Wednesday, August 03, 2005

What a day.

After finishing my day at my real job, my wife called and said that one of our cows had prolapsed her uterus. If you have trouble imagining such a thing, just think of having your internal plumbing hanging outside. Not a pretty site and lethal to the cow if it cannot be fixed. As I drove to the ranch, I stopped at the local Longs Drugs and bought a needle lit that contained a large curved carpet needle and bought a package of dental floss for a suture. When I arrived I hooked up my trailer and loaded a few panels to make an alley to get her in the trailer so I could take her down to the chute for surgery. I will spare you the details, but the process included your truly, turf surfing behind said cow a few yards because I didn't have my saddle and thought I could rope her on foot. After an hour of me playing both cowboy and rope horse, we shut her in the trailer.

When she made into the chute the fun part began, my wife pushed the prolapsed uterus back in and tried to disinfect as much as possible. I took the carpet needle and floss and sowed up 'naughty bits' to keep the uterus in, leaving a large enough opening for her to urinate. She seems fine and we will keep an eye her for a week or two before we remove the suture.

I just came out of the shower and I am proud to report, I smell almost human again.
I will sleep well tonight. Just another fun filled day in the life of a part-time cattle rancher. Sometimes, I think a fish tank is all the livestock I can handle.

No comments: