PUSHY COW
gain By yesterday morning the sick pig was given an A- and by yesterday evening she was given an A+ and was back to shoving the others out of the way to get to her food. Her breathing is still a little laboured but her attitude will fix that. I think there were a number of factors in her immunity dropping, letting that illness take hold. Parasites being the one that pushed her over into pneumonia. The day before, we had been cleaning in the barn and I left the North door open to get some air flowing through, to hopefully dry out the barn after the snow, also during the clean up, I had taken away their free flow feed. Then the warmer air had once swapped out for a blowing cold Westerly. Their straw bed had got low. She may have been hungry and cold – once the shivering started, down she went.
Often I find this – that a collection of issues collide to pull at the foundation of health and either an animal gets sick or hurts herself.
Kind of like when you have a bit of a headache, carrying more bundles than usual and drop your keys, lose your balance catching them and that little curl in the outside mat causes you to trip. There is seldom one thing that causes the fall. Almost always one thing catches onto a couple of weak spots and down we go. Pigs and all.
Of course this theory means we have a better chance of avoiding disaster by being always aware of the big picture. And attending to the small details in the picture. Keeping our heads above our own inner discussions and using our metaphorical peripheral vision. Be wild. Keep watching. Like a wild bobcat. Head up, always wary. Watching for changes all the time. Let’s not lose our wildness.
Above is the remains of the silage bale. The cows like it and the pigs LOVE it. It is good stuff – I hope I can do one cut in silage next summer – we will see.
Lady Astor found the weak link in the Rat House fences yesterday and rode that corner down. She bent the fence right over and walked across it. Lucky for her it was only wire netting with no sharp edges that would have damaged her udder. Off she went slowly exploring the South side of the house. I was changing back into my farm clothes (after driving to another town to pick up the winter feed) when I saw her lazily wander past the bedroom window. God knows how long she had been out.
It was time for the milking so she was very easy to bring back in. She comes to a call for milking every day. I just call out her name and then: “Up to the Barn! Lady. Up to the Barn!” in a sing-song voice. Round she turns and trots with great intent and expectation following me back to the barn. Luckily Aunty and the calves did not trail her over the wire. Then we would have had a problem.
The gap is now fixed with a cattle panel.
She stood and stared at the repaired gap for quite a while after the fencing was finished. Bemused by the whole carry on. And wondering where her escape hatch had gone.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
WEATHER: Sun! That will be nice.
Thursday 01/25 10% / 0 in
Sunny. High 48F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Thursday Night 01/25 10% / 0 in
Clear skies. Low 34F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Sun
7:09 am 5:01 pm
Moon
First Quarter, 57% visible 11:53 am 12:44 am
c
38 Comments on “PUSHY COW”
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thekitchensgarden 
Silly Lady A. LOL, guess you’re not the only traveller at the Farmy; ) Being Wild ‘n Watchful is best done with no distractions… Sadly, “focus” is not so easy these days ):
I think it is to do WITH distractions – staying wide awake. So the distractions don’t trip you up.
Lawdy! Lawdy! If its not one thing going wrong..its another…which is just what you said. Things that go wrong are strung together like beads on a string, one follows the other…Please that pig is ok, had my heart in mouth waiting for the next report so glad it is a good one.
You cannot keep a good cow down….that must be a mighty intelligent animal to trample it down and go for walkies..adventurous too.
How you manage to keep your sanity I shall never know!
Lots of love
She has ridden fences down before this one – naughty cow..
Yes, another description might be ‘awareness’, being aware of what is happening from moment to moment. Or yet another term that is becoming popular these days, mindfulness.
How wonderful that the animals like the silage! I’ve never seen anything like that for sale around here. How much is it by the bale? Bales of the dry grass go from $4 to $6 dollars around here. Is the silage about the same?
I do prefer awareness to mindfulness. We need a word that is acute and wide awake. Ready to pounce. Mindfulness sounds a wee bit contemplative for me. But words are tricky in their interpretation – often they mean something different to different people. Though “mind the step” is a pretty direct statement.. c
Your words about headache/parcel/keys/trip/mat reminded me of something it has taken me far too long to realise. For me, it’s heat/thirsty/dehydrated/headache/mistakes/frustration/misery. All because I didn’t listen to my body and have several glasses of water when I needed them, instead of pushing through and not paying attention when the headache went from mild to crushing. You’re right. We need live in the moment more, be more aware of ourselves, pay attention to our surroundings and our fellow creatures.
