Not for the queasy

Russ had to lance an abscess today! 

One doesn't often get to use that phrase.  But Kris told me yesterday our vet, Russ, was coming over because of a calf's umbilical abscess. 

We wanted to make sure it wasn't an umbilical hernia.  No one would want to lance that on accident, because that would really injure the calf.  Sometimes a calf has a half hernia, half abscess.  Anyway, I got to go along because my mom generously offered to stay with my napping kids.  My niece Caroline - a city girl - went with me.  

Russ got out a shot to put the calf under. Caroline said, "You look like a doctor."

Kris got out a halter for the calf.

"How did you notice the abscess ..." I started to say, until I saw the calf. That's right. You see it too. Not a normal bellybutton at all.

Russ gave her the shot, put the halter on her, and tied her to the gate.

Yes, flip flops are what I wear to every minor calf operation.

He let Caroline feel it and told her what he was going to do.

He explained that abscesses commonly occur in bellybuttons because they're a vulnerable entry point for bacteria.  The bacteria causes an inflammatory response, which triggers the immune system to form a cavity to contain the infection and prevent it from spreading.  The interior liquefies and pus forms.  The area expands, creating tension and inflammation. 

He got a scalpel.  If you're easily grossed out by bodily fluids, scroll down past these two pictures. 

We all got out of the way as he lanced it. 

Caroline was duly impressed.  You can tell by her expression.  Oh, you don't think that's what her face is saying?

Russ showed us the calf's response to the infection - its body had built up a thick interior wall.

Russ said, "The solution to pollution is dilution," as he used a syringe full of soapy water to wash out the cavity. 

He used fly spray that's safe for wounds.  He said you can't close the wound up, because it would just become infected again.  He told Kris to continue spraying fly spray on it for the next few days. 

Success! Just another day at work.

Waking up, feeling woozy, but much less self-conscious about her navel.

Building up and tearing down

There's so much to see around here ... so much going on.  We get up early, we stay up late - summers are the best! 

It rained the past two days, thank goodness.  Kris said the corn's going to be short, but at least it'll have ears on it now.   

We're adding onto our cement pad so that we can store even more feed outside for the cattle.  Drought or no drought, we're going to have more cattle and that means they need more feed.  And we need a place to put it.  We're using the muddiest part of the pasture for the silage pad.  Here's the truck delivering one of its many truckloads of sand to put under the cement.  Note the fascinated kids, too.

We continue to modernize the facilities.  Current studies show that cattle do better when they have lots of ventilation.  So, we took steel off both sides of the barn in order to let air circulate better. 

The cattle have a lot to see, too.  We continue to have visitors and friends stop by for their annual visit.  Dump trucks, destruction, and animals.  It's practically Disney World.

Fresh air

The barn looks like a geometric puzzle!  Our latest addition is a tube fan. 

This is the way it works.  The fan on the outside of the barn is attached to a plastic tube.  It blows air through the tube.

The entire length of the tube has little holes in it.  The air blows through these holes and pumps fresh air into the barn.  According to the experience of other farmers, the fresh air helps the calves not get pneumonia, be more comfortable, and as a result, grow better. 

The first calves - now that they're older - are no longer in individual pens.  Now they're in small group pens of eight.  You can see that we've removed the dividers between the pens and swung out the gates.  Now they're able to drink from the same waterer and eat the feed that we give them in the alley.

Fresh air for them, fresh air for my kids.  We're building up immunities left and right.

Ice cream and rain - a perfect day

My friend Trisha and I took our kids to Michigan State University's Dairy Store.

When I was in school there, I went there a lot.  Know why?  I had to pass it to walk to class.  Right by it!  How could I not stop?

As their site puts it, the Dairy Store "is many things­—our plant, our stores, an educational and outreach center, and more. We make, package and sell delicious ice creams and cheeses."

They have a viewing balcony of their factory.  We watched the workers package up their ice cream.  We also watched an educational video up there that told us all about it - even that the Dairy Store sells their excess milk to MMPA, which is the same co-op we belong to as well!  (Did I cheer when they showed the MMPA sign?  I guess you'd have to be there to know.  Okay, yes.  Did you hear me?)

