Thursday, July 13, 2006, 04:57
Medical Emergency
As my mother used to say, I feel like I have been dragged through a knot-hole backwards.
Right away when I walked down the hill Wednesday morning, I thought something was wrong with Isabelle. She was standing with her head down and didn't seem interested that I was bringing her grain.
When I dumped the grain in her bucket and she didn't come over to the fence to look at it, I knew even more that something might be wrong.
When I went into her pasture and ran my fingers underneath her upper lip and discovered that her gums were as dry as cotton -- I knew we had a serious problem.
I hastily dumped grain into Kajun's box in the barn, put out some kitty food, and then I went back to the house to call the vet clinic. Then I went down and put the halter and lead rope on Isabelle. If she tried to lay down, I would have to keep her on her feet. A horse that is suffering from colic often will want to lie down and roll.
The vet arrived at our place within a half hour. He listened to Isabelle's stomach with his stethoscope and thought she probably had an impacted section of bowel. So, he put a tube into her nose and down into her stomach (this is known as "tubing" a horse) and pumped about three gallons of water and mineral oil into her. Then he ran another three quarts of IV fluid into the vein in her neck. He also gave her two different shots of pain killer.
We turned her loose when he was done with all of that (took about an hour), and I went and got a flake of hay for Isabelle. She started eating, which was a good sign.
The problem would be, the vet said, if she only ate for 15 or 20 minutes and stopped because it would mean nothing was moving through her digestive system. He watched her eat for about a half hour. My job for the afternoon was to watch Isabelle to make sure she kept eating, to see if she would drink water on her own and to see if she passed any manure. If she passed manure, I knew we would be in great shape because it would mean her intestinal system was working again. The fact that her gums were so dry initially meant that she was quite dehydrated. Within 20 minutes of running the IV fluid, Isabelle's gums were getting moist again. It's funny how a horse can get so sick so fast. She acted completely normal last night.
Did I mention that it was 97 degrees today with lots of bright sunshine and that it is still dry?
I spent the afternoon running down to the pasture to see how Isabelle was doing. She stood in her shelter all day, nibbling hay and drinking a little water.
Around 3 o'clock she passed some manure.
Yipeeeeeee!
As of this evening, between what the vet gave her and what she has drank herself, Isabelle has had 10 gallons of water. For whatever reason, she didn't drink much water last night. Usually I have to fill her 7 gallon bucket twice a day.
I'm thinking that part of the problem is that I moved her water bucket about a week ago because we have a small salt block hung up by her water bucket and she kept dropping chunks of salt in her water. The problem with that is that Isabelle likes to eat a few bites of hay, get a sip of water, eat a few bites of hay, get a sip of water. I suppose she wasn't drinking quite as much as she needed and maybe not in quite the way she needed it.
This evening I moved her bucket so that it was closer to where she eats her hay. Around 10 o'clock I went to check on her, and she had drank two-thirds of a bucket. What was left in the bucket had hay in it, so she was able to eat hay and drink the way she likes to. Hot diggity!
Isabelle's medical emergency was only part of the day. The other part I spent running over to my brother's to see about hay for a friend of mine -- the same woman who went with us to look at the filly last week. Someone had promised her hay for her horses, and then backed out. And she needs 300 bales right now. But, as it turns out, Randy has said he will find someone to help him haul the 300 bales for her this weekend.
Of course, when I talked to my friend, I asked if the guy who wanted the filly had gotten her. She said she hadn't heard and called him and then called me back.
Unfortunately, he doesn't want the filly, so we're back to square one. The rest of the day I spent making phone to calls to try to find someone who will take the filly. No luck yet, though. Well, that's not quite true. My nephew and his wife are going to come and look at her Friday night. They don't really need another horse, but if it comes to that, they will take her to save her life.
As I said, I feel like I've been dragged through a knot-hole backwards.
One humorous side-note -- while I was trying to hold Isabelle still for the vet today, I kept feeling like something -- a fly or a sweat bee -- was stinging my bare leg. (I was wearing shorts because it was so hot.) I looked down, and it wasn't a fly or a bee, it was a ragweed plant brushing against my shin. I moved my foot back, but the ragweed had contact with my skin for long enough that now I've a raised welt on my shin about the size of a quarter that feels hot to the touch and has a purple bruise in the center. If I ever doubted that I am highly allergic to ragweed, that's proof enough. The leaf of a plant touching my skin is enough to give me a local allergic reaction. And the stuff isn't even pollinating yet!
