Look what Baby had stuck in her mouth....

After a restless night of getting only 4 hours sleep from worrying about whether I will find a dead Baby the next morning, the minute it was light enough, I zoomed down to the paddock. It was a relief to find Baby still alive. The swelling have not subsided but at least she allowed me to look and touch that side of her face.

The vet came at 9.30am and after a bit of a struggle getting Baby to keep her mouth open, she pulled out a big piece of pvc guttering that was wedged in the left back cheek. Poor Baby. No wonder she was feeling so miserable and not eating much. We were not surprised to see the 'plastic' as our cows have this fetish for all things plastic.

She must have been famished as she went straight for her grass the minute she was released from the head bail. She ate as though she has been starving for days. I was so glad she got her appetite back. The vet gave her and anti-inflammatory injection as well as a precaution even though there was no visible damage in her mouth .

Do you think Baby would have learnt her lesson and refrain from eating anything other than grass ? I don't think so.......

5.30am morning check ...cows at rest. Foxy at Baby's left

Our prisoner....in the stockade

The patient was not very cooperative


Say Ahhhhh.....

The vet trying to grab Baby's tongue so her mouth would stay open

The offending object that Baby had stuck in her inside cheek....

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Baby...Baby.. what have you done to yourself

Once in a while the animals decides to throw us into a panic mode and at the same time stress us out a bit.

Yesterday we left them on the track to eat grass and notice Baby's (mum to Foxy) mouth was open, her eyes were bulging and her tongue was fully extended and flapping about wildly. She was in distress, drooling everywhere and whipping her head round.

We tried to corner into the corral. Cows have a sixth sense. They don't like going in there because they know that is where 'pain' is inflicted. And they can smell a vet a mile away too. So it took us more than an half an hour of gentle persuasion and bribery to coax her in. A bowl of strawberry was the bribe.

We conned her to the headbail, tried to open her mouth to see what it was but had no success. Have you tried to get a half ton animal to say 'ahhhh' so you can check the inside of her mouth. I didn't dare force my hand in, as they have jaws of steel and their teeth are quite sharp.

After a few minutes she settled down a bit and was able to close her mouth. We could hear crunching when she chews while trying to swallow 'something' she has picked up from the track. We believe it could be a rock. But I did notice a slight swelling on her left cheek then.

Anyway whatever she ate, we notice she had managed to swallow it. We observed her for a few hours....she could burp, chew her curd and graze. That meant she was alright.

This morning I notice she had a swelling under her chin and the swelling on her left cheek was more prominent. She was only lightly grazing. She had no problem eating some fruits or hay I gave her.

Looks like we might have to get her favourite vet to have a look. I don't look forward to trying to persuade her to go to the corral again.

Swelling on her chin

Swelling on left cheek

The usually normal Baby look

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The Courting Pair

This statue was my latest winter project. I left this to last as it was one of the most difficult I had ever painted. The difficulty was caused by the fact that the two figures were very closed together making it difficult to get the paint brush in between without smearing the other with paint.

The Original (partly painted before I remembered to take a pic)

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Rose is a Rose is a Rose...

My roses are now all in full bloom. I can't walk past them without trying to capture their beauty with my camera. Luckily they are such good models.

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