Rescue Journal

another typical cow-girl day

Carol  ·  Jun. 29, 2009

the day started not so great...both the calves are quite weak. i phoned the vets and they said to to start emily on electrolytes and to keep todd on for a few days more. so i hiked down to the vet clinic in matsqui to pick up more electrolytes and quatrisol. (for spritely)...except i forgot the quatrisol because by the time i got to the clinic, i was all upset and had nothing but calves on my mind.
today is auction day in abbotsford..driving in front of me is a pick up truck with three small calves in a wide mesh metal crate...they are in wide eyed panic and sticking their heads out of the holes but there is not enough room in there for three to move so their heads and necks and feet are all over the place and each other and someone for sure was going to have a broken leg or neck.

anyway...i dropped 3 cars back so i couldn't see their faces which was better but then the truck took the exit off in to matsqui where i was going..and i thought oh hey, maybe they are just getting moved to another farm so being behind them was not so bad.

the truck stopped in front of our vet clinic, a woman hopped out..ran in quickly and came back out just as i was walking along the back of the truck. i told the babes not to be scared, it was ok...which i think was a lie cuz i think they just made a fast stop at the vet for something needed back on the farm while on their way to the auction.

when i got inside both susan and lisa said don't look at those calves and don't try to follow them either...i KNEW those babes were going to auction...i am never leaving my house on mondays again before noon during calving season!

i did get the electrolytes and lisa gave me some GIANT pills to shove down our babes throats along with a garden hose sized pill popper to try to get their diarrhea under control. she will be up to check them tomorrow and said we have enough on our plate to get our calves well without worrying about every other slaughter bound calf in the world. i asked her if they are going to pull thru..she said she didn't know but if we could get them to about a month old (3 more weeks) they should be out of danger by then....three weeks is a very long time..i was hoping she would say a couple of more days.

after a few tries, we got the pills into emily...but todd we just could not get those pills to go down his freaking throat...so he will have to wait for his first dose til she gets here tomorrow to show me whatever tricks there are to pill'ing little stubborn calves.

the day got better as we discovered that either gilbert is the most amazing blind goat in the world...or he has regained at least some partial sight...he was all over the riding ring and upper field today..i will ask the vet to check his eyes tomorrow again when she is here.

and finally, niko went home on a two week trial today. lynne will check up on him over the next couple of weeks...he will be living with a friend of her family.

and i guess i better go feed those babies their bottles and put the barn guys to bed.

Comments

Lory

Go Gilbert! I love that goat. Sorry I missed the work party (asthma) and the open house (out of town). Have guilt, will send money. (Remember "Have gun, will travel"?)