Rosie is the matriarch of our little herd of Jersey cows. She's the oldest, the leader, the bell cow. Her breed, Jersey, tells you she is from the Island of Jersey, which sits in the English Channel right off France. The temperatures are much nicer there. Rosie is not real keen on the tropical climate in south Louisiana. She gets very hot. She pants. Her tongue hangs out. Often, we'll spray her down with water.
She has a spot that she likes to sit in. It is on the east side of our barn under a roof. It is shady and cool. Here is a photo of Rosie's shady oasis, where she seeks respite from the heat.
Rosie is mom to LuLu. LuLu is two months old, so Rosie is very much in milk. She has a nice big udder. Well, here is the uncomfortable story of Rosie's latest adventure. Rosie sits in the mud to stay cool. Her body is sprawled out to get cool. When Rosie went to stand up, she stood with her sharp hooves ON HER TEAT! Ouch! When she lifted herself, there was a big problem. She continued to rise while standing on her teat. Something had to give. Rosie's sharp hooves sheared off a portion of her teat.
When Tricia and I went to the barn for evening chores, Tricia noticed that one of Rosie's quarters had not been emptied out by LuLu. We looked and thought that there was mud on the teat. I told Tricia, "Well, that's why LuLu won't nurse on that quarter. I'll go spray it off." So I took her outside, turned on the water hose, set the nozzle to the "jet" setting and began to spray off the 'mud.' Rosie began kicking violently. The 'mud' would not come off. I quickly discovered that it wasn't mud - it was a big scab.
We tried to milk the quarter out, but Rosie was some kind of mad. No success. If you can't get the milk out, mastitis will set in. Tricia visited our vet and got some antibiotic. We gave Rosie a subcutaneous injection last night.
Today, however, we needed to give it another try. We don't have a head gate or a squeeze chute. Using redneck engineering, we did the best we could, tying Rosie to a post and used two swinging gates to sandwich her between. Note the purple lead rope that pulls the two gates together.
Then, we used a dog leash to hobble Rosie's leg. This is crucial to keep her from kicking. If you don't do this, she will kick you into next week.
Here is where I brag on my wife. I can butcher chickens with reckless abandon. It doesn't bother me. However, an injured animal, bleeding and hurting really bothers me. Tricia is strong. Once Rosie was in our homemade squeeze chute and hobbled, Tricia tried to milk out the quarter, but no dice. The scab covered the opening to the teat. She then began the uncomfortable task of peeling the scab off of the teat. Let's just say Rosie was not pleased with this medical procedure. It is interesting that Tricia and I are different. The things she's good at, I am not. And vice versa. We complement each other. I am proud of Dr. Tricia's excellent work on Rosie.
You can see the damage to the teat below. Eye Yie Yie! But Tricia successfully opened the teat.
She began milking out Rosie's injured quarter. You can see the infection from the mastitis she was able to get out. It is the yellow globs of stuff below that looks like cottage cheese. It is important that we get this out.
Finally, we emptied the quarter. Thank you, Lord! Tomorrow, we will do it again. Saturday and Sunday we will repeat it numerous times. It was a stressful, painful afternoon. As if to counteract the ugly task, God gave us a beautiful sunset to insert a little peace and stillness to the afternoon.
It is good to finally have a peaceful afternoon after a rough go at it. Rosie seconds that motion.
