sure he is 100 percent yet but I am watching him closely, his condition is good. 
(Conditioning in a bovine means health, weight, shiny coat, bright eyed, healthy etc.)

It is difficult for me to express the amount of stress and concern that this all caused me. I would like to say that as a farmer, I can handle things calmly, but this was not the case. 
I had always prided myself on raising healthy animals. 

That I  had to deal with health problems, all-be-it simple ones, in the long run, made me question whether or not I could or should do this work. 

In full honesty, yes, I questioned my life choice, standing out behind the barn, crying my heart out!

From this end of the whole ordeal, I am glad it happened! It has hardened my resolve to be a good farmer. The next time I have a case of mastitis to deal with, or severe scowers, (that is what the calf had, diarrhea and severe dehydration- often it is caused by a food change), I will know how to handle it and not panic.

 This makes that annoying co-worker you have seem not so bad, doesn't, it? At least they don't  kick you. Well, I hope not!

Happy Mothers day.

No one knows better than farmers how important Mother's are! 

We see it every spring on the farm, mothers nurturing, caring, protecting. 

It's a beautiful thing!

The world would not be where it is if it wasn't for mothers, (and fathers) there would be no growth or life. 

mothers of all species, (birth mother or surrogate Mothers,) little​ ones couldn't grow learn and become mothers them selves with out the guidance and caring mothers provide.

Thank you to all mothers!

Did I see that right?

Please note: This is from April, I apologize for the delay. You will learn more about why it took me so long, in the upcoming posts. Peace!

Most of New England knows about storms Stella that blew through weeks ago and being seasoned Vermont farmers we well prepared, or so we thought. 

The day before, I had given all the animals extra bedding, battened down any loose hatches and filled everyone's water buckets with warm water. 

So the morning of the storm chores would be simple and quick. I did not, however, expect this to happen.

I had trudged through the heavy snow, wind and moments of white out, finishing the chores in short order. 

The bovines looked out at me from their shed expectantly, knowing they would be fed in the shed, out of the wind.

The pigs refused to leave their A-frame house, even with the temptation of warm milk and stale bread, who can blame them.

I was headed to the house to start a relaxing happy snow day. 

All it took was one glance at the pig pen through the snow to tell something was wrong.

The pig house was moving! Now that's odd, I don't remember building it with wheels on it. 

I mentioned this to my super farmer husband. 

We both looked over to see the house moving into the electric fence.

We worked fast. I shut off the fence and my husband went to see what was going on.

As it turns out the swine Sisters have gotten a little big for their house. 

Now, when it was frozen to the ground this wasn't a problem, but everything had defrosted. 

When the girls would stand up their backs would touch the roof, being frozen to the ground, they would duck and walk out. 

Now there were basically carrying their house as if they were a snail and it was their shell.

I needn't tell you that I was not going to leave my Swine Sisters without shelter in the worst Winter storm we've had all year! My husband and I decided that the best thing to do would be to lift the house off the fence and move it further into the pen where, even if they moved it, it wouldn't go very far. We would obviously have to give them another house, but today, with it snowing and blowing was not the day to do so.

We lifted each corner, and tugged and pulled and made no progress moving the surprisingly heavy A-frame house.

Made from 8x10's, plywood, and metal roofing. 

(Pigs are rough on their structures, so they need to be built tough.)

After struggling for a few minutes, my husband suggested rolling the house right over and moving it that way. We both went to the same side of the house and started to lift it. That's when it all went wrong!

The supporting piece at the top of the A-frame let go and before we could do anything about it, the house flattened itself out on top of the pigs.

😲😨

My husband and I exchanged surprised looks over the grunts and complaints of the two pigs, currently stuck beneath the flattened roof.

We were able to lift one corner and let the girls out. They were disgruntled and disheveled but unharmed. Luckily, pigs are tough!

So, now what?

We decided that the best way would be to bring down the small tractor, and try to lift the roof up and put it on a post, basically making a little tent. This was easier said than done, especially when trying to maneuver the tractor on a side hill in deep snow with no chains on the tires!

We had a few hairy moments with the back tires coming off the ground, but the worst part was when we had the roof chained onto the bucket of the tractor and lifted it as high as we could get it. I had to push on the roof because it was stuck on the post that needed to be underneath it.

The chain broke, the roof slid down my thigh, landing with a thump on the ground, snow puffing out from underneath it. My husband cringed, looking down at me and yelling above the sound of the tractor, " Are you okay?".

I was okay, but I was also very lucky! Knowing that the chain letting go was a possibility, I stood in a way to avoid getting crushed should this happen. If I had been standing as I normally do, I would have had a broken leg instead of a bruised thigh. Luckily, this was not my first rodeo! 😉

We did, indeed, get the roofing wedged onto the post so it was a makeshift tent that did last them through the storm.

Once the skies were cleared, and the roads were plowed, we brought the pigs their new permanent house, a grain bin turned upside down with a hole cut out of the side for a door. It very much resembles a lunar lander or a metal teepee! Whichever description you choose, the pigs are very pleased with their new home! It is bigger, warmer, and easier for them to get around in.

We escaped with some very bad bruises, scrapes, and scuffs. It could have been a lot worse for all of us. So, as you read this over your steaming mug of coffee, in your warm and cozy house, be thankful that you didn't have to repair a pig shed in the middle of the worst blizzard New England has seen this year!