Paula Hynes: Disaster in the ditch with four cows down
Becky Hynes checks on Adina after her big scare.
I don't know about you guys, but I have had enough of this weather already. The ground is soaked and a soggy mess. We are still getting the cows out to graze for two to three hours after each milking, and then they are back into the feed rail for a buffer feed.
It takes a few extra fences and time to get them out, but it is worth it to keep the ladies content, as we all know they wouldn’t be long telling you if they weren't. It is draining mentally and physically; the cows have been coming in at 9pm now for 65 days.
I know Pete would love a few evenings where the cows could stay out all night, and he could finish work at 6pm.
There is always the worry that we will run out of silage, more slurry needs to be spread, and ideally, we would like to get first-cut silage ground fertilized in the next week.
I suppose it was bound to happen in fairness; January and February were extremely dry, and we did get a lot of extra work done, which made the busier weeks of calving easier.
There have also been a few more Jersey Avonlea Chocochip heifer calves born, they are all as cute as each other.
Rathard Kali is out in front in the personality department; being the smallest, she is most definitely the cheekiest and already very much 'the boss lady'. A decision will have to be made at some stage on which jersey heifer calves we retain, and which are sold as we have never had this many jersey heifer calves before in one season.
One of Becky's first lactations, Eedy Alchemy Adina, had an accident a few weeks ago. She was one of two calves we bought as a Christmas present for her in 2020.
Unfortunately, she never made it to the show ring due to covid, but she calved down in November 2022 with a beautiful heifer calf by Legend Maker Victor.
She is a very tall heifer, so sweet and took to the milking parlour like a pro.
The cows were grazing on the lower part of the farm, where there is a river running along the edge of it. We got delayed the same evening with calving, so the cows were all gathered at the gate waiting to come in for milking and Pete noticed that a bit of the riverbank had given way. He went to investigate further and realised that four cows, including Addi, had fallen in when the bank collapsed.
The poor girl was frozen, so we dried her off and fed her and left her to rest, while we waited for the vet to come and check her out. Her neck was the biggest concern; it was like a boomerang and so swollen, the fear was she may have broken her neck, or at the very least, damaged discs in her spine; her balance was completely off, and she walked like she had helped herself to a couple of bottles of whiskey.
All we could do really was give her pain relief and anti-inflammatory drugs and wait for the swelling to go down. The vet wasn’t very hopeful and told us to prepare ourselves for the worst, as he said that, he looked at me and said, "I know well you won't give up on her”.
With her balance being off and her neck so swollen, it wasn’t possible to milk her, so she had to be dried off to give her every opportunity to recover, which isn't ideal on her first lactation, but getting her sorted was my first priority.
As people say, time is a great healer, and with lots of care and patience, the swelling is gone, and thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any long-term damage to her neck or spine. She is now in the big straw calving pen along with a few late calvers and full of life.
For many, Addi would be considered a cull now, but we are exceptionally happy with her heifer calf, so she can spend the summer out with some autumn-calving heifers, and we will give her another chance.
It is the reality of farming, there are good days and bad, successes and failures, but it is all part of what makes us farmers resilient.
For now, we will have to wait for the weather to clear up so our trusted track machine operator Michael Hegarty aka The Drainer can pay a visit and repair the riverbank so it can be re-fenced.
