REMAIN CALM

Do not panic, I'm still alive ; ) However, I haven't posted anything for a while. Been really busy I guess. Everything is going good though. I'll try too get back in the posting mood again- tomorrow LOL

A "Shitty" Day

The cows are officialy on vacation. We put them out on the fields to finish eating whats left out there. They love it- so much they didn't want to come home tonight for milking. We had to go get them.

We started combining hi-moisture corn for a guy. Kristina had a volleyball game tonight so Becky helped milk. During milking Becky preg-checked 2 cows. The first one wasn't bred. The second wasn't either, but after some serious palpation Becky determined to be in heat now or slightly passed. As she was pulling her arm out, a bunch of muccous ran out of the cows love hole.

So, we decided we might as well try her again. I was actualy the one to give her the straw since Becky bred her last time. If one of us breed a cow and she doesn't settle, the other person tries it the second time. We finished milking and let the cows out. Then I loaded the gun with a Jersey sire (we have better luck with jersey on our hard breeders sometimes) I started breeding her, but I couldn't feel anything in there. While Becky was "raping" her, she must of sucked alot of air in. This had to be one of the hardest cows I've bred. Not because she was wild, but I just couldn't feel a thing. I finally found what I thought?????????? was her cervix and got her shot up. Then I made a mistake, I jerked my arm out of her with frustration. Now some of you may know what happens to cows when they go on green grass and alfalfa for the first time. They get the squirts, and my arm had been plugging her, well lets just say it got messy just then : )

So, we finally are done chopping corn. We still have a little to do for others. But, we have started combining soybeans. I only see my dad in the field this time of year. I don't think he has been in the barn for months.

Right now we are milking 126 cows. We have a bunch of heifers to calve before winter. The last couple births have gone much better. they calved mostly on their own. I dont know if the vitamin/ mineral thing helped or what, but I'll take it.

The weather has gotten cooler. Thats good for us and the cows. The above normal temps took there toll on them.

We're one smoking hot family ; )

We're one smoking hot family ; )
Originally uploaded by Farm Girl shannon

My sisters and me

I feel like an OB nurse lately...

Of the last 13 cows to calve, we had to pull 13 calves. Basicaly, their cervix does not dilate all the way. This makes it hard to even know when the cow is calving since they won't always readily show signs. We really have to watch them closely. If they are close to their due date, and even kinda look like they may be calving we have to go in and check them. Most of the time they are mostly dilated, but not all the way. We've tried waiting, but nothing happens.

Oh, by the way, 10 of the said cows calved during the night. Theres nothing like getting up in the middle of the night to go check a cow. Once it appears the cow is starting to calve, you have to watch them cloesly and check their dilation often. We take turns going out and doing this. I would think this is how a person having a baby feels, the nurse comming in every so often checking their cervix. I can barely remember when Kristina was born the nurses doing this. Abby will get the joy of that in a few months : )

To remedy this problem, we are changing our mineral mix. Our vet and nutritionist think it could be a mineral or vitamin inbalance. I hope it helps, because I'm tired of beign a OB nurse.

Thank goodness for this stuff...

And these (lots of them)...

And, mostly this...

With these things I can almost always get the calf out, eventually (I'm an awsome ob nurse)

So Un-coopertive

9-10-08 Why do cows kick you?

Sometimes they have good reason. If you scare them. Or if you try to stick your arm up their butt, I'll give them that, I probably do it then too. But sometimes, theres no good reason. I got kicked today by the way, three times actually while milking tonight. Maybe I smelled funny, I don't know.

We started chopping corn!! We plant some early corn in case we run out of silage, so we chopped that off. Just as we were getting done, it started raining cats and dogs. 2 of our semis got stranded out in the middle of the field. They are nice to haul with, but useless in wet weather. Then our JCB's shine with silage trailers. The corn was kind of wet, its really behind this year.