Oh yes! That is a good example. Thirst is something I try to ignore – or don’t even register until too late. Good thinking. c
In our summer in Australia the triad of ‘heat, thirsty, dehydrated’ is par for the course. I am hugely lucky to be doing paidwork from home – since a long while back I have had a glass of water each next to my desk, in the kitchen and in the bedroom, all of which I can access in a circular walk: one does not pass ‘a station’ without taking a gulp: dehydration fixed 🙂 ! And I love the taste of ours . . . don’t even use a filter . . . if there are bugs in it, they and my bod have grown accustomed one to the other . . .
We’re on town water and it’s foul so I use a ceramic filter for every drop we drink. The heat this year is really excessive, so while I’m used to the climate and my water needs, I’ve been blindsided by the sheer relentlessness of the heat, especially at night.
Kate: this year is hard to describe . . .and let’s face it, you are 1/2 of E Oz north of me . . . I know much of Oz has not been as lucky as I . . . . you may not believe, knowing my latitude, but I have not had a ‘decent’ night’s sleep in a fortnight methinks! Am penning this sitting in a thin nightgown and I do not believe you would ever countenance that . . . :_ !
What a cow! And I also appreciate your thought and the other readers comments on mindfulness. I liked getting to see what the silage hay looks like: so green.
Yes – green and very wet. and smells good too.
So, how does it keep, if it’s wet? Y’know what, I’m going go look…
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/6t053g174
Thanks C! I’ve known the “how” since I was a kid (but now I know the “why”🤗)
Excellent pig news!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lady Astor was off to join the buffaloes on the prairie 😉
That is the funniest story. c
So true about falling! And the need to be aware of both little and big things. I fell this summer, broke my right foot while visiting my mom. Plane ride home on crutches was no fun nor the long healing process. If I had just seen that rock that I stepped on and twisted my foot… Hope you stay upright and aware! Thankful the little piggy is better.
Oh no – a broken foot is awful – I could not imagine a worse break for me.. Is it all better now? c
Yes, finally. though you can still see the break on the x-ray, Dr said I can start training for a marathon!! as if-
‘snort’ !!
Interested in the silage process here, your animals all have thick glossy coats just on your pasture, so when would you supplement their diets with silage? Spring and autumn /winter perhaps? I also know you can increase the heat in a compost pile by adding molasses, how would the fermentation process not cause a fire (god forbid) in your barns? Laura
The answers to your question (and mine; ) are in the article from Oregon State. I’ll add it here as well for you: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/6t053g174
The bales are wrapped so there is no air. They don’t seem to get hot at all if they are correctly baled. The hay and silage is for the winter when there is no pasture. c
Yes, according to the article from Oregon State, baled silage requires anaerobic bacteria; so have to stay sealed or oxygen gets in and they’ll start to break down and heating/spontaneous combustion may result.
Celi, it also mentions the whole process for making silage – most especially when the weather’s not right and it’s just too wet for baling hay/alfalfa for silage – so could you use your silos across the road?
I laughed out loud when I read that Lady was ambling past your bedroom when you were changing clothes. That must have been a surprise! I had a wonderful surprise last winter when I couldn’t sleep I looked out the window at 1 or 2 in the morning and saw 4 deer on the lawn across the street. They stayed a few minutes then walked single-file on the sidewalk headed south. I hope I didn’t tell you about that before. Getting old and repeating myself–but at least I remember it.
Yes, ambling past the window and arriving unannounced for afternoon tea, is the image that went through my mind 😁
No you have never told me that story – how dream like! c
Your stories of Lady A. are more than amusing….if you had time you could create some very amusing, entertaining and educational books for children (of all ages) . Thank goodness the little pig is doing lots better. Your observance saves a lot of grief.
Yes, she is a lot better!
I never knew about silage. What an excellent thing to do…. for sooooo many reasons!!
Wonderful piggie news! And your recent comment about the vast temperature variations could be added to the mix of extenuating circumstances. I am thinking it may be a factor in the reported flu epidemic this winter.
Hope you’re having a great day. — Mame 🙃
Oh yes i do agree!
Ha fancy having a cow wander past your bedroom window. What a surprise! 🐄😁
It certainly was a surprise..
Such good news about the pig, and I completely agree with what you say about a chain of events which…put together…can cause something to happen.
It happens like that sometimes..
Indeed. Let’s not lose our wildness.
No way!