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Terri wrote: "You know how you all see me sharing the drama sometimes when things go wrong on the farm. I have this new born calf that was born without an instinct to suckle. It is not a rare thing, believe it o..."I imagine it is physically and emotionally draining. When I was a kid I wanted to be a vet. Then I figured that I wouldn't have been a good one, since any pet with problems made me totally miserable.
I read tons of books like the ones byJames Herriot and Gerald Durrell, but they made farm life seem quite idylliac and bucolic, which I guess it can be at moments, but mostly seems really tough work. Kudos to you, Terri.
Best luck to you and your "baby" Terri.
Thanks guys. 6.30am. Time soon to go see if he's improving. I think I am going to have to hand raise him, which will be sad for the mother. That is what I am dreading the most. Having to take this little baby off its mother and never give it back.I can assure you, animals suffer as much as if you did that to a human. Granted, cattle have the blessing that their mourning only last for about four days. Then their instinct kicks in and tells them that a predator has taken it.
He just needs to not be ill. If he is ill then I don't want to have to put him down.
Damn. lol. Now I have gone and made myself more down about going over this morning and seeing him. :)
I think I can get him to survive though, if I raise him myself. You can buy a Calf Powdered Milk that has all the required nutrients and goodies and I will have to feed him morning and night for many months. Which is a drain in itself.
Simona, I thought about being a vet as a kid too. I think i was inspired by James herriot also. Although in the form of the tv series, All Creatures Great and Small.
Then I got to a certain age and realised that to be a vet would mean having animals die on me, and seeing their human family devastated and that turned me off. I commend vets on being able to deal with the tragic side of the job. :(
Darcy. you know, I was thinking only yesterday whether other species deal with this. I thought about all those typical milk feeders that come to mind easily, Giraffe, Elephant, Rhino etc..and I did wonder if wild species lose young from this too.
In the wild no humans are there to help and the young must just die. Very sad.
I recall a particular group of episodes that dealt with a (this isn't the actual name of the species but maybe someone can identify it) rare Himalayan (I think) mountain goat, and the kid wouldn't take milk from its mum and after a few days, she gave up on him. The zoo vets/animal trainers and keepers all worked on that wee fellow. There was also a gorilla, the problem there was that the mum didn't know to feed the babe - so not the same thing. I guess it never occurred to me how that would translate in the wild. hmmm
I've been thinking of 'The Story of the Weeping Camel' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373861/, except that's when the camel mother won't nurse. It's heart-wrenching. The Gobi residents persuade her by music, an old fix that works for them... Love that little film for its portrayal of how people live with their livestock, in the Gobi desert. For the emotions of the animals, that their people work with and upon (that horsehead fiddle tugs on the camel mother's heart... and mine, it's a gorgeous tune that's used. As is the mother of the family's singing... she's the one who has charge of the situation and goes to great care and trouble to save the camel calf.Anyhow, sympathies.
Interesting. It must happen in the wild. You'd think maybe humans messing in things (breeding in captivy or whatever) might bring on instinctual changes in species, but I don't know. I think it must happen in the wild.Something must go wrong in the brain. I have heard it said that, with cattle, if the birth is long and tiring for the calf it can sometimes do some damage to that suckling instinct. But no-one can prove that of course, just speculation and guessing.
I find though that when it does happen, it is always the bull calves, never the girls. I don't know why this is. But bulls of any age do tend to sulk and give up easily. And so maybe this sulking can start early when they first stand up and don't find the teats easily.
They go, "Can't find it, don't know what to do, must be doing it wrong. giving up"
Bryn wrote: "I've been thinking of 'The Story of the Weeping Camel' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373861/, except that's when the camel mother won't nurse. It's heart-wrenching. The Gobi residents persuade her b..."The mother wouldn't let the baby nurse? I've had this too. Once. Also sad. The mother had a really sesnitive udder....she was actually responding as if ticklish. Even when not with a calf on her, she couldn't be touched anywhere near the udder.
Terri wrote: "The mother wouldn't let the baby nurse?"No, she refuses to let it nurse, adamantly for days, after a difficult birth. Unusual white calf too.
Things looking promising in reagrds to baby bull calf. Still not fixed the suckling, but today he was more alive than yesterday. I think he is on his way back to the land of the living. Walked well, not falling over, notshaking non stop and once we got his mother in and restrained he drank heartily and even finally got on a teat on his own.
Now we need to train him to do that out in the open without us around. Right now, he is associating us with drinking time and doesn't even go to his mother. He just thinks we are going to provide the cow with warm milk and point him there....
