Killing Time

Today was a little on the long side.

When I did chores this morning I decided that Ace was very sick and probably collicing. He wouldn't eat his grain hardly at all, and just wanted to lay down and sometimes roll. His temp was normal, but I could hardly hear a sound in his gut, so I told Merle we should proabably do something pretty soon. We kept an eye on him, and in the mean time unloaded a trailer load of straw bales that's been patiently waiting for us for a few days. It was nice to get that out of the way, then it was back to Ace. He called three vets and one could get us in by 10am so we went with them. It took a while to hook up, bed the trailer and throw down/load up some square bales that I needed to take with me to Gordon (where the vet was at) and drop off at the fairgrounds for Hayden's calf. Then, I caught both Ace and Joe and took them both with me- life is just less traumatic that way!

When I got down there the vet was already in and got to it right away. He decdied that it was an impaction type collic. He mildly sedated him, pumped him full of oil and gave him some Banamine. After I woke the poor guy back up I loaded him back in with Joe and headed into town to drop off the hay. When I found them at the fairgrounds I knew that I would probably be there for a while. They had just got there and were still unloading calves and everything else. So, I helped out there for about an hour and then finally headed towards home because I didn't want the ponies to get too hot waiting for me in the trailer! We got headed down the road and made it all the way to Martin before I found another excuse to stop. I needed to fax some farm paperwork so I stopped by Marykay's office thinking she would have a fax machine. Well, she probably does but I wouldn't know because no one was around except the people in the newspaper office next door. I asked them if they knew where I could find a fax machine in town and lo and behold they had one! Yey..the faxing stuff took forever again because I couldn't get my faxes to go back through, but they finally did and I finally got back out to the horses and got them home. After I unloaded them, unhooked, and shut them off of grass and everything else Ace can't have right now I headed up to the shed to get started haying. Merle had started this morning, but didnt' get far before he two flat tires and then had to run to town for some errands anyway and Jeff was already gone for the day because he got the burned hay from the fire all cleaned up and couldn't do his next task (wintering the square baler) because I took my car keys and left my car in the way of the pickup he needed (oops...my fault). So, he just went home. That left Merle and I to finsh up some second cutting hay that was ground pounded three times this week :( We got it up and just as I was unhooking the rake at home I had to shut down my tractor so I could pull out my hydraulics. Of course, as soon as I got to start the dumb thing back up, it's dead. That whole deal is really getting annoying, hopefully the mechanic, Roger, can make it down soon from the dealership in Phillip. But, we jump started it and put it in the shed because it still only has one door on. Then, we did chores and ate dinner. That pretty much sums it up. Ace is looking much better but is not impressed that he can't have grain for a while! ...I think he'll get over it about the time he gets it back!

Tomorrow is going to be an early one, we need to be down to the fair in Gordon by six to help fit calves- better go to bed!