Monday, March 23, 2009

Seed Arrival




Remember a few weeks ago when I told you how excited I was to order my seeds from Fedco? Even more exciting than receiving their catalog is receiving the actual seeds themselves! And because Danish Cowboy made me work all weekend long and because I was unable to snap even one photo, you will have to look at seed packets instead whilst I tell you the tale of my first weekend of spring.

The calves have started to arrive. Every time we turned our back on Saturday, it seemed like a new baby was born. I even saw one mother stand up to have her baby calf. She dropped it on its head. A cruel entrance into the world, but it apparently suffered no ill effects. Baby calves are a lot of work. First you have to zoom over and lift its leg to determine gender. And then you have to go back to the house and assemble ear tags, shots, rubber bands (for the males), FastTrack for the digestive system and other things baby calves need for a good start. Then you have to go out and administer all of these things to baby calf while an anxious and oftentimes enraged cow snorts down your back (and I'm referring to Danish Cowboy only here -- I almost got pinned once between a mama cow and a large hard barn wall because she was very unhappy with my presence. I was frozen and I was envisioning my pelvis being crushed into a million tiny pieces. Danish Cowboy repeatedly screamed at me to run -- and did I ever. I tend to avoid close contact with mama cows as a general rule.)

There have been three trips to the veterinarian in the last week. Two resulted in Cesarean sections (one singleton, one with twins) and one resulted in twins being pulled from their mother's womb in the traditional way. With 150 or more pounds of calf and eight legs, you can imagine the confusion that might result in trying to be born. (I am starting these peppers this weekend along with the tomatoes.)
Did you know that the approximate cost of a Cesarean section on a cow in eastern Montana is somewhere around $300.00? And did you know that the approximate cost of a human C-section in eastern Montana resulting in twins (WITHOUT NICU time) hovers somewhere around $15,000.00? Yes, dear husband, I know there was all you can eat chocolate cake at the hospital and I did eat all that I could eat, but still...think about this descrepancy. And on a side note, I have considered having another child just for that chocolate cake.
Okra? In Montana? That seems to be a less than obvious selection for my garden. I'll keep you updated.

Doesn't Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon just remind you of hot July days spent eating juicy watermelon? In Canada?

And to top it all off there have been four sets of twins born. We have sold two of the extras to neighboring ranchers who have lost calves during delivery and we are currently bottle-feeding the first twin born. The final set was born last night and we will likely be bottle-feeding one of them as well. And then there was the oddball calf in my entryway this morning. He appeared to be not at all well when Danish Cowboy brought him to the house at 6:00 this morning, but was progressing nicely by the time I left. I have also received word that one of the twins born this morning is also in my entryway. I am so glad that I vaccuumed and mopped last night. So very, very glad.

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the many new babies! You must be exhausted from the busy week. I'll look forward to some picture updates of all the fuzzy little beasts. (I'm trying not to let my anthropomorphizing, romanticizing self feel sad about the little cows who were sold away... I relize the realities that must reign.)

    But, down to the nitty gritty. I really should focus my response on the most important part of your post. You get unlimited chocolate cake at the hospital?! Are you kidding me?! And, let me guess: someone delivers it to you on a tray and you eat it in bed, right? Ahhh, I can just picture it now. I think I'd be the mother of six by now, were that little incentive luring me on.

    Erin

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  2. WOW how wonderful to live with all those little ones. Danish Cowboy is lucky to have you, how else would he take care of all those little babes by himself. Your little one looks like she will be great help when it comes time for planting all those seeds.

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  3. Wow! That's a lot of cows and seeds. Hope the cows are all doing well. Your post reminded me that I need to get started on our seed planting project. Let me know how the okra turns out--Paula Deen will be proud.

    --amy

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