Much work still to do. :)
Anne wrote: "Best luck to you and your "baby" Terri."Read this without having seen Terri's earlier post and thought 'OMG what secrets hasTerri been hiding' then read the earlier post and found it was a baby steer. So best wishes for the baby steer also Terri.
haha. No. No human baby.A baby bull (not steer..he still has his little marbles). :)
I am not getting email notifications of new posts....last couple days I have only been getting about half of them. Now I am not getting any.Is this just me?
I get them, but they are slow in getting to me.
It's odd that I haven't seen anyone else reporting it in the Goodreads Fedback group. Makes me think it is not happening to everyone.
I did end up finding a discussion about it in the GR Feedback group.I also found that, like you Jane, the notifications were coming late and that's why i thought they weren't coming at all.
It appears I am only getting my email notifications after I log in. When I am not logged in they don't arrive.
Other people are having our problem with delayed notifications.
I do indeed own a farm. If you look through my profile pictures you will see it. :)It's a cattle farm. You could work here for free room and board. :) But I think the most fun for you, would be to get on a cattle station or sheep station or fruit picking that is geared for backpackers. Where there are others doing the same thing and you can party more.
The cattle/sheep station pays for your training (about 7 days to 14 days) then they fly you out to the cattle or sheep station. You then work for them for a year, or a season (sometimes a season is about 3 months)..Riding horses helping with the mustering and cattle/sheep work, as a cook, whatever job it is that you want to do.
There are places such as this that train you;
http://www.jjoz.com.au/
http://www.leconfieldjackaroo.com/
You can also try work stay through contacts like here:
http://outbackpackers.com.au/outback_...
Stuart wrote: "Think Russell Crow, just not as short haha...."..and not as up yourself I would hope. :)
(I'm 6 years older than you..so old too..:(..)
33 is NOT old, Stuart!! It is very, very young. And Australia is MINE!! I laid claim to it a couple of weeks back. I need a desert. Badly.Took my eye of the ball for 2 days and now you're trying to steal my territory....
BTW, thanks for the history thing; have you really read all the books on that list?
It is a big country. Besides Andrew you want the country's interior. Stu will enjoy the less deserty (sorry, fake word) areas.
Besides....isn't it the territory already of some lady called Elizabeth? :-)
Probably best answered by Terri this one... How do you pronounce 'Wyrd bið ful aræd' and the 'ærwe' part of his nickname? Possible to type it phonetically?
Whoever did all the carvings on this ship better have received a royal commendation of some sort. And do his ancestors continue the trade - I may have a commission (for carvings, not a ship, I can't even afford a canoe)https://twitter.com/irarchaeology/sta...
Terri wrote: "Besides....isn't it the territory already of some lady called Elizabeth? :-)"Elizabeth isn't a desert fan, somehow.
Terri wrote: "It is a big country. Besides Andrew you want the country's interior. Stu will enjoy the less deserty (sorry, fake word) areas."True. And deserty is rather a good word. Well, I like it anyway. But I can't spell a the best of times...
Stuart wrote: "Andrew wrote: "33 is NOT old, Stuart!! It is very, very young. And Australia is MINE!! I laid claim to it a couple of weeks back. I need a desert. Badly.Took my eye of the ball for 2 days and now..."
Well, I won't begrudge you a few acres.
Darcy wrote: "Pssst Paul, Terri isn't a dude."Um, the 'his' referred to Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the character from whom her subtext is taken from.
As in his nickname in the book is 'Uhtredaerwe'.
Oh...my error. This will teach me not to respond to post about a book I haven't read. heh
Stuart wrote: "Confused. Why would I enjoy the 'fake' areas?"
I live in one of those 'fake' areas. They are good areas. More to us than deserts and 'outback'.:)
Darcy wrote: "Pssst Paul, Terri isn't a dude."Look's like Paul is one of the ones that has gotten my sex wrong from the beginning. :)
It does surprise me when people do think I am a he...since I have a woman in my avatar. And men don't have 'i' on the end of Terri, they have 'y'. lol
Andrew wrote: "Terri wrote: "Besides....isn't it the territory already of some lady called Elizabeth? :-)"Elizabeth isn't a desert fan, somehow."
Yeah, come to think of it, I cannot ever recall seeing her visit desert. More Phillip's thing I'd say, or Charlie.
Charles did a few years?? or a year?? In Australia on a sheep and cattle station as a young man.
