Pregnant cows!

Today was ultrasound day!  We bring in a vet - today it was our friend Russ Seifferlein - to give an internal ultrasound to the heifers and cows.

 He has an ultrasound wand similar to the one used for humans, but with one huge difference - he is wearing goggles that show him the ultrasound picture!

He let me look through them where I could barely see a teeny tiny spot on the screen.  But imagine how good you must get at this doing this many ultrasounds as part of your job...

Again, we have such good people on our farm, and in a situation like this, it just makes everything go so smoothly.

Russ walks to one side of the parlor and yells the number on the tag to Kris.  He performs the ultrasound and gives us the news - open, which means not pregnant, is delivered in a hushed tone, like a doctor giving bad news.  Pregnant is delivered in a celebratory manner, partly because everyone really likes good news.  (I am prone to cheering.)  He then goes back to the end of the parlor, then back through to the other side ... switching sides and giving ultrasounds for a couple of hours.

Josh and Adam were in charge of moving the cattle, moving the doors in and out to let Russ in and out, but let just one cow in at a time, plus yelling out the tags for Kris.  The cows can only go in one at a time because Russ has to have enough room to do the ultrasound.  Lots of cattle to move!

Carolyn was in the pit also, giving treatment to any cows who Russ diagnosed as having a problem.

Kris was writing down for our records each ear tag number and diagnosis.

I was slowing everything down by asking Russ million questions like always, and Max was very interested in the whole process.  Someday, a million years from now, I hope he doesn't compare his wife's first ultrasound to the times he was in the barn ... directly to her face.





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Jobs of the day

Lots going on! It's a nice change from the winter.

They continued grading the sand at the new barn site. More trucks are still coming with sand, and the bulldozer pushes it into place. We drove down there and took pictures and waved. This is the same company that did the dirt work for our concrete feed pad, so they're pretty used to having us watch them.

It looks like such a massive amount of work. The truck driver dumps the trailer of dirt. Then he gets out, unhooks the trailer, gets back in. Dumps the second trailer of dirt. Gets out, hooks the trailer back on. Drives out. Comes back with another two truckloads.



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Kris is continuing to work on the calf cart. He’s fitting it with a tank on the back that we’ll fill with fresh milk to feed to the calves in the new barn.

We used to feed them milk replacer (which is like formula), but with the new setup we’ll be able to use the cow’s milk to feed to them. This will save us money, since we won’t have to buy milk replacer.

He even made it more clear what the cart’s used for:



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The vet came to check the rest of the cows today. Some are pregnant, some are a little pregnant, and some aren’t pregnant. We’ll eventually sell the ones that aren’t pregnant, because they’ll stop giving milk. The ones that are pregnant, we’ll dry up.

The vet checks them internally. He puts on a long, plastic glove that goes up to his shoulder. He feels them on the inside and determines by its size how old the calf is. It took him about an hour and a half to check 50 cows.

I didn't take any pictures of that. Feel free to browse the internet on your own!