interesting day at the farm.....

Farm life is not that exciting as a general rule, but on occasion you run into something different.
It's spring here in Texas now, the flowers are in bloom the trees have their leaves and most pastures are turning green. As I look out my window I see several horses grazing with their tails slapping at an occasional fly that disturbs their meal. They are standing next to a barn that was forgotten long ago by the previous land owner. There are signs that at one time it was used as a dairy for manual milking of cows.It is falling down and caving in now....soon it will be gone. Most of the fences surrounding the farm were in existence 12 years ago when purchased. They are old fashioned with cedar posts and pieces of wood woven in the barb wired from select trees. We replaced some of em, others will have to be delt with as needed.

There's a large pasture of cows, primarily black angus. We started with only 3, and every year at calving season we expanded. Some went to the local sale to become beef at the local supermarket and others we kept for breeding.
Things are rather slow and laid back here on the farm. I think of farms as a place to "create" then funnel into a society that has forgotten its roots. We have turned into a microwave/instant gratification society. Kids don't play outside and climb tree's anymore. They sit in front of video games sipping soda and eating chips. And we wonder why they are over weight.
Every year we always have a large garden. Naturally we always end up with a surplus of vegetables. So I either can em, eat em, or pass em to my family that has a family to share them with. Last year I (among other things) had about 20 tomato plants that grew to about 3 1/2 foot high and about 3+ foot wide. They put out so many tomatoes I was in awe. You just wouldn't believe how much stuff we get out of that garden every year. I have a relative whom built "wooden boxes" in her yard she puts her plants in....I really think most anyone could have a garden. In today's harsh economy it might not be a bad idea. Worst thing that could happen is you loose a couple dollars on seeds.....best scenario is you save quite a bit on your grocery bill with healthier food because its lacking pesticides mass producers are known for. Ours is totally organic.....and its some good stuff. Tastes 100% better than that stuff you buy from the store.
A few days ago my husband was checking on the cows since it is calving season. One of em was trying to have a calf but being her first, was having a bit of trouble.  The calves head was fully exposed along with one hoof which is never a good sign. She walked around like that for 3 hours. We couldn't get to her to help her have it cos every time we tried she took off to a desolate place where we couldn''t get to her. That is common when they calve, they want to be alone. So we had no choice but to wait for her to either have it, or go "down" cos she couldn't. Ever hour we walked down through the creek to the back pasture (which is about half a mile) to check on her. Finally about 10:00 at nite it was official...she was down cos she couldn't have the calf. My husband and I did what most farmers do, we tried to help her have it but pulling it out. To no avail....calf died and soon she was going to die too if we didn't get some help. As usual it was 11:00 by then on a Sunday nite...not too many vets at the office so I got on the phone. I finally had one call me back. I told her what the issue was and I needed her to come out and see what she could do.
She arrived about a quarter to midnight with her assistant. They gathered their gear from a tool box in the back of a diesel truck. We gathered flashlights and headed back to the back pasture where the cow lay. It's quite a hike in the day time, but I gotta say its quite interesting to hike that at midnight and all the critters roaming around.
Initially the vet tried the same methods we had tried to no avail. In that the calf had already died she said she would have to remove it in pieces in order to save the cow. So bit by bit she cut up the calf and finally used what we call a come-a-long to remove the main body. For those of you that have no idea what that is, its kinda like a crank with a wire that forces something along. You crank it little at a time to move the obstacle. By 1:00 in the morning she had the calf out. Had sedated the cow and given her other medications she would need. I paid em, sent em on their way, then scratched my head as to what I was going to do now. Mind you this is the country, there are coyotes and they had already smelled blood and were howling. In fact I had to make a trip back to the house to get the gun just in case they decided to move in on us.

Come daylight first on the agenda was to go check on the cow. We took that long walk once again. I gotta tell ya I was so sore from multiple hikes back and forth the night before I could hardly move. But off I went...down the hill, through the creek, back up the hill, across the pasture to the back corner of it. We got back to where she was and low and behold it worked! They had left her alone....but she still wasn't up yet. It took her about another6-7 hours before she could get up...and then she was real shaky on her feet....it was quite an ordeal to go through. But I'm happy to report she is fine and no doubt will be going to the sale soon....we aren't doing that again!!