It has been one crazy place lately since the farming has started. On Sunday, I gave everyone the heads up that they'd need to pack a lunch because I was going to my town job on Monday. I got "are you kidding" looks from everyone. Yes, I need to go to work once a week for my sanity!
I'm getting kind of tired of M starting every sentence with "if you get time". I was really worried the other day when he said "if you get time.....oh, never mind. You're not going to have time". I don't think he realizes that I have LOTS of other things I would rather do than be out in the field. I told the guys again that they all need a buddy to make sure they have help when they need it because I cannot be everywhere. So, I was so happy to hear the sweet words "I'm on my way home and will be there until Sunday" from R on Tuesday afternoon. Yes, I have backup!! His classes are winding down and he needs a trailer to haul his stuff home so came home for a few days, and everyone was so happy to see him.
Yesterday we had quite the bonding day. The day before, Bob, the fencer who is feeding our heifers, called to tell M that there was one dead. He was going to be gone so we were going to have to go up and feed, but M wanted to get them moved out to pasture anyway. Since R was home, M left us to the cow duties and headed to the field. R and I ran around and closed and opened the appropriate gates so we could trail them to the pasture. When we went to move the heifers we found another one dead. Bob has an old horse that's been in with the heifers, and we wondered what to do with it. I was able to walk up to it and lead it into the corral. Of course, all the heifers followed us so R was at the gate to keep them from going in. I was holding the horse and told R to come shut the gate behind us. He wouldn't because he didn't want the heifers to get into the other part of the corral. We argued for awhile and then I had to let go of the horse and try to close the gate. Yes, the horse took off as did the heifers. I was not happy! Why won't he listen to me?! Then we discovered another dead heifer. This was getting a bit concerning. This one looked like it had struggled before it died, poor thing.
We thought the heifers would follow the Gator since it brings them their feed every day, and they sort of did, but we couldn't get them to go out the gate. Eventually we got them out the first gate into a grassy area where there are grain bins. We had to get them out of one more gate which took forever. They were happy to see green grass and when we tried to push them, they would just circle around. Proof that they can be too tame! Finally, we got them out the gate and the couple of older cows knew where they were headed and took off, but it took awhile to get the heifers moving. They did eventually go and the move went pretty smoothly. They should be happy to be out in a big pasture after being cooped up all winter and spring. We didn't care if the horse came along or not. It did for awhile and then headed back to the yard but then came back to where we were. We were concerned about it scattering the heifers so were happy when it headed back to the yard again. By then we were over a little rise so it couldn't see us anymore. When we got back it was standing by the gate wanting to get back in to its home. Now it will be lonely again.
We had to fix a couple of broken wires in a coulee where there is still snow. They were still buried when M went around the fence. There was a spot we were concerned about where it looked like they could walk over the fence, but we had to just hope they wouldn't since there was nothing we could do there.
We then had to help J load a truck and a load his drill. We ran home for a quick lunch and to make a lunch for J. We were just on our way back over when C called to say there were two heifers out. Great, that didn't take long, and yes, they got out where we thought they might. Of course, they wouldn't go in the gate that they were close to, so I walked them back to the corner gate we put them in the first time. We told them not to get out again. Hope they listened!
M had called the vet about our dead heifers since he had heard about losses due to grass tetany. He said he'd be out to have a look. In the meantime, we went on a search. There is a huge pile of junk that they had access to and M thought old batteries may have been the culprit. We found three old batteries and near them was some dark, pink powdery stuff that they had obviously been nosing around in. Not sure if it was old paint or old seed treat. Either way, it would contain lead or mercury and the batteries contain lead. Lead poisoning can make them act really weird and J said he saw one that looked like it was having a seizure the day before when he was seeding nearby.
I needed to go to Opheim to give C a ride home, but I didn't want to miss the autopsies. The first one had a twisted intestine which is just bad luck. The second one was interesting in that it died on it's knees with it's head up instead of lying on its side. That one had obvious pink stuff in its stomach. The third one is probably the one that J saw acting weird. It didn't have any pink stuff in the stomach and the heart and lungs looked fine, but the liver was kind of grayish instead of the dark red it should have been. We suspect that it had lead poisoning. We rode through the herd later in the day and they all looked fine at that point. R was going to go check again this morning.
I've always been worried about what they could get into in that junk pile. The neighbor wanted to bury it all when he had a backhoe up doing some water line work, but Bob wanted to salvage the scrap metal. He hasn't gotten it done, though, so something needs to be done before there can be any livestock in there again.
After the autopsies (which were fascinating to me), I took off for Opheim and brought C back to Richland. Then I visited with K at their camper while waiting for R to come get me. He had loaded the truck for J again and helped him fill his drill.
So, we got home about 9:00 pm...and then had to make supper since I was out of leftovers. It wasn't a bad day, though, since I got to spend all of it with R. It's so good to have him home.
He gets the fun job of digging a hole and burying the dead animals so he might not be thinking it's so great to be home.
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