A bit of good news, though -- Charlie's abscess seems to be healing up quite well. He's still getting the antibiotic, so we'll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure that it doesn't get filled with pus again.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, July 11, 2006, 20:14
Organic Farms Turned Into Factory Farms? Gimme a Break!
Thank you to Rural Route 2 News subscriber Deanna for sending me the article "Got 'happy' milk?" (see below for the entire article).
If Deanna had not sent me the article, I would still probably be blissfully unaware that some organic farms have been turned into factory farms where the milk cows are kept by the thousands in feedlots.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
Apparently not.
Organic farming, particularly dairy farming, is a way for small family farms to stay in business. When I wrote the article for the Dunn County News about the farm family in Dunn County hosting the dairy breakfast in June, I found out that organic farmers -- who do not feed supplements to their cows and who do not use pesticides on their crops -- earn $24 per hundredweight for their milk.
Conventional dairy farmers earn around $10 per hundredweight for their milk.
The price of milk has stayed right around $10 for the last 40 years (anywhere from $8 or $9 up to occasional highs of $16 or a little more -- and I mean occasional because the price might stay that high for only a few weeks and then it's back in the dungeon again).
I ask you -- would you go into a profession where you knew that 40 years from now you would be making the same exact dollar amount you are making today?
But that's the position dairy farmers have found themselves in.
When I was a kid, my dad said the price of milk, in order to keep up with the rise in all the other expenses, should have been between $15 and $20 per hundredweight.
But now, dairy farmers can make an equitable amount for their milk by going organic.
Except -- according to the article -- big business has gotten in on organics and has turned organic operations into factory farms where the cows are kept in feedlots.
Many people are willing to pay more for organic dairy products for a couple of reasons. For one thing, they don't want bovine growth hormone in their food. For another thing, they think they are helping to support family farmers. And for still another thing, they think that they are supporting operations where the cows get to go out on pasture and get to be cows.
When I was growing up on our dairy farm, the dairy part of the operation pretty much *was* organic. The cows were not fed supplements and they did not get growth hormone. Their feed was made out of corn and oats ground up together with a little bit of salt and some molasses to make it taste extra good. And they got to spend all spring and summer and fall out on pasture.
Somewhere along the line, dairy farmers fell prey to the advertising campaign that if they gave their cows growth hormone and fed them all kinds of supplements, their cows would give a lot more milk and the farmers would earn more money. Never mind the fact that any extra milk the cows gave -- and hence, any extra money earned -- would have to be spent on the growth hormone, the supplements and extra veterinarian bills because certain supplements create more health problems in the herd.
And now I find out that those farmers who are trying to earn an honest living and who are "going back to the basics" with organics are being nudged out by factory organic farms that keep their cows in feedlots?
Gimme a break!
If you purchase organic dairy products, you might want to check the labels and then check to see if the organic products you purchase are produced by a factory farm. If the products *are* produced by a factory farm, maybe it's time to switch brands.
The Dunn County dairy breakfast family, by the way, sends its milk to Organic Valley, the largest farmer-owned organic dairy cooperative. And any time farmers can get together in a cooperative -- it's a good business move that helps support all of them.
LeAnn R. Ralph
*****************************
Got 'happy' milk?
By Steve Karnowski
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Below is the link to the story.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/2DF3B64FBEB591EC862571A8000AC83A?OpenDocument
Here is the story.
JORDAN, MINN. — The cows on Pam and Jeff Riesgraf's farm chomped away on lush green grass on a warm, sunny afternoon. Their milk soon would find its way to stores, where organic dairy products are a hot item.
The Riesgraf farm represents one vision for organic dairy -- small- and medium-sized family farms where the cows have names and spend the growing season on pasture.
Out West, a different kind of organic dairy farm is emerging -- corporate-owned feedlot operations with thousands of cows that are fed organic grain but, according to critics, get little chance to graze.
Fears that big operations will muscle out family farms have produced a backlash, including a boycott by the Organic Consumers Association against the country's biggest organic milk brand, Horizon Organic.
Organic farmers and consumer groups hope the Agriculture Department will level the field. The agency is considering whether to mandate that milk bearing the "USDA Organic" seal come from cows that have significant access to pasture, a move smaller producers say would give them the protection they need.
