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!