She's Still With Us.......

Snowflake is still alive, and doing somewhat better. I say that cautiously, because she is far from being out of the woods.  She has some water in her lungs which is making her not want to nurse from the fluid and just plain ole feeling bad.....so we are tubing her with colostrum and milk. She is alert, and can stand, so that is good. Our veterinarian has put her on several meds, Baytril, Dex, Vitamin B, and Banamine for pain, she gets 3 shots a every morning. We also gave her Sub Q fluids, and that seemed to help her too.  So, for now, it's just keep her comfortable, hydrated, and alert......I will update later.......

How is She Still Alive!?!?!?

Things have been sort of hectic and exciting around here......yesterday morning  Terry went to check the cows, and found a newborn calf in the pond!! Mom was just standing there watching, but of course there was nothing she could do. She had been born either late the night before, or early yesterday morning. Of course, it is very cold here, temps have been in the teens and we've had snow too. We're not sure if she walked out on the ice (there was just a very thin layer of ice on the pond), or if she was born at the edge, and just stumbled into the pond when she got up. Either way, it was a dire situation.....Terry called me immediately and told me to bring him a rope, so when I got there , he roped her and pulled her out. The pond is pretty shallow, and she could stand up, but only the top of her head and nose were above water.....and we have no idea how long she was in there!

So we got her out, and immediately stated drying her with towels, and put her in the floorboard of the truck, with the heat blowing on her on the ride back to the house. Made her a bed in the laundry room, and put a heater in front of her and warm blankets on her. She was shivering really bad, and cold as ice, her eyes were rolled back in her head, eyes closed........and basically non-responsive.....she was very bad off. I took her temperature, which didn't even register on my digital thermometer, which meant her temp was below 90* F. A normal temp for a calf should be around 101.6. Finally after about 45 minutes, it registered at 90.2, then slowly started coming up from there. Her nose finally got some pink to it, and she started opening her eyes and being more alert.....whew! We really didn't expect her to make it, and she is not out of the woods yet.....she still won't take a bottle or nurse at all......We think she has gotten some water in her lungs, which is not good at all. We gave her a shot of antibiotic, and now it is just a waiting game. She does stand and try to walk around, and is very alert this morning.....just no interest in the bottle.

She is a big, strong calf (she had to be to survive what she did).......she is black with a solid white face, eyeliner on one eye, white on her ears,  and a black speckled nose.....just a doll! I was researching information on the Internet, and it said that usually when their temp falls below 94*F, their organs start shutting down, so I really can't believe she is still alive....her temp was in the 80's........

Ruby Jane loves her, as you will see in the pictures, Ruby would set by her a lot, lick her face and eyes, until she started coming around. It was really sweet, Ruby seemed to be worried about her......

Our hopes are to get her taking the bottle good, then, putting her in the large stall in the barn with mom for a few days. We are hoping that mom takes her back, she didn't seem too concerned that we left with her, she went right back to eating with the herd which is not good. Usually they will run around and call to the calf, but I'm sure she thinks the calf is dead, so we will just wait and see.

So, at this point, we really don't know if she is gonna pull through, they are so sensitive at this stage, and anything can happen, so we are doing all we can for her and hoping for the best! 

So, in the meantime......I have a cow in the house!!!

Still not warmed up yet, pale nose, shivering and eyes shut.......

                                      Barely with us................

                                                       

Ruby Jane checking her out........

Greta and Ruby checking on her......

                                        Checking again, LOL.........

                                              

Starting to come around..........

Ruby and Snowflake.........

Ruby just sat there....wouldn't leave her for the longest (she is such a sweet dog, loves everything and everyone)

Ruby looking worried.........

She's alert now.....and Ruby was kissy, kissy, kissy, which I think helped Snowflake to come around........

Resting.............

Yay.....finally standing up and alert....now to get her to nurse!!

Well, I better go check on her, and try to get her to take some milk......we are still cautiously optimistic, but it's too early to say she is gonna make it, I will post updates whenever I can..........



Happy New Year.......

Happy New Year to all my blog people....I know there's not that many of you, but I appreciate your following of our lives through this blog. I hope the new year brings much joy and hapinesss to all!