You'd both be following in his footsteps. :)
(he also went to school here for a bit too. In Victoria..Geelong I believe)
Paul wrote: "Probably best answered by Terri this one... How do you pronounce 'Wyrd bið ful aræd' and the 'ærwe' part of his nickname? Possible to type it phonetically?"It is pretty much said how you might think. While being in the Cornwell Saxon Chronicles, it is also in The Wanderer.
Here it is spoken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVyXDY...
Terri wrote: "And men don't have 'i' on the end of Terri, they have 'y'. lol "Actually I know a young and gorgeous American lady named Terry, so maybe somewhere the thing is not so definite. It's also true that Americans are often really creative with names :)
Sometimes there are mistakes. :-) Where people do not realise (when they name their child) that putting the 'y' on the end makes it a male name.
I found this on Wikipedia (although WHY my name is not on there is beyond me) :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri
It is indeed one of life's deepest mysteries, Terri. What is your surname?
None of your business. :-)
Ah. A secret surname. How intriguing.I expect Wikipedia wanted to put your name there but couldn't find it out....
lol. yes. this could be true. :)You can find me in some circles named thusly... http://historicalnovelsociety.org/rob...
(Hint: not Richard and not Justin...;)...)
Windows 8 is beyond infuriating.That is all I have to add to the thread right now.
Currently seething.
Paul, you are not alone! Have recently bought Windows 8 laptop. After 20? years of using Windows, I swear my next will be an Apple. The sheer arrogance of Microsoft in turning everything upside down is staggering; they must singlehandedly shaved 1% off the national productivity. No, start button, impossible to scroll through pictures and PDF's, no Outlook Express for email, so I have to keep open 4 different webmails at once.. And a host of other completely unnecessary changes to a system millions rely on.I've never bought anything other than Microsoft before; but never again.
Don't normally like to criticise publicly, but this laptop is such a setback it is mind boggling what Microsoft thought they were playing at.
Paul wrote: "Windows 8 is beyond infuriating.That is all I have to add to the thread right now.
Currently seething."
When the repairman came to fix my computer I asked him about Windows 8 and he said not to get it, it was having a lot of problems.
Anne wrote: "Paul wrote: "Windows 8 is beyond infuriating.That is all I have to add to the thread right now.
Currently seething."
When the repairman came to fix my computer I asked him about Windows 8 and he..."
Unfortunately, much software is released to the public while still half-baked. Windows XP suits my [minimal] needs.
Totally agree that Windows 8 is crap. The IT guys at work also agree so thank goodness they are leaving the work computers with Windows 7 and not upgrading. I was also pretty happy that my new laptop was last years model and still has Window 7.
Hopefully Microsoft will do a better upgrade soon, I don't want to get stuck with 8 on anything I buy.
Dawn wrote: "Totally agree that Windows 8 is crap. The IT guys at work also agree so thank goodness they are leaving the work computers with Windows 7 and not upgrading. I was also pretty happy that my new lap..."
Yes - I wish I could 'downgrade' to Windows 7. Jane (post 2982) is absolutely right - XP was better than this.
I haven't used Windows 8 on a touchscreen, does it work better? I kind of got the impression when using it that if I could just swipe, a lot of my frustrations would disappear. And there must be a program out there somewhere that essentially downgrades W8 to W7 as my sister got her laptop fixed that way. One of her employees fixes computers as a second job and she put in a program that made W8 work mostly like W7.
She stopped swearing at her computer at least. :)
Andrew wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Totally agree that Windows 8 is crap. The IT guys at work also agree so thank goodness they are leaving the work computers with Windows 7 and not upgrading. I was also pretty happy th..."
These techies love working on new stuff and then foisting them on us laypeople before all the kinks are out.
Dawn wrote: "I haven't used Windows 8 on a touchscreen, does it work better? I kind of got the impression when using it that if I could just swipe, a lot of my frustrations would disappear. And there must be ..."
Yes - my brother has it on a touchscreen and says it's great. But it's pretty irresponsible of Microsoft to put a touchscreen program on normal laptops, and let the unsuspecting public buy it. They must have realised it would cause huge problems for everyone without a touchscreen.
I'd love to know what program your sister used?
I'm sorry I don't know what kind of program it was. I don't even know if it was store bought or custom made. And the source isn't around for me to ask, as in the employee, (my sister is completely useless when it comes to computers so she won't be any help), she moved if I recall rightly. I did find this site though: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/...
It looks like there are quite a few programs that will do this.
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
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Awww. I hope this ends up well. I used to watch Zoo Diaries when I had a tele and this happened quite often with different animals and it was always heart breaking when the odd beastie wouldn't catch on to the idea of suckling. There were also formidable successes though. I wish you all luck with mum and calf.