Gadonk-adonk

Kip is in the barn!

I went out after lunch, put some food in his bowl in the trailer and when he walked up in there, I shut the door quickly. Then I went in with him to try to put a halter on, but he tried to kick me, so I had to rethink the strategy.

Meagan came out to help and we were able to get a rope around his neck so Meagan could put the halter on while I held him still. He didn't fight too much, but I think it was because the rope was so tight, he was having trouble breathing...poor thing.

Tom came out and helped us hook the trailer up to the truck, then Meagan and I drove the truck to the barn, backed it up to the stall, hooked two ropes onto his halter and led him out. He did not want to go into the stall. We had to pull him with all our might, but we got him in and he's OK. He's remarkably calm. I expected a fit from him. He's just hee-hawing a lot, but he came right up and took a carrot from Meagan so I think he's not as scared as Henry was.

And Hyacinth has mastitis in one side of her udder. Ever since I started milking her I've noticed that the one side only gives a few ounces while the other gives the bulk of the milk. Then on Thursday evening, there was a little bit of blood in the milk from the smaller side. So I bought a mastitis test yesterday and tested her milk. Sure enough, that side is infected. I got some meds from the vet today. Oh joy, oh delight. The medicine is in a syringe. I have to put the syringe tip into the opening on the teat and squeeze the medicine into it while "reverse milking" so the medicine will go into the udder. Hyacinth will love this.

Sometimes the section of udder that is infected gets so much scar tissue that it will no longer produce milk. I think that may be the case with Hyacinth, which will be bad if she has twins again.