Thursday, March 28, 2013

Heifer 193 - a ranch emergency!


WHAT A DAY! I can hardly believe it! So, I should begin with sharing that we decided to move our little school over to the ranch – Sorry, Greg and Vanessa! We took your room, however, all that will not matter once we are in the new house and have SOME SPACE.

I suppose that was one of the turning factors. There is just no space here at the little cabin and to have the kids “do school” in the immediate space they also eat in, play in, watch a movie in, relax in, etc. is just too much. I wish we would have done it a long time ago. After all, 10 months and nowhere to go other than right here at the cabin can make one a little craaaaazy! ME?

The rhythm over at the ranch is great – school is all we do. There are no piles of tempting legos, there are NO DOGS to deal with their craziness (Betty behaves like a spring rabbit these days!) there are no family dishes from dinner to wash, no laundry to think about, etc. - so, it's wonderful.

Anyway, yesterday we are at the ranch and had just finished lunch. So, we were having a little recess before our afternoon book work. I am not sure why, but just thought that I would walk up and check the heifers. They are in the pasture right there next to the ranch house, so thought I would just walk up (plus, it's nice to have a few moments ALONE to remember what that is like!)

As I am walking up along the fence line, there is a heifer who is walking towards me, she falls down onto her front knees and I watch her water break! And I am thinking, “Holy Shit!” She is down on the ground and I can tell that she is just wondering what is happening to her. Remember that first time where you are thinking, “Did my water just break or God help me....did I just wet my pants?” I am standing there, frozen in my tracks just watching, and she gets up. As she turns, I can see there is a hoof sticking out!

NOW – I suppose it is important to mention here that although I had seen one other calf get born, I am a pretty immature ranch girl and was not really sure if that hoof was suppose to be sticking out, I have to admit, I did kinda have a bit of a panic. Honestly, there was this gut instinct in me that just said to me that something was not right with her. Just the way I would watch her walk a few steps, come down on her front end and lay down on her side. I also, however, was thinking that labor has got to be labor no matter what sort of animal you are. I decided to take the “wait and see” approach.

So, I ran back down to the ranch to tell the kids and we all ran back up to where she was. 193 was still doing the same, getting up, walking a ways, coming down on her front and laying down. I would watch her belly and almost see it contract. And I thought to myself, “ok....active labor....we are on our way.”

After about 45 minutes, however, she was not really progressing the way she should – especially with the way I was watching her push. It was like there she was, laying in the dirt, breathing so heavy the dirt was puffing out in front of her, pushing so hard both her upper front and back legs were coming up and still nothing....maybe the start of another hoof. And STILL I am wondering if the hooves are suppose to come out first.

So, what do I do.....call Scott and text Farmer Scott. My text was just was an update, however, my call to my husband was more like WTF!

My Scott assured me that things were fine, we should just let her be and see how she progresses. My gut (and later to find out, Katie's gut as well, were telling me different). Anyway, we waited. In the meantime, I did find out that calves DO come out hooves first, sort of like a dive and that their hooves should be pointing forward, meaning the front of their hoof is pointing up. I also learned that apparently a calf can live in the birth canal for up to about 8 hours. I figured we had time.

I have to tell you that I was up and down that fence line about 5 times to the far corner of the pasture– that is no small jog (which is fine because the way the afternoon turned out THAT was to be my only exercise). By the last time I ran up there, something was just not right. And I was kicking myself that I had not pushed for an intervention earlier. There were two hooves just peeking out, maybe 6-8 inches, but the way she was laying and pushing and just nothing, I could tell that little one was stuck and she was hurting bad. She would struggle to get up and just fall over. Not good.

So, once again, I run.....down the fence line, to my phone and I call Farmer Scott who has been up the road, but out of signal range. Thank GOD – he is on his way because at this point, I am kinda starting to freak out in my head.

So AGAIN we are back up the fence line and he says that we should wait and see – and really, what do I know? So, we wait.

Finally, we go back up and he now can see what I have been seeing - that she is just not progressing. And he decides to pull the calf! I had wanted to do it a long time ago – there was just this natural motherly instinct that made me want to help her get out of pain and just settle the situation.

Thank GOD again! Farmer Scott's son was on spring break, so he was also helping. He went- of course....running..... along the fence line to get the little intervention box that has the calf pulling chains in it. Now, don't get all freaked out when I mention “chains”. They really are no thicker than a bike chain and do not look terrible at all. Besides at that point, I had been looking around at all the twine laying around and thinking that as a last resort I could use that. So, I was just happy someone who knew what to do was there.

