Well the year finished, cows were dried off and I had approx a months holiday with a little weed spraying thrown in for good measure. Mid January and the cows started calving again and it was full on up until a week ago. We had up to 20 cows calving a day, it was crazy. Calves to feed, cows to milk, sort out, cows on test buckets, mastitis, sick calves oh the list goes on. Now we are down to two calving a day, sometimes more, but there is only about 70 left to calve. Thats not bad considering there is about 500 of them.
I have been getting sore hands. They ache so badly. I wake up at night and my hands are numb. Dont really know what to do about it. Maybe I will visit the local doctor for his advice. It appears that I do have a ganglion cyst in my wrist, something that you would see in a gymnast. Everytime i think of it, I can hear Derek Zoolander saying 'Sorry, Maury. But I'm not a gymnast'. Ha ha I shouldnt laugh, its very painful at times. I really need to find out what treatment there is and get it sorted.
I have been on a roller coaster ride with my effort to have a dorper sheep stud. I have decided though, that it is just not worth it emotionally and financially to continue with them. Talk about trouble! The time and effort I have put into getting their feet right is just crazy. Dip, trim, its non stop. One week they will be fine, no sign of limping, the next they can hardly walk. Just so over them. Then just when I thought things had turned around with them, rectal prolapse in an 11 month old ewe. Gahhhh. I did manage to get one of my rams back to his old self. His feet had been shocking so I tried something different with him and it worked, though its not working with the ewes. So I will cut my losses and cull them and stick to the wiltshire horns who are never any trouble. Such wonderful easy care sheep. I currently have them running with a gorgeous wiltshire ram. Cant wait til lambing time to see the results.
My jersey heifer Poddy finally had her calf, one week early. I am now rearing the calf and poddy is in the herd being milked. Im rather pleased at how well she is milking.
