World I See

World I see on the farm through my iphone

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Morning rainbow over the rape seed fields blooming

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Thirsty honey bees on a warm March day

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Baby calves in the dying light of the day.

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L'il Bit made the Winton-Salem journal newspaper awhile back. The reporter asked me how to spell her name. I said it didn't matter, L'il Bit couldn't read, lol.

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Soybean fields in the foggy sunrise

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L'il Bit at 4 weeks old. Kicking up her heels and running around. I had moved her from the calf hut to a stable in the barn.

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L'il Bit at 2 to 3 weeks old. I switched her over to a bucket instead of a bottle. She was drinking water from the bucket so well by this time, it made it easy to switch her milk to the bucket also. She also lost her hair where she had the fly strike around her tail. I was afraid that would happen and around 4 weeks it started growing back slowly. Just had to watch she didn't stay in the sun too much, as she could get sunburnt easily where the hair was gone.

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Silage chopping season has begun for us today. Hate having to chop short drought corn, still better than having to shell it through. Sorry I took such a long break from posting. Such a long very hot, very dry summer, just not been taking many photos this summer.

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Sunrise over May wheat field. Thanks for all the well wishes, I'm still not over the nasty cold I caught. Went to the doctor last Monday. I was still running a fever and my cold was turning into bronchitis infection. Put me on antibiotics which are getting me straighten out. I'm at least not being awake all night now coughing finally. L'il Bit is doing good, I'll try and post some more photos of her. Later everyone, have a wonderful day.

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Happy 4th everyone! Made this bracelet in honor of the 4th. Been mostly in the house today fighting a nasty summer cold today.

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My nephew Levi and L'il Bit checking each other out on Father's Day. Just thought it was so cute if the two of them.

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L'il Bit at a week and a half old napping away the day.

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Feeding L'il Bit in the sunset #timelapse One week old now and she is drinking three quarters of a bottle now. She is doing great now. Taking lots of naps like any calf at this age.

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Day 4- This morning found L'il Bit almost bouncing as she came out to greet me. She nursed the bottle the best yet. Drinking half of the bottle which was a very good sign. As I inspected her, I found the fly larvae in her hair all shriveled up and dead. I found a few hiding underneath her tail that survive from the day before. I did another treatment of rubbing alcohol to finish them off. That afternoon feeding found a very happy girl running around. She nurse another half a bottle that day. She was running around happily, full of spunk, after she got a full belly.

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Day 3- I went to feed her later that day and was pleased to see most of the adult flies were gone. I gave her a close inspection and found more fly larvae down in her fur. More eggs must have hatched during the day. Since that morning I had formulated an attack to get rid of them. While I didn't have any Lysol I could quickly lay my hands on, I did have rubbing alcohol. Larvae being soft body, I was sure wouldn't be able to stand it. L'il Bit stood quietly as I pour the rubbing alcohol over the areas. I don't know if it felt good or she understood I was trying to help her, she didn't wiggle at all. The maggots were running for their life's as I poured the alcohol over them. I rubbed her neck as I told her what a good girl she was. That we had the little bastards on the run now. I also gave her a shot of antibiotics under her skin to help boost her immune system. I told her I will see her in the morning as I rubbed her neck before heading to the house.

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Day 3- She was getting a tad better but not as quickly I would have like for her too. Drinking a third of a bottle, wishing she would drink more but I know better than to push her. The flies were irritating her something terrible, went from a few flies to many more overnight, especially around her tail where her mama didn't finish cleaning her off when she was born. On top of that, she managed to smear manure all around with her tail. L'il Bit I said, your not going to be happy with me but I'm going to have give you a good bath before I can treat you to get rid of the flies. Oh how she wiggled and screamed as I washed her. I could see tiny fly maggots in her fur. I scrubbed her good trying to get rid of them. It's called "fly strike", it's rare but it can happen in hot weather caused by her not being clean enough giving the flies somewhere that held enough moisture for the eggs to hatch. I dried off L'il Bit as best I could then treated her with some Ivomec pour-on to get rid of the flies. The old time remedy for fly strike was to mix Lysol with water to kill the eggs and fly larvae.

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Day 2 - Afternoon. The heifer I nicknamed little bit now slowly getting a little stronger. Drinking a little better even if she only drank a third of a bottle this time. She was able to get up on her own now do I didn't have to get her up to nurse the bottle. I had to keep in mind she was so small and not to feed her so much it would make her sick.