We're back...... from town! We found 4 of those disposable cameras when we cleaned our the china hutch a few weeks back. Anyway, we had no idea what was even on them. Today for the sake of expense, we opted to only take two to be developed and will developed the other two the next time heading to town. Here are some pictures from 3 yrs ago!, YES I said it THREE years ago! 
In this picture, you can see why we opted to retire Bessie, our Jersey. She had a really bad case of milk fever and almost died. Just look at that udder!!!! I remember it being engorged but that is horrible and we had to take it easy milking her, only a little at a time so she would continue on with milk fever. I milked her every hour and only took 1-2 c.( vets orders). It took weeks for her udder to return to a somewhat normal size. She's 15 yrs old in this picture, other than the milk fever problem, she looks great for that age and still does at 18 yrs old.
This was a week and a half later and you can see her udder was still quit large.( you can click phot to enlarge) If memory serves me correctly she was giving us 3-4 gallons a day, besides what her bull calf took for himself!
She's such a sweet cow, and a very loving mother. This is in part why we love her so much, enough to let her live out her years here, until she dies. She raised this calf and before drying her off she adopted another calf and raised her as well. She deserved, to retire and live whatever days she has left here on The Never Done Farm!
Cortney giggled when she saw this picture today when in town, she was 14+ almost 15 yrs old, when it was taken. BTW, we named him, Brownie. He didn't stay the fawn color, instead he was almost black with a white ring about his mouth. He was a Jersey/ Brown Swiss cross. The people we bought Bessie from thought she was a Brown Swiss, so had her AI'ed to a Brown Swiss. Brownie was actually to large a calf for Bessie, but she'd had several calves by this time and with a little help in pulling she gave birth just fine. Mike estimated he weighed 65-70# at birth. Brownie was a character and thought everyone was coming to play with him. That was all fine and dandy, until he weighed 500+ lbs and had 4" long horns. We quickly decided that we'd raise him up to 800-850 lbs and then have him butchered. He wasn't trying to be mean, but it hurts being horned in the backside when you're pushing a wheel barrow. I had bruises upon bruises on my legs and backside! I was tired of it and bought a hot stick. On zap with this and he made a wide path around me. From them on all I had to do was bring it with me, he always managed to see it and kept his distance.
In this picture, you can see why we opted to retire Bessie, our Jersey. She had a really bad case of milk fever and almost died. Just look at that udder!!!! I remember it being engorged but that is horrible and we had to take it easy milking her, only a little at a time so she would continue on with milk fever. I milked her every hour and only took 1-2 c.( vets orders). It took weeks for her udder to return to a somewhat normal size. She's 15 yrs old in this picture, other than the milk fever problem, she looks great for that age and still does at 18 yrs old.
This was a week and a half later and you can see her udder was still quit large.( you can click phot to enlarge) If memory serves me correctly she was giving us 3-4 gallons a day, besides what her bull calf took for himself!
She's such a sweet cow, and a very loving mother. This is in part why we love her so much, enough to let her live out her years here, until she dies. She raised this calf and before drying her off she adopted another calf and raised her as well. She deserved, to retire and live whatever days she has left here on The Never Done Farm!
Cortney giggled when she saw this picture today when in town, she was 14+ almost 15 yrs old, when it was taken. BTW, we named him, Brownie. He didn't stay the fawn color, instead he was almost black with a white ring about his mouth. He was a Jersey/ Brown Swiss cross. The people we bought Bessie from thought she was a Brown Swiss, so had her AI'ed to a Brown Swiss. Brownie was actually to large a calf for Bessie, but she'd had several calves by this time and with a little help in pulling she gave birth just fine. Mike estimated he weighed 65-70# at birth. Brownie was a character and thought everyone was coming to play with him. That was all fine and dandy, until he weighed 500+ lbs and had 4" long horns. We quickly decided that we'd raise him up to 800-850 lbs and then have him butchered. He wasn't trying to be mean, but it hurts being horned in the backside when you're pushing a wheel barrow. I had bruises upon bruises on my legs and backside! I was tired of it and bought a hot stick. On zap with this and he made a wide path around me. From them on all I had to do was bring it with me, he always managed to see it and kept his distance. 
5 comments:
Neat Story! Enjoyed the pictures. How does a cow get milk fever? Does is hurt when the babies nurse? goodness...debbie
Debbie,
Jerseys are particularly prone to milk fever, it's a lack of Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus,and potassium. The med used to treat this is called CMPK. It's when their body actually leeches calcium from their bones to produce milk, thus making them weak, sick and unable to stand. If not treated ASAP they will die. The vet came and ran an IV into the main artery in her neck. She was as close to death as possible without dying. It was amazing an hour or so after the IV treatment of CMPK she was standing and eating( when the first picture was taken). When she was down, while waiting for the vet, we did get her to drink three buckets of warm molasses water( which is high in Calcium) and she did try to eat alfalfa hay, also high in calcium.
Yes it was very sore for her, so for the first week or so we bottle fed Brownie. We PTL she didn't get mastitis. I know this udder must have weighed close to 60-75 lbs, can you imagine carrying this around ? Her udder was always big and hung lower than it should be( part of aging and she was in an abusive situation, before our friends bought her( trying to support 5 calves at one time)
She's my baby and I don't look forward to loosing her. She's so sweet and this is coming form a horse person too! I'd never been around cows much, I was raised around horses.
Blessings,
Kelle
We battled Milk Fever with Mona this year for the first time (her third calf) and it was awful!!! She is a high producer and sure does look alot like Bessie!! We are down to once a day milking now and she still gives 4 to 5 gallons a day..at peak she gives 8 gallons. I feel the same about Mona..when she is ready to retire she will live her life out here as just my friend. She deserves it for sure.
I loved seeing your old pictures! How fun!
Have a fun weekend!
Thanks for the advice about the homeopathic remedies. I do drink feverfew tea sometimes (for headache) but nothing touches my knee pain anymore..used to work well.
She calved on October 31..I forgot to mention that...so she has been well over it now for some time.
Gotta love Jerseys but they do come with that problem of milk fever.
Jenny,
No problem about the homeopathics, hope it maybe will work for you. Pain is a terrible thing to ahve to live with, it tears down your immune function, it's raises blood pressure, and it's simply a terrible thing to have the bare. We're praying for you.
I love the picture of Mona and you on your blog. She look sweet just like Bessie, but I think most Jerseys look sweet, it's their eyes.
Have a blessed and restful weekend.
Kelle
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