It has been one week since we brought Two Licks (The Heifer) too the farm. She is set to eventually become my second breeder in my very small cattle operation. Here's Two Licks when we brought her home.
Clean hay is a no-brainer. She has to be kept in a stall, with limited time with the other critters until she heals well enough to hold her own with four horses, a mule and the two other cattle. So she has been put on stall rest, with fresh hay delivered twice a day to her stall.
Oats and all stock sweet feed. Why this may seem like a weird combo to most cattle farmers, we are very big on oats as the main source of supplemental protein. We use the multi-grain all stock and have found that our critters are very fond of it also. While we are talking about grain, this is where her name came from. Two Licks, because she Doesn't give Two Licks about anything other than grain.
We waited about four days before we gave her the dewormer. We wanted to make sure that she was well hydrated, had some protein back in her system, wasn't fighting to keep her immune system up , and her body could handle the entire process of passing worms. It was WELL worth the wait and she came out beautifully.
Here are some one week progress photographs:
Farm On,
 |
| Two Licks Homecoming 11.29.18 |
As you can tell, she wasn't doing the greatest in her previous home. She was fighting with several other cows to get adequate grain, fresh water, and shelter was scarce. The great thing is, this has made Two Licks quite the fighter. She is very strong and adept. Her back feet are quick and hard. Just before this photograph was taken, I was bruising her with a curry comb through the front of the trailer and she decided to kick the trailer wall. It gave me quite a shock!
Since she has come to our home, we haven't made any drastic changes or given any major medications. The changes we have made, in order, are:
- Fresh Water (And lots of it!)
- Clean Hay
- Oats and All Stock Sweet Feed (We love Orscheln's for all of our grain and farm needs>)
- Mineral
- Dewormer (We followed this Jeffers blog advice and used Safe-Guard Equine Dewormer Paste.)
Clean hay is a no-brainer. She has to be kept in a stall, with limited time with the other critters until she heals well enough to hold her own with four horses, a mule and the two other cattle. So she has been put on stall rest, with fresh hay delivered twice a day to her stall.
Oats and all stock sweet feed. Why this may seem like a weird combo to most cattle farmers, we are very big on oats as the main source of supplemental protein. We use the multi-grain all stock and have found that our critters are very fond of it also. While we are talking about grain, this is where her name came from. Two Licks, because she Doesn't give Two Licks about anything other than grain.
We waited about four days before we gave her the dewormer. We wanted to make sure that she was well hydrated, had some protein back in her system, wasn't fighting to keep her immune system up , and her body could handle the entire process of passing worms. It was WELL worth the wait and she came out beautifully.
Here are some one week progress photographs:
Some noticeable changes are:
- An actual winter coat
- Zero signs of dehydration
- Normal mucus production
- All signs of bloat gone
- Normal bowel movements (odor, color, consistency, etc.)
- Increased strength (VERY)
- Trust in her new humans
She even received her first handmade halter this past week. She's going to be one of our mowers this summer and she needs to be halter and lunge line trained.
Stay tuned for next weeks changes and let us know what changes we may have missed in Two Licks!
Farm On,
Hollea
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