Hi to all at the workshop community.
It's been brought to my attention that there might be allot of people throughout the community that don't live in suburbia but on farms and whilst we all shop at Bunnings, we may not have had the opportunity to talk about our lives, our animals and the challengers that exist by simply being farmers.
Of course with farming life comes all manner of animals including dogs, cats and chooks but also the larger animals like horses, cattle, sheep and goats as well as some wildlife species that might not exist in suburbia etc... like kangaroos for example.
Farming life, just like surburban life, is usually a choice and together with dust, drought, storms, floods and everything in between, we still wouldn't give up our way of life for anything.
Anyone who knows even a little about farming life may know that the larger the farm and the more remote it is, can bring more sever challenges relating to weather and feed for the animals and how far it might be to go to the "shops" for the people that live there.
There are of course many things that happen on farms specifically related to the animals that would never be experienced in suburbia and some of the things would have people upset because it's a fact of life that millions of people still eat meat and the meat comes from farm animals but my take on all this is that when anything is slaughtered, it is done humanely but not to dwell on this subject, there are many happy and rewarding animal stories that occur on farms all over Australia on a daily basis that can warm anyones heart, so I'll post my recent animal story and please feel free to ask any questions that might arise from it and also to add a story of your own.
Quick background of our farm is that we have a small herd of Angus cows in the south west of Vic and we share the cows with our daughter and grandaughter who actually has Shorthorn cows because they're a pretty colour but that's a story for another day, so back in Oct, the 9th to be exact, a heifer (female) calf is born on our farm, her mother is Seti as all our cows are named and we named the calf Ruby but unfortunately Seti didn't have any milk as she was getting old in terms of the age a cow reaches and sometimes the first thing that is comprimised is the milk supply but specifically the colostrum which is the first milk all mothers both human and animal provide their babies that has all the antibodies that protects the baby from any or all of the local diseases that naturally exist in the ground.
By the time it came to our attention, Ruby was 2 days old and hadn't had a drop of milk and really should have died but she was brought home and fed and on day three Ruby crashed, meaning, she was almost comatose, couldn't stand or drink on her own, was really beginning to die actually, as the diseases that she should have been protected from were ravaging her body, so I started her on broad spectrum antibiotics after a phone consultation with the local vet and then for three days my neighbour, a vet nurse and I proceeded to try to keep Ruby alive by feeding her by way of a tube into her stomach and miraculously she recovered as so many don't, probably 98% don't.
Anyway, as a result of the bad bugs that had entered her body, she ended up getting an infection in the eyes when normally it presents as what's known as "joint ill" where the joints become painful and inflamed, so our little Ruby who was drinking from a bottle and growing well, was blind and we hoped against hope it was temporary!!
So fast forward 3 months and over 50 injections so far and still counting, Ruby appears to have finally regained some sight in her right eye and the left eye is improving, so together with the veterinary bills and the 3ltr bottles of fresh milke we purchased from the local supermarket for the first month, 6ltrs a day which was the best we could do to get fresh milk for her and now the powdered milk she is still getting at 9ltrs a day, 2.5 bags so far and another two will be bought at $150 per bag, she has cost over $1000 so our daughter informs us as it is her calf actually and we're still counting so just in case some people think farmers are heartless, albeit some are unfortunately, we are giving Ruby every chance to have a life with us for the next 14 odd years and there are thankfully many farmers out there that care as much as we do.
Hope everyone enjoys my story about Ruby and I'm more than happy to share any knowledge I can impart to the communiy on this or other querries I might be able to help with.
Cheers,
Barbara
PS I will include a photo of Ruby when I can.