Scott puts the chains around the calf's hoof and pulls. And I am not talking about some wimpy little effort, this was quite the pull. Like with all his might. And the mother is moaning and groaning and I am just watching him pull harder and harder and praying that this all turns out ok. I am standing there wishing there was something I could do because my heart is just aching for this mama heifer.

So, after one great big giant tug, the calf comes out, and he is HUGE, like so huge he is bigger than some of the calves that were already born last week! Of course, a bull!

So, the heifer is laying there and out comes this “thing” and I am thinking she is now delivering the placenta because after all – what do I know? So, I am telling the kids all about what a placenta is and what it does, etc. Did you know that humans are the only animal that does not eat the placenta? Although I have to admit, I do know a few people who had theirs dried and turned into pills they could take after wards. It is apparently really good for your “bounce back” after delivery. Great for the placenta eaters.

Well, a cow usually eats hers so you rarely ever find them in the pasture. It is usually twofold, one – the placenta is packed full of nutrients that help the “eater” get their health back and two – it allows the mama cow to know the scent of her calf and essentially be bonded to it. At least that is what I have heard.

Then I hear Scott say THAT is not the placenta but her uterus. And that is when my own vagina let out a cry of pain and I just put my head down on the fence cable and said a little prayer!

It's called a prolapsed uterus and let me tell you one thing – it is pretty @%$#* gross!

Now, before I tell you how this all ends up – let me tell you about ranch business 101. So, what's the ranching risk here...well, it is that the mama dies, a financial loss and then here you have this calf that has no mother so there is a risk he would die as well. We would bottle feed him as long as we needed and if another mama had a calf that died, we would attempt to put those two together and cross our fingers that they would take to each other and that new mama would raise that orphan. So, obviously, you have to do what you have to do to have them both survive or you have a double loss. This year, we changed two major things: calving season was pushed into March and we bred the cows/heifers with bulls that produce calves that had a low birth weight and are small, but then pack on the pounds later. It seems to be working. I think we have only lost 3 calves so far!

So, there we are out in the pasture watching this heifer. We are waiting to see if the heifer is paralyzed. Many times when this happens and the calf is so large and can push against the spine on its way out. But she gets up! And then this is a sight that will be burned into my brain FOREVER! Of course, I am happy she is up, but then she starts walking and her swollen uterus is just hanging almost down to her hocks! As she starts walking, the uterus starts swinging and it just swinging to the left and to the right so much so it actually throws her balance off and she falls! Thank, God again because I am wishing at this point I had a tranquilizer gun!

So, we all kick into action!
Ben's job is to take the intervention box back down to the tack room. He gets on his way walking back along the fence line because you all know how long it takes Ben to get a job done.
Katie and Hunter go running to the ranch house to grab two hand towels to start rubbing all the gunk off the new calf. Might I just add here that they were awesome! When they returned, they both got down and knelt by the calf, who by now was shivering, and just got right into it, rubbing and wiping and warming him up. He even starting sucking on their fingers. We named him Douglas – after the pet dog in The Croods movie we saw on Saturday.
Farmer Scott's son is headed over to the shop to get the tractor.
Farmer Scott is on the phone calling around for a prolapse needle and thread.
I start cleaning the calf too.

So, the plan -
Get the heifer down into this little corral area, clean her up, shove her uterus back in and sew her up.
Get the calf down there as well.
Ben and I take off to town to pick up the needle, the thread (looks just like a shoelace) and some meds.

By the time we get back, the heifer is in the small corral area – an area created this year for this exact kind of intervention. The calf and Farmer Scott and son are coming down in the tractor. The calf is on a pallet with the kid laying over him to hold him steady – at this point, the calf has not even gotten up and walked yet so not too tough.

They get down to the corral area and lower the calf down. He is still shivering, so the kids are back on their job of rubbing him down and keeping him warm.

I am not going to get into too much detail, but to make a long story short – I was the midwife, Scott was the surgeon and his son was the assistant. Although I did a damn good job of holding her tail all the way up and out of the way....even got blood on my hands and pants! Thanks for all those pants, Vanessa!!

So far so good.
That was two days ago that the uterus got cleaned and shoved back in, with 5 anti swelling giant honking pills shoved in there too, shoe lace looking stitches up the back side with an 8 inch needle and one mega dose of anti'B's. Today, we watched her little one (which was not so little) nurse!! So – SUCCESS!
Unless, she is internally bleeding (the greatest physical risk) and we just do not know it yet. She is, however, up and moving and letting her calf nurse – all good signs she is getting well.

ME? I still sort of hold my breath and cross my legs whenever I think about that heifer getting up and walking with her uterus hanging down to her hocks.  
I would have called the vet!

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