The continuation of Saving a calf.......
This morning started out really good. At the six o'clock session, Calfy (thought I would name him), was alive and looking good. His gut area was still very swollen, but he was alert. So we gave him his IV, (my Farmer is getting the hang of it) and then we rode through the cows to make sure nothing else was in trouble, sick, or thinking about being sick. (Or as my Farmer says, trying to die). We got back to the house to feed ourselves, and realized the someone hadn't had time to go shopping. So my Farmer and I made a quick trip to the grocery store. Then it was time for another IV sessions. As with the other times, I once again was holding my breath, we open the door and and yep, still alive. Holy moly this is tough. This time we gave him some electrolytes along with his IV fluid. He was not real keen on sucking the bottle, but I helped him along so he got it down. After riding out through the cows again, we stopped by to check on Calfy and he was actually trying to get up. A very good sign. So on to the next session, a little over 3 hours later. When we got to the calf house, Calfy had gotten up and wandered a good 10 feet away from the house. A totally good sign I thought. So we started the IV and I was just about to give him some more electrolytes and all of a sudden, boom, just like that, he dies. Holy Shit was all that I could say. Well, crap and a few other words but we'll just keep it at that. We were devastated. We could not believe it. We kept expecting it to happen, but when it actually did.....Crap. What a total let down. No matter where or what, death is hard. My Farmer always takes the death of one of his critters very hard. Its just enough to make a person very moody and grouchy the rest of the day.......him not me. So all that work and it didn't work out. But we did learn new things and are more educated when it happens again. And I have a new job, riding through the cattle twice a day and making sure every calf gets up and eats, which is a little time consuming, beings how there are 70 of them to date. (I learned that most times the calf dies from dehydration not from the sickness, thus my new job). And we did get in some fine quality bonding time, my Farmer and me. And that is always very important when you are living' life, even the farm life.
1 comment:
I feel your sorrow. Though we don't raise cattle, we raise goats and sheep, the loss of anyone of them is always a moment of sorrow. This tends to confuse our non-farming friends, since we will also harvest and animal for our freezer. I guess you need to be a farmer to understand this.
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