Filed under: Farm
It’s been an exciting couple of days on the farm. Ducklings arrived yesterday morning, turkeys arrived this morning, and most exciting of all, a calf was born yesterday mid-morning (only the second this year; everyone’s late) and I got to watch the whole thing. Clara Bell’s edema had been getting worse over the last couple of days despite the remedies Karma gave her, and they put her in the barn around 10pm Tuesday night for observation and got up several times during the night to check on her. When I arrived Wednesday morning, they were on the phone with the vet about her edema, and her pulse was beginning to race. Within an hour or so, her amniotic sac had emerged, swinging about pendulously for a good long while before bursting (while I was running to get my camera). With the exception of the emergence of the head and shoulders, which I didn’t catch due to a miscommunication between myself and the camera, I got it all on film. This isn’t for the faint of heart, and involves close-ups of cow vulva, but it’s pretty darned cool.
It took her a while, naturally, but she got on those wobbly legs. She didn’t find Clara’s teats right away, so Michael milked Clara to relieve some of the swelling and then fed Tinker a bit from a bottle.
Later, she figured it out.
Clara looks pretty deflated and tired today, but Tinker is doing fine, and they both got to go outside onto the grassy hill.
Ain’t she purty?
As for the ducklings, they’re shy, but doing just fine. I think they’re Pekins.
The turkeys are almost cuter. They’re Narrangsetts.
In other news, the peppers we transplanted Monday and yesterday (Hinkelhatz, King of the North, Ancho/Poblano, Beaver Dam, D’atil (from Florida, seed collected year after year on the farm by Karma), Variagata and Black Czech so far) are doing well, too.
The cows are beginning to eye them in a worrisome way, but I trust the two fences together.
I think I here the car pulling up the drive, so I’m off to do some more gardening with Matt. Today, hopefully, the basil will go in with the peppers and the tomatoes will start to fill the spot next to them.
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