Bringing home the straw
You probably know, it’s been brutally cold here this weekend. Morning tempertures have been at 15 below the last 2 mornings. We do our best to give everybody extra feed and plenty of bedding, then cross our fingers.
Saturday morning found us with a dead cow, and a dead feeder pig.
The cow had somehow got rolled on her back overnight Thursday and bloated way up. Matt got her rolled back up Friday morning. The bloating subsided but she never got to her feet. Our vet came in the afternoon, veined her and gave her fluids. Matt stacked cornstalk bales around her Friday night, but in her weakened condition the cold was too much for her.
The pig we think suffocated. Despite heavy bedding they piled and this one was at the bottom of the pile.
We’re supposed to slowly warm back up into the 20’s over the next week. 25 is going to feel downright tropical!
Didn’t you bring anything for us?
2 years ago:
Sorry to hear about the critters. It stinks when you lose one. Hopefully, those “warm” temperatures will give you a break.
Sorry to hear about the losses. How do you guys deal with carcass disposal in this weather? -Shannon
sad, hope thing warm up soon for you guys.
This is probably a dumb question, but when an animal dies like this, can you still make use of the meat? I know you wouldn’t wrap it up and sell it or anything, but could you make pet food from it, for example?
I always worry when the temperature goes down. With the horses, there is more chance of colic. Everything gets harder in the cold, thankfully it doesn’t get as cold here as you are dealing with.
Awww I’m sorry.
Thanks for the condolences everybody! Shannon – for now we just lay them out by the woodchip pile. They’re frozen, and we don’t get scavengers around here that bother them. Even our German Shepherd leaves them alone. Once things start to thaw out we’ll bury them in our mountain of woodchips and compost them. Done properly there’s no smell and all you’re left with is bones. I also just learned that our landfill will take them. So that’s an option.Karen – no, we don’t make use of the meat. I’ve heard that there are some people around here that would take the carcasses for dog food.