Quite a Scare for Rosie

Saturday afternoon we began preparing for the blast of very cold weather.  It is supposed to be 11 degrees on Tuesday.  I cannot remember it ever getting that cold here.  Russ came over and helped me by wrapping pipes.  Then we began picking produce from the garden that will be ruined if we don't harvest and bring it inside.

We picked about 3 baskets of items.  One of the things we picked was cauliflower.  When you pick broccoli, it is a little different.  On broccoli, you merely pick the main head off.  Dozens of florets will continue to grow and you can harvest them every day, if you wish.  For cauliflower, once you pick the main head off, that's it.  One and done.

The cauliflower, once picked leaves a lot of big leaves connected to a stem that's about as big in diameter as a silver dollar.  I'll generally snip the big stem off at ground level and toss the whole thing over for the cows to devour.

So that's what I did.  The cows and goats came running like sharks circling their prey they ate to their heart's content.  The photo below shows the goats and then Elsie, LuLu and Rosie eating sweet potato vines back earlier in the fall.  It was the same type of all you can eat buffet yesterday, but with cauliflower leaves and stems.

Tricia and I went inside as it was starting to get dark.  We were going to eat supper and then head back out to do chores at the barn.  It was then that Russ came in.  "Dad, I think one of the cows is in trouble.  She must be choking.  She's running around, thrashing her neck around and has lots of slobber coming out of her mouth!"  The first thing I thought of was, "How do you perform the Heimlich maneuver on a cow?" 

I ran outside.  Sure enough, Rosie was bucking like a bronco.  I tried to grab her but she was running around, clearly in distress.  I ran to the barn and grabbed a lead rope.  Running up to her, I clipped the rope to her halter and held her firmly with my right hand.  I took my left hand, made a fist and jammed it down her throat, opening my fingers when I was almost elbow deep.

I could feel something.  Something that didn't belong in a cow's throat.  I grabbed it and pulled and a big, hard cauliflower stem a little more than two inches in diameter and five inches long came out!  Rosie was relieved.  We all were relieved.  Had Russ not been outside, the day could have ended badly for Old Rosie girl.

I'll have to be more careful with the things I throw over the fence for them to eat!