the calf was delivered, amazingly still alive
and the heifer soon settled down to
motherhood.
The next dozen or so calvings went quite
smoothly with some assistance but nothing
too difficult. Late November, Hubby and I
were assisting another heifer to calve and
moments after the calf emerged so did her
uterus, she had prolapsed, and this is bad.
The uterus is extremely large and heavy
surrounding the calf in the womb. Made an
emergency call to my vet who came out very
quickly, firstly giving the heifer an epidural
injection to stop her contractions as she
naturally continued to push the uterus
thinking she had not fully expelled the calf.
Once the contractions stop (and ideally
keeping the animal standing), the uterus is
thoroughly cleaned and reinserted with
amazing skill, I can assure you this is not as
easy as he made it look. Now a course of
penicillin for infection and Ketofen, an antiinflammatory: she had a 50/50 chance of
survival. The major worry is if the uterus is
damaged an infection will set in and
subsequently Peritonitis with death being
the end result. You can imagine how upset I
was the following morning when a second
cow prolapsed, a call to my vet on his mobile
(we know each other that well!) and repeat
of the previous evening.
In fact during Christmas week a third cow
prolapsed just after midnight, my usual vet
was apparently slightly inebriated as the
works do had been that evening so the new
recruit was on call, the cow was unable to
stand and it was very difficult and timeconsuming reinserting the uterus, eventually
the cow was settled and her calf fed, bed at
3.30am.
The two cows have now recovered but
unfortunately the heifer, although given
constant round-the-clock care and every
medication possible lost her fight for life 13
days later with Peritonitis. In financial terms,
her loss including medical expenses is
around £1600 plus the emotional loss. Her
calf runs the barn with the other calves and
steals milk from their mothers while they
feed their own and is doing well.
November had rolled into December without
me noticing, it was only when a friend said
‘Two weeks until Christmas’, that I realized
no preparation had been done, so after a
morning’s farm work, I managed an
afternoon Christmas shopping and posted
some hastily-written cards, although I still
have some cards and gifts undelivered,
luckily I have understanding friends.
The beef animal taken to Laverstoke was
collected and orders delivered a few days
before Christmas. Hubby was really looking
forward to a rib of beef, Oops, sorry love, all
sold, so I hope you enjoyed it? You know
who you are!
I must mention the lovely day in November
Hubby and I were treated to by the South
East Charolais Society at their SE Winter
Fayre Show held at the South of England
Show Ground, Ardingly. I had been invited
earlier in the year to enter my herd into the
Charolais Commercial Suckler Herd
Competition covering six counties from Kent
through to Hampshire. The judge visited my
herd in September and I was extremely
proud collecting the Reserve Champion
award. Moral - hard work does pay off.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my first
year’s diary for Goscombe Farm giving an
insight into life on a livestock farm.
Sarah Jackson
Why not order Goscombe Farm beef or pork,
email [email protected] or phone
01962 733969 for a price list and special offers.
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