Chris Hoffman drank Horizon milk until she learned about the dispute and switched brands.
The resident of Sherburne, N.Y., said she'd thought she was buying milk from "family farms with happy cows." To her, feedlot milk does not follow the spirit of organic farming.
"I just think it's patently dishonest. And it just really ticked me off," she said.
Horizon, part of Fort Worth, Texas-based Dean Foods Co., sells about half of the organic milk in this country through retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Horizon's president and chief executive, Joe Scalzo, said the company is a strong supporter of family farms, helping hundreds make the transition to organic. Horizon is just trying to meet the "exponential" growth in a market where demand outstrips supply by some 20 percent, he said.
However, Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst with the research group Cornucopia Institute, countered, "There's been a near consensus in the organic community that these factory farms are repugnant to the consumer and put organic farms at a disadvantage."
Kastel said organic milk consumers are willing to pay more because they believe it's produced to higher ethical standards that benefit the environment, the animals and family farmers.
"They don't think they're supporting rich corporate investors who think organics is a great way to cash in," he said.
The Organic Trade Association says the U.S. organic dairy sector racked up $2.1 billion in sales last year, up 24 percent from 2004. The OTA says organics now make up 3.5 percent of all dairy products sold in the U.S.
While Scalzo said the boycott has had "very, very little" effect, he acknowledged Horizon has had to spend time explaining its position to stores.
While Broomfield, Colo.-based Horizon has taken the most heat, the critics also slam Aurora Organic Dairy, of Boulder, Colo., which provides private-label organic milk to chains including Costco, Safeway, Giant and Wild Oats.
Aurora says it milks about 4,100 and 3,500 cows at its farms near Platteville, Colo., and Dublin, Texas, respectively, and will open a 3,200-cow operation near Kearsey, Colo., this fall.
Aurora says its approach is unique in the organic dairy sector, allowing it to keep prices affordable while producing the highest quality milk. Aurora says its cows get a balanced diet that includes organic grain and hay, as
well as grazing on organic pasture.
Aurora spokeswoman Amy Barr said organic standards shouldn't be based on an "image of Old MacDonald's Farm" held by people who may never have been on a farm. Pasture is important, but it's not the only measure of animal welfare, nor is an all-grass diet necessarily the best for a cow's health, she said.
Horizon milks about 4,000 cows at its farm near Paul,Idaho, and about 450 at its farm near Kennedyville, Md. But Scalzo said Horizon gets over 80 percent of its milk from 340 family farms, all but three of them with herds of 500 cows or fewer.
"Farms of all sizes are going to be needed -- at least for the foreseeable future, the next two to five years -- to meet demand," Scalzo said.
Executives with Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. recently toured Horizon's Idaho farm and were pleased with improvements made there, said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of communications and quality standards.
"The cows looked in good health. They were certainly curious, which is always a good sign. They're being taken care of," Wittenberg said
However, Whole Foods wasn't impressed by Aurora's Colorado farm. "It remains unacceptable for us," Wittenberg said, declining to elaborate.
The USDA is drafting a proposed rule that will likely come out this fall, and there will be another comment period, spokeswoman Joan Shaffer said.
Horizon supports the key proposal, which would require that organic cows spend at least 120 days a year on pasture, Scalzo said.
Aurora opposes that standard as unscientific and told the USDA eastern Colorado gets only about 45 to 60 days of significant edible grass per year.
The nation's largest farmer-owned organic dairy co-op, the Organic Valley Family of Farms, based in LaFarge, Wis., says its 572 family-owned dairy farms nationwide exceed the proposed standards.
Organics have been a lifeline to many family farmers because organic milk fetches a higher price than conventional milk, allowing dairies to stay small. The Riesgrafs, who milk about 55 cows near Jordan, southwest of
Minneapolis, credit Organic Valley with keeping them in business.
"We have a stable price, and we've slowly been increasing our price," Jeff Riesgraf said.
A few miles away, near New Prague, Dave and Florence Minar have carved out their own niche, producing and bottling organic milk at Cedar Summit Farm, which milks about 160 cows.
Dave Minar and the Riesgrafs said they're confident they can compete as long as the USDA requires meaningful access to pasture. They don't back the boycott, and sympathize with the smaller organic farmers who supply Horizon.
"We're trying to farm our land and our livestock in the way nature intended," Minar said.
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