wow, we've had a weird couple of days around here. it started great, with my cousin unexpectedly bringing over a pair of cute young hens to add to our dwindling flock--the other chickens took to them immediately and everybody was happy...the rooster danced for them something fierce, which was hilarious! they're sweet little things too, one even let me pet her.
then i started to get stressed over the dog situation because literally no one has expressed interest in taking them, and every rescue i called either told me they are "full" already or they only rescue dogs from kill shelters... one guy even went into detail regarding why now was the worst time for adult dog adoptions, as apparently we're in "puppy season" and they can save about 10 puppies for every adult dog they take in. with matt ready to drive over to animal services every night, i have been freaking out and getting depressed that they would be euthanized in a few days...
then butters managed to open the gate to her pasture--which wasn't quite latched properly--such that i found her browsing the yard when i went out to milk her. of course matt wasn't home, so i was on my own dealing with coaxing her back into the pasture before she decided the driveway looked like a nice path to walk down... it was a major pain in the ass. she was stressed because the dogs had been going nuts, she was covered in flies (like she never is in the field), and she had no intention of going back into the pasture. she would happily follow me right to the gate, but refused to cross over into it... it took a lot of effort and patience in the drizzling rain and intense heat to get her back in, but i finally did it. i set her up in the milking stand right away and went back into the house to get the rest of the equipment (at least, the pieces i hadn't dropped in the yard while frantically rushing to grab a bucket of feed when i saw her loose), and by the time i came back out she had somehow magically turned around in the tiny space and was proceeding to attempt to crawl UNDER the 2ft-high chain at the back of the milking stand. in the process, she was (naturally) yanking the 4x4s out of their post-holes until i thought the whole thing was going to collapse on her. so i freak, again, and run like hell out there--which is neither easy nor comfortable at 8 months pregnant--to calm her down enough to get her to stop what she's doing so i can let her out. i was rather pissed at her by this point. after i caught my breath and gathered all the milking equipment, again, i put her back in to the stand, again, and was able to milk her... though the brat shunned hay that night and demanded bucket after bucket of feed instead. as if she deserved it.
last night one of her udders was alarmingly swollen and tight, but it didn't feel hot so i figured she was just engorged for some reason... after milking her with the machine for a good 15-20 minutes with no noticeable change in that quarter, we gave up and i went to hand milking... and there was some nasty stringy shit hanging out of her nipple! at least it explained why the udder wasn't draining. so i started to try to clear it out and the nipple felt like it was full of lumpy, rubbery cheese. really, really gross stuff came out. i milked it until it was dry, and she was still swollen and tight. we assumed mastitis, because what else could it be? matt did some research and concluded that milk from mastitis is totally not safe to drink, while my research indicated no problem at all. so i still don't really know.* we didn't keep the milk, in any case, because she stuck her filthy hoof right into the bucket while i was finishing the good udders. almost a gallon wasted! so this morning i rushed out to the feed store at 8am to get some antibiotics just in case--though my intention was to milk, milk, milk, and massage her to clear it up naturally if possible, as one would do in a human. when i came home and went out to tackle the chore, the udder was totally normal. i felt a tiny clot of yuck in there, but it came right out and after that it was normal milk and her quarter wasn't swollen or anything. i hand-milked a bit from each teat just to check her out and to empty that one somewhat (i probably should have really milked it, but there didn't seem to be infection anymore). i didn't expect it to clear up so fast, but i'm glad! and now we have the antibiotics on-hand for future use, if needed.
so tonight we'll see what happens; we're milking early because we actually have a party to go to :). matt is paranoid that the milk is still not ok, and that it wasn't ok a few days ago either, but he really has no idea what he's talking about. you can't predict ahead of time when a boob is going to get mastitis, so you NEVER know if it's "safe" by his reasoning. as a lactating mammal myself, i give my own sensibilities much more clout on this matter. if there isn't lumpy crap in it and the udder feels/looks right, the milk is fine. period.