I haven't been in a few years, and ... I forgot.  Their ice cream, which they make onsite, is the creamiest ice cream I've ever had.  And I've eaten a lot of ice cream, all over this land.  Every day on vacation.  In other countries.  For instance, in Costa Rica, they kept serving it to me alongside jello.  I don't even like jello, nor did I like it touching my ice cream.  But, it was a cultural experience either way. 

Trisha's son had a pamphlet called Michigan Adventure.  One of the reasons we went there today was for him to get it stamped by the Dairy Store workers.  It's a statewide thing - if he does nine of the events he gets entered into a drawing for a bunch of prizes, like an iPad. 

But we all won today!

This was a framed picture up in the store

Watching the magic happen

Trisha paints her toenails for every occasion, even a Dairy Store visit!

&&&&

Thankfully, thankfully, it rained yesterday and all of today.  I think we'll probably end up with almost an inch.  We needed it so much.  I can almost feel the earth sighing with relief.  No, wait - that was everyone who lives here.  You can tell you're friends with a lot of people in agriculture when every Facebook post is proclaiming: "RAIN!  It's RAINING!  My rain dance worked!  Finally!"  Let's hope the crops respond!

Eating cheese

I had some cheese that got a little moldy.  (I don't know how that happened.  Usually the boys in this house eat food fast enough - long before mold spores can even think about forming.)

I put it outside for the barn cat.  He wasn't around, and as I was returning outside, I saw something interesting.

Three sparrows were eating the cheese.  One of the big sparrows was also feeding it to the little baby sparrow.

Thanks to smart phone technology, I immediately googled 'Do birds eat cheese?'  I saw that tons of people had asked it before me, and that several sites assured me birds did. 

Now that I think of it, it's kind of funny that I googled 'Do birds eat cheese' when I was seeing with my own eyes that they did. 

What my real question was ... are these birds eating cheese because they live on a farm?  Is the dairy marketing working on people and animals alike?!

But birds everywhere are eating cheese.  Great!  So, instead of buying bird seed, put out some cheese.  The sites tell me it may even attract different species than you normally see in your yard.

It might also attract cats like our barn cat, who will then eat those birds. 

Drought

Today the Lansing State Journal front page showed a sad farmer looking at his even sadder corn.  It was 99 degrees and windy today - a hot wind.  My mom said it was "dust bowl hot" outside.  Really, anything with the words "dust bowl" as a preface is not going to be a positive.  Dust bowl fashion!  Dust bowl fine dining!  Doesn't work.

The road commission was digging a ditch on our road so we couldn't drive down to the calf barn.  I had friends (and their kids) visiting from out of town and out of state.  It seemed much more pleasant to stay in the pool than to walk down to the barn. 

They were leaving and my friend Leslie said, "Well, we didn't go on a farm tour this year, so I guess that means ... we won't make the blog."  Instead, we all praised ice cream and discussed how many teats a cow has on her udder.  Always a learning experience for the kids!

There's thunder and lightning outside.  The forecast says there's a 100% chance of rain tonight.  I'm hoping they're right.

The weather did produce a beautiful sunset view.  It helps that it looks out over irrigated pasture.  It was dust bowl pretty.

Wow

I've barely had time to breathe this week - but all for good reasons!  My family is visiting, friends have been visiting, and today we held our annual Anderson Olympics and my mom won.  (She beat my dad and me in a playoff.  She was one of two people there with the last name 'Anderson', so I guess it's okay and I'm over it.  I'm not really constantly replaying in my head how I could have won.) 

Of course everything's been busy on the farm, too.  It's July!  Of course it is!  Here are two cuties (my friend Katie's kids) petting our latest red and white bull.

It's going to get a lot more colorful out on our pastures for years to come.  We bought 23 heifers from another farm, and half of them are red and white!  I like it because it reminds me of when my grandpa and dad had Guernsey cows, and I just like the way they look different than what I usually see.

It rained at the end of our Olympics tonight, which none of us minded, since we need rain so much.  Is there any better end to a day on a farm?