2011 will bring many new firsts for me, I hope......I will be a grandma for the first time in June, and hopefully I will land that ever elusive job that I have been searching for, LOL........I have an interview Monday at our local spay and neuter clinic, and I am really hoping I get the job, I love working with animals! That would be a great start to my New Year for sure!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and prosperous 2011.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I haven't posted in awhile, I guess I just figured what I have to say is boring and people don't want to hear it, LOL.......but I did want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Nothing new here on the farm, same old stuff happening.....

I did find out a couple weeks ago that I am gonna be a grandma (wow, still can't get used to the idea), sometime around the end of June. My son Cody and his girlfriend are expecting. They will be finding out the gender of the baby in about a month, so we are anxious to find out!

I will try to highlight some things that have happened around here in the last two months...

Terry accidentally ran over and killed my favorite cat, Rico Suave......he was up under the truck and jumped down when Terry was going down the driveway. He was killed instantly, so that was good.....he didn't suffer, but I did......I loved that cat.......RIP Rico Suave....

We got a new mule colt, a 5 month old Sorrell, named Joseph, he's very sweet......

We are actually going to have a white Christmas......it will start snowing tonight around midnight, and snow most of the day tomorrow, with accumilation of about 3-4 inches is what they are saying. We had about 6 inches 3 weeks ago.....more than we usually get all winter!

The dogs are all still doing good, mostly just laying around and snoozing when it's too cold to go outside.....and as you can tell by these pictures, Greta is getting pretty good at it, LOL........

They did go out and play for a few minutes when we had the last snow, but they were ready to come back in pretty quick.........

Woody up to his belly, he wasn't having too much fun.......

Greta running in the snow..........

Got new blankets for the horses......Gunner managed to rip the side out of his, and Sonny ripped a strip out of his!  Don't ask me how they did it, I try to make sure there is nothing they can get caught on in the stalls or pastures, but they will always find a way, LOL! 

Here is Mr. T trying his best to take a bite of Sonny's new blanket.........

Dior with his.............

Well, that's all for now, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!

Greta in her Santa Hat!!!!

National Mule Day....

While surfing the net today, somehow I discovered today is national mule day...who knew?

Anyway, as a tribute to these amazing, wonderful, although sometimes quirky equines, I will post some pictures of our favorite mule moments....

HAPPY MULE DAY  :-D

It's Been A Long Time......

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't posted in a couple months, things have been super busy around here, and I just needed a break from blogging!

It has been extremely hot and dry here, but we finally got some much needed rain last night and more expected this week, thank goodness.

We have all our hay up and are ready for winter! We have been feeding hay already for the past month, usually the cattle and horses can get by on just pasture until about November, but with the terribly dry and hot weather, the grass is long gone.

All our animals are doing fine, we did sell 4 of our mules, the two black pair, John Boy, Billy, Thomas, and Tobe. We had too many and they went to homes where they will be used more than they were here, so it's all good, but I hated to see them go!

I will just post a bunch of pictures for the rest of the post, some random, some of the trail ride we went on yesterday, and some of the dogs, enjoy!

Ruby Jane, sittin' on the hay.......

Riding at our farm in the hayfield...........

Gunner was so funny....this was only his 2nd trail ride, so he kept looking behind him whenever we stopped to make sure Dior (the horse I was riding) was still behind him, LOL.....I was so proud of him though, he did great on this ride, he is gonna be an awesome trail mount!.....

Here, we are riding through the pine thicket.....my favorite place on the farm.......

The trails were beautiful yesterday..........

Ugggg....we went through a field of beggar lice, so the horses were covered in them. I had to comb them off when we got back to the trailer.....Gunner even had them all over his face, and in his nose and muzzle!........

Heading back down the hill to the trailer........

Stopping at the creek to get a drink.........

Dior resting at the trailer........

This is me, picking the beggar lice off of Gunner's nose and muzzle.......

Terry, standing at the creek, looking at the land......

And here is Greta...in the driver's seat as usual, LOL.....I swear, if they ever make it legal for dogs to get their driver's license, Greta would be the first in line!!........

Ralphie, nappin' in the birdbath underneath the window........

And, last but not least, a close up of Greta's funky face.....I love that dog!.......