*i DO know that in humans, babies are supposed to nurse on moms with mastitis as a cure for it, and it doesn't hurt the baby one bit! it seems weird to me that there would be anything wrong with drinking it, despite bacteria, but whatever. pasteurization could fix that if it was really a concern. if i wasn't pregnant i would not be half so cautious.
then i started to get stressed over the dog situation because literally no one has expressed interest in taking them, and every rescue i called either told me they are "full" already or they only rescue dogs from kill shelters... one guy even went into detail regarding why now was the worst time for adult dog adoptions, as apparently we're in "puppy season" and they can save about 10 puppies for every adult dog they take in. with matt ready to drive over to animal services every night, i have been freaking out and getting depressed that they would be euthanized in a few days...
then butters managed to open the gate to her pasture--which wasn't quite latched properly--such that i found her browsing the yard when i went out to milk her. of course matt wasn't home, so i was on my own dealing with coaxing her back into the pasture before she decided the driveway looked like a nice path to walk down... it was a major pain in the ass. she was stressed because the dogs had been going nuts, she was covered in flies (like she never is in the field), and she had no intention of going back into the pasture. she would happily follow me right to the gate, but refused to cross over into it... it took a lot of effort and patience in the drizzling rain and intense heat to get her back in, but i finally did it. i set her up in the milking stand right away and went back into the house to get the rest of the equipment (at least, the pieces i hadn't dropped in the yard while frantically rushing to grab a bucket of feed when i saw her loose), and by the time i came back out she had somehow magically turned around in the tiny space and was proceeding to attempt to crawl UNDER the 2ft-high chain at the back of the milking stand. in the process, she was (naturally) yanking the 4x4s out of their post-holes until i thought the whole thing was going to collapse on her. so i freak, again, and run like hell out there--which is neither easy nor comfortable at 8 months pregnant--to calm her down enough to get her to stop what she's doing so i can let her out. i was rather pissed at her by this point. after i caught my breath and gathered all the milking equipment, again, i put her back in to the stand, again, and was able to milk her... though the brat shunned hay that night and demanded bucket after bucket of feed instead. as if she deserved it.
last night one of her udders was alarmingly swollen and tight, but it didn't feel hot so i figured she was just engorged for some reason... after milking her with the machine for a good 15-20 minutes with no noticeable change in that quarter, we gave up and i went to hand milking... and there was some nasty stringy shit hanging out of her nipple! at least it explained why the udder wasn't draining. so i started to try to clear it out and the nipple felt like it was full of lumpy, rubbery cheese. really, really gross stuff came out. i milked it until it was dry, and she was still swollen and tight. we assumed mastitis, because what else could it be? matt did some research and concluded that milk from mastitis is totally not safe to drink, while my research indicated no problem at all. so i still don't really know.* we didn't keep the milk, in any case, because she stuck her filthy hoof right into the bucket while i was finishing the good udders. almost a gallon wasted! so this morning i rushed out to the feed store at 8am to get some antibiotics just in case--though my intention was to milk, milk, milk, and massage her to clear it up naturally if possible, as one would do in a human. when i came home and went out to tackle the chore, the udder was totally normal. i felt a tiny clot of yuck in there, but it came right out and after that it was normal milk and her quarter wasn't swollen or anything. i hand-milked a bit from each teat just to check her out and to empty that one somewhat (i probably should have really milked it, but there didn't seem to be infection anymore). i didn't expect it to clear up so fast, but i'm glad! and now we have the antibiotics on-hand for future use, if needed.
so tonight we'll see what happens; we're milking early because we actually have a party to go to :). matt is paranoid that the milk is still not ok, and that it wasn't ok a few days ago either, but he really has no idea what he's talking about. you can't predict ahead of time when a boob is going to get mastitis, so you NEVER know if it's "safe" by his reasoning. as a lactating mammal myself, i give my own sensibilities much more clout on this matter. if there isn't lumpy crap in it and the udder feels/looks right, the milk is fine. period.
*i DO know that in humans, babies are supposed to nurse on moms with mastitis as a cure for it, and it doesn't hurt the baby one bit! it seems weird to me that there would be anything wrong with drinking it, despite bacteria, but whatever. pasteurization could fix that if it was really a concern. if i wasn't pregnant i would not be half so cautious.
0 comments: