Em Nau Farm BLOG

Joy and Sorrow Sit Together (Part 2)

About a month ago I wrote on this Blog about joy and sorrow being inseparable.  The twins have returned to Em Nau farm in a big way over the past month.

The joy has come in the way of new calves – Temple (born to Shirley) and Mocha (born to Latte) who were both born about a week after Jenny (Daphne’s calf) was born and Daphne died. 

The other joy has come from the arrival of a new ewe (Saira Rose) who we got for free from a property who could no longer keep her, the arrival of four kids (two bucks and two does) who were born to Sienna (#1) who had one of each and to Zee-ling who also had one of each.  The kids were born almost on schedule in the middle of October.

The birth of two of the kids was whilst I (Brett) was away in Adelaide for 10 days.

We have also had the joy of Carmel lambing (on the 16^th of October) giving birth to a healthy ewe lamb.

The next time Sorrow cast her pall over the farm was when Cydonia gave premature (about a month early) birth to twin kids.  Cyd hasn’t had much luck kidding over the past few years (see New Arrivals Part 3) and this seems another in that series.  The Readers Digest version is about two years ago (before we got Cyd) she was pregnant and, after being chased by dogs, aborted her babies about a month early.  Last year Cyd gave birth to a buck and a doe (full term) but not long after the birth the doe died and now this.

Finally last Saturday (I was due back from Adelaide on Sunday) Heather was tending to the morning feeding when she noticed Betty (Jersey cow) sitting (on the wrong side of the fence) in the far paddock.  Heather assumed Betty had gotten through the fence and was having a rest – it turned out she had fallen and, it appears whilst in labour, could not get up.  Heather feared Betty had broken a leg so she called one of our neighbours to come over, bring his rifle, and give her a hand with Betty.  They were able to get Betty on her feet and back in the house paddock so she could calve.  By mid-afternoon Betty was still struggling (pushing) with the birth so Heather contacted the vet to come out and attend to Betty.

Without going into too many gory details the calf was too big to be born naturally and it was dead inside Betty.  The only feasible option was to cut the calf up inside Betty and remove it.  The vet did what he needed to do and removed the calf leaving Betty very sore.  Over the next few days we needed to ensure Betty was on her feet but this was difficult because she had difficulty standing by herself so needed assistance.  If she didn’t stand there was a big possibility we would need to have her euthanized, and in Heather’s words, she had Betty shot numerous times on Sunday and early Monday but by mid-morning on Monday Betty was able to stand by herself and was moving freely.  We have paid close attention to Betty over this past week to ensure she survives.  We have even allowed our orphan calf Jenny to “hook-on” and relieve a little of the udder pressure Betty was experiencing between milkings.  In fact Jenny will hook-on to anything that is standing in the milking bail

Finally Betty’s sister Veronica is also due this week and we are keeping a close eye on her in case she has the same problems as Betty.  If like Betty she is having a bull calf it is a big possibility with the chances lessened if she is carrying a heifer calf (although still a huge possibility).

I will keep you updated. Update 21 Oct 14:  Veronica gave birth to a large bull calf at 8PM last night

Until next time remember to live your dash.