Ricardo Puts His Best Face Forward

Frisco got pneumonia :(

Frisco has pneumonia. But he’s on the upswing now, which is why I’m able to finally write this post! The past week has been rough, culminating in one night of utter despair as I lay next to him in the straw in the dark with my arms around him, thinking it might be the last time….

Bovine pneumonia is not uncommon ~ calves are susceptible when they are weaned and often survive it, though it can kill. Frisco has not been weaned and is older than the usual age for pneumonia risk, so it was a shock that he became so ill. In fact, at the beginning, when I noticed he was “off,” I thought he was depressed.

Last week, we weaned Mike’s calves, and to do this, we moved the homestead cattle (Sir Baby, TR, 16 and her little calf, all the characters you’ve seen on this site) over to a different pasture in order to use the corrals for weaning. The calves being weaned have an easier transition when their mothers are right next to them, just on the other side of the corral fences. The calves can see, smell, and moo to their mothers and Mike and I have found this set up to be far less traumatic than whisking them away from their mothers.

So, in order to do this, we moved the homestead bunch to a pasture across the road, leaving only Daisy and Frisco in the corrals with the group of calves, so that I could continue to milk Daisy. We also thought that Daisy would act as a den mother for the calves and Frisco, so incredibly friendly and carefree, would be a calm and happy presence. Plus, he’s not weaned from Daisy and therefore stays with her.

Weaning Mike’s calves went perfectly smoothly but I noticed, a few days in, that Frisco was not his usual happy self. He was despondent, and kept gazing over to the pasture where his friends had been moved. I thought he was depressed! The next day, I noticed he was no longer nursing Daisy. Something was definitely amiss.

By that time, the calves were weaned and we had trailed the cows to their fall pasture, and so Mike and I immediately moved Frisco’s crew back into the corrals, but Frisco didn’t even get up to meet them. This was so completely out of character for Frisco that it was undeniable he had taken ill.

Diagnosing an animal is not always easy because they can’t talk to you in words. Sometimes it’s a matter of ruling out options based on physical signs ~ he didn’t have diarrhea, he had a bit of snot, he could walk fine but he preferred not to get up. He had lost weight and wasn’t drinking from Daisy. He kept his head on the ground when he was lying down. Mike and I suspected pneumonia based on these signs. Though none of Mike’s calves came down with colds or pneumonia, it was the first time Frisco had been exposed to the younger bovine set ~ he has only been around adult cattle for his entire life, with the exception of 16’s little baby. That, combined with a sudden shift to cold and wet weather just knocked him down.

At that point, I called the vet and described everything to him, and he also thought it was pneumonia; apparently dairy cattle aren’t quite as hardy as the angus are, either. The vet told me the type and amount of antibiotics and cow aspirin to give to Frisco, and to call with a status report the next day. I gave Frisco the medicine that afternoon (via shots) and made a bed of fresh straw for him in the sheltered part of the corrals where I milk Daisy.

That night was bad, but the next morning, Daisy’s udder was empty ~ no milk for me but YAY!! It was the first time he had nursed in days. Frisco was standing at the feed bunk beside her eating hay as well, and when he rested throughout the day, his head was up rather than down on the ground as it had been before. I will give him another dose of antibiotics today and am still keeping a close eye on him, but I do believe he’s on the road to recovery!

Again, thanks for all your sweet healing wishes to the both of us :)

Snow Chlo

Sugarbeet Season!!

OK, your guesses were hilarious. But that thing in the post below is not a petrified dinosaur tongue or a stalker’s soul. It’s a sugarbeet! There are many sugarbeet farms in this county and I love sugarbeet season. Because I love foraging for sugarbeets.

When the fields are harvested, bright trucks are everywhere, driving from the fields to the sugar refinery, filled to overflowing with sugarbeets. The big one shown in the post below was a beet I spotted on the side of the road (I always pull over for sugarbeets); when the trucks take corners, one or two beets inevitably roll off.

At the sugar refinery, they unload the big beets but the small, unworthy beets are refused and sent away with the truck. Back at the field, the truck dumps the loose dirt and inadequate beets in neat, orderly piles, then goes out to get filled with another load.

Whenever I make trips to town during sugarbeet season, I stop at these dump piles and fill boxes with sugarbeets. I check in with the truck drivers when they’re around but they never care – the piles are just left to decompose.

I bring the sugarbeets home and spoil my animals. The horses love sugarbeets. I chew on them myself – they taste like I imagine a raw potato dipped in sugar would taste, kind of earthy and sweet. Beneath the peel they are white, and have rings inside like a red beet.

This year, I offered some to Daisy and she devours them. The morning after I had first fed her sugarbeets, I took a sip of the warm, frothy milk as I was milking and just started laughing. It was unreal. Daisy’s sugarbeet milk is like drinking ice cream.

QUESTION!

2011 Charlie Calendars are almost here!
I’ll have them ready to ship next week!!!
However, certain mumblings have cropped up enough
for me to ask this very important question:
Should I reprise the Cowboy Calendar?
Even if it showcases the *same* pics as from the 2009 Cowboy Calendar?
Do you want some sexy on your wall?
OK, that’s three very important questions.
Click HERE to see the full series, and let me know!