Holiday / Jaundice / Calves - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Sunday 5 November, 2023

by Rosemary at 5:18pm in Smallholding 1 comment Add your own

Saturday 28th October to Saturday 4^th November

We had our annual holiday to Gardenstown; third time we’ve been to the village itself and the fourth time along that Banffshire coast. Not the best cottage or the best weather, but we had a couple of nice meals at The Garden Arms Hotel and a delicious lunch at Eli’s, the wee coffee shop and plenty relaxation time.

Gardenstown Harbour on the sunny day.

Got home at lunch time on Saturday 4^th, did the cows and felt like we hadn’t been away. Dan lit the fire and three cats and two dogs happily joined us to toast. I think Diesel missed us most.

And the fields aren't as wet as we expected or feared.

 

Sunday 5^th November

And just when you think it’s all going swimmingly, Life kicks you in the teeth.

After Penfold died on 8th July, Thomas started to lose weight. We put this down to the fact that I stopped ad lib food and started weighing it. He could afford to lose a bit – at 6.4kg, he had no neck and we called him “The Tank”. However, last month, I thought it had all gone too far and took him to the vet. He was 4.95kg. She took blood – bloods, thyroid, kidneys normal; one liver measure slightly inflated. On the vet’s advice, we decided to monitor his weight – he is booked at the vet for his annual check-up Thursday coming.

This morning, we were having a cup of tea when Tom jumped on the table – and Dan noticed that his skin was yellow. Cue trip to the emergency vet; why does it always happen on a Sunday? His liver is inflamed (but he has the heart of an athlete!); he’s had methadone and an anti-nausea jag and will have to go to our vets tomorrow for a scan and biopsy. Dan’s more optimistic than I; I think we’ll be very lucky to have him with us by the end of the week. But I really, really hope I’m wrong.

On a positive note, both calves are now developing a beet pulp addiction, so halter training can begin.

Socks and Skip.