Farmerjan's journal - Weather

You have had this crud long enough. It is not going away. Time to suck it up and go to the ER, doctor, clinic, or SOMETHING. Pitch a crazy cow high headed wall eyed FIT and make that idiot doctor test you for all the tick diseases, whether he thinks so or not. I hate Dr God doctors, the kind that knows everything and pays little to no attention to what you say. If need be, go to a different doctor. It is way past time for you to get over whatever it is that you have, it ain't gonna happen by itself.
I volunteer to go with Jan to the doctor. I was an advocate for both my dad and my husband when they needed it.

I am serious.
 
Sunday... 3 pm... It is cloudy grey and just raw out there... we had a skiff of snow yesterday morning, and got some snow pellets the size of this styrofoam ball things in the bean bag chairs and such today...
Pictures will happen eventually but not for a few days, no energy for that on top of trying to just get her settled.

DS got her here, and the 2 calves, one very weak, wobbly, the other cannot stand... he said if I wanted to take him I could, it was up to me.... not charging me obviously. Both were pulls, one a hard pull... She let my bottle calf on her last evening and he sucked 2 quarters... I stripped some milk out of the other side but my energy levels are low.... She put her head in the bunk, I closed the little head catch and she just ate and did fine... she is very disoriented, mooing... this is a big adjustment but she is not acting up at all....
The new one standing is "dumb".... lack of O2 to the brain maybe... try and try to get him to suck... then all of a sudden, Oh this is what I am supposed to do???? They both got calf coats because of the cold... the one down I got a very little in... but he is not doing good... I am not optimistic with him...
This morning, the one standing went through the whole fight the bottle then 💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡 I'm supposed to suck... drank nearly 2/3 bottle and then went over to cow and was nosing around a bit... hoping he will get some strength to WANT her... She acts interested in him... just lets the other do his thing.... but she was about done with her grain so backed off.... I am not trying to force her to do anything... Found a neck chain to put on her so I can attach a lead to the her to keep her at the bunk without her head being in the head catch... it is not really designed for "cows", it was designed for calves...built lower, so she has to have her head down more than is comfortable... It works in a pinch but do not want her to be uncomfortable...
Didn't get the other one to even suck... thinking about tubing him, but will see when I go back up....
Did get DS to come up and help me get the 28 calf in the chute for his shot... since there is so much going on... I do not have the strength to fight him... he won't go for grain because he knows that I am going to catch him... even though I don't catch him every time... just every 3rd day... leg is not as swollen, still oozing which is good... hoping I can get it cleared up... He walks on it, limps a little... just do not want the infection to get into the bone and vet said not to wrap is so it will drain...
DS brought the silage cart/wagon up and I had him bring a tub of silage for the jersey and 28 who liked it at the barn... poor cow has had enough changes, least I can do is give her some silage she is accustomed to eating. She is not pushy or aggressive so far...

Yesterday when DS brought the jersey, I had the steer in with Jess and her 9+ mo old calf... to keep him company and keep him quiet... He got a little aggressive when DA and Colt were there, then shoved the inside gate open and got into the other pen that he will shove his way out the opposite gate to get loose. I managed to get around him as he is trying that gate... and got him back in the little barn, then he went out the door and on the trailer.... we also loaded Jess's other calf... time to wean him... that was kinda the plan when we talked about it... DS said he probably weighs 500 so I said , go on and take him.... She is not happy today... she was at the pen looking for her "baby"... she is a phenomenal mother... but she can use the break... hoping she is bred... we never preg check her... BUT... she was in there with the bull, and the 6 that turned up open, along with the 17 of 20 that turned up preg.... sooooo... hoping she caught even though the other 6 did not.... if not, she will have a bull with her in there this June with other heifers to get bred... she is not getting sold if she is open... The 9 mo calf will get sold this spring... he won't go with the steers that DS sells to that guy...doesn't match and he buys only black and some bwf ones.... but will go to the stockyard on a trip up there sometime we are taking something.... ... He will be at the barn eating silage and all with the rest of the weaned calves.

The sun is trying to peek out through the clouds to the west.
 
Made a grilled cheese for lunch... and some bought potato salad I got last week at Walmart...

Going to use up the milk and make some more pudding... it will go bad if I don't as I am not drinking much with the congestion... water and juice go down easier too.

Temp has dropped to 34 from earlier, and they said it was going to continue to get chillier as the day went on... The sun is trying harder to shine through the clouds to the west...

Sat here last night and sorted some papers and shredded more... got to dump the shredder in the bag for the next batch... Figure I could do something constructive while I was "doing nothing"...

Took water out the the chickens before... and put some pellets in the feeder for the NH's and Langshans... Will have to get more pellets from the barn in the 5 gallon bucket to mix up more for them... figured they could get by on just the old pellets for today. Leghorns will need feed mixed probably tomorrow. So, I have to get a bucket of feed tomorrow.

I cancelled my farm for Monday evening...
 
Hope tubing the calf helps. Sometimes just getting something in their system helps them decide to live. I add a little corn syrup to the bottle for weak orphans to start them taking the bottle if they are not interested. I figure the sugar could also give them a bit of a boost. May just be my imagination though. God luck with the weak one. The first one sounds like he is going to do ok. :fl
 
Home from dr and getting prescriptions and a couple of errands. Eating some lunch and going to the pasture..

Well, got a sinus infection, and some fluid on right ear... which I had already figured out... Some bronchitis and possible fluid in the lungs, sent me for an x-ray and she asked if I had ever had asthma... NOPE.... said my laying down and feeling like I couldn't breathe was typical of fluid in the lungs, but with the raspy noise from the bronchitis it was hard to be sure... hence the x-ray.
So I am on doxycycline again, and prednisone for 5 days.... if I don't feel some better by friday to call... if not feeling BETTER by Monday to call...
BUT
Turns out I tested positive to Alpha-gal... the tick disease that makes you allergic to red meat....AND.... other mammalian products like MILK, yogurt, etc.....
SO.... instead of calling me, they relied on my using that "my chart" crap online, that I have been locked out of twice...
AND... it can cause OTHER problems... like body aches, allergy type symptoms, suppressed immune system...

SO... real possible reason for the backache since shortly after I found the rash in June, that the back started to hurt.... constant aches.... the "not feeling good" but not really sick..... the worn out stuff... and then getting sick and not getting over it...

As of today, I am cutting out red meat for at least a month... that means beef, lamb, pork, venison on the list... to see if the back ache improves at all.... FOR STARTERS.....

I don't know how to cut out milk that is like the staff of life to me.... I am NOT drinking all the fake milk products... plus butter, yogurt, cottage cheese all those things that are milk based...
There is no guarantee that they all will cause it to kick in... has to do with a sugar molecule in the tick saliva that is in most mammals but not humans........It makes you have an allergic reaction, and people who have had multiple tick bites over time are more susceptible... Chaching.....

Not everyone has the same reactions to the same things...

BUT, the shortness of breath, wheezing , the rash on my ankle, itchiness on my back, diarrhea, joint pain, back pain, and other unexplained consistent pain; you can blame it on "getting old" but it just didn't set right with me... all are making sense now... I am constantly out of breath for no reason and get tired doing normal stuff I always did...

This coincides with all the "not feeling right" since I got bit by that tick, with the VERY OBVIOUS bullseye rash I had....

SUCKS , that's all I can say....

Start by cutting out as much as I can... especially the red meat as that was giving me diarrhea there early on....but not now.... cut way back, cut out as much dairy as I can deal with and see if there are obvious reactions at the times I do eat any of it....

Cleveland Clinic has a good website on the different things...

So I will try to get over this sinus stuff, and it could be partly why I was able to keep going since I had gone on the doxy for several weeks to offset the possibilities of the tick bite causing the tularemia that I thought I may have contracted...

Sadly, it all makes sense now...
 
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