Today marks the 14th day past due on Sassafras. I'm a basket case with this waiting game, & have decided to call the vet to see if he could come palpate rectally to determine if she's "late" or is in fact "open" & I've just been mistaken all this time.
Update 1: Vet is out of town till the 17th. Have called the man who did the AI for me back in October to see if he's available to do it.
Update 2: He is available, & will be here shortly. I have to clean the cow pen, but feel as though I should remain available as well... Who knows when he'll be here. He said he had to go AI a cow in the next town over, so it could be 45-min, it could be 3-hours. I think poop scooping is gonna win out till he gets here.
Update 3: Elmer showed up at the house around an hour & a half after I talked to him, just as I was finishing with spreading the clean stuff.
After palpating, he determined that she is inactive (no eggs moving around in the ovaries), & open, & has heat bag. Which means she's been out of season so long that her body has created a false bag.
I am really bummed but such is life... I guess.
He's advised that I replace the free choice mineral(Perhaps it's gotten old or something), & add a mineral block to make sure she's getting her vitamins. She's always struggled to have normal heat cycles so she's been on minerals for a long time, but I guess he thinks they aren't working or she's not getting enough...
Then he advised a shot of lutalyse & an attempt to rebreed using one of the straws he has stored up at Great Lakes Sire Service. (3 mini Jersey bulls, 2 beef, & 2 Dexter.)
If it doesn't work the 2nd time, coming from a high yield dairy operation mindset, he's advised that she may be a dud & to dispose of her. But I think before I turn her into hamburger (😢) I'm going to find a bull to let her visit with because... She's my pet... & I really don't want to ship her off...
I have had animals all my life. It's a fact of life that dead weight cannot remain, but I have become attached because I believed she was going to be a keeper who would earn her keep... 😭
Please pray for my cow... That she feels better & gets pregnant...
