Time. From completely downbeat to Optimistic.

[sheep&cows&stuff]

Have lost 3 cows in 8 months (10% of my herd).

2 to red water and 1 to twisted calf bed (rotten calf) - had to put her down.

I am usually 120% optimistic about my small commercial suckler herd. Like i mean it consumes 90% of my mind & time - but after losing 2 cows in quick succession there i was completely down beat. Was going to cut the cattle down to 12 cows and invest no more money into them. Was completely f**ked off.

3 weeks later and i have regained all enthuiasm and all seems bright again - i have a plan to replace the 3 and all.

Question is, how long do you all normally be downbeat after a loss or a set back, and do you always regain the same level of enthuiasm?

Very strange isnt it - in what other walk of life would you accept being continually beat with a big stick only to keep going forward smiling?

 

[Davey]

Still on the downward spiral, I'll let you know when I reach the bottom

 

[Highland Mule]

Have lost 3 cows in 8 months (10% of my herd).

2 to red water and 1 to twisted calf bed (rotten calf) - had to put her down.

I am usually 120% optimistic about my small commercial suckler herd. Like i mean it consumes 90% of my mind & time - but after losing 2 cows in quick succession there i was completely down beat. Was going to cut the cattle down to 12 cows and invest no more money into them. Was completely fudgeed off.

3 weeks later and i have regained all enthuiasm and all seems bright again - i have a plan to replace the 3 and all.

Question is, how long do you all normally be downbeat after a loss or a set back, and do you always regain the same level of enthuiasm?

Very strange isnt it - in what other walk of life would you accept being continually beat with a big stick only to keep going forward smiling?

Well done for being so positive - not sure I could in your circumstances. No advice from me, but best wishes that your luck improves.

 

[Muck Spreader]

I am at the stage in life where as soon as the knacker-man has picked the animal up I am ready to move on. Had a load of calves die at around 8 days old this spring, nothing the vet could suggest or do.

 

[bobk]

I am at the stage in life where as soon as the knacker-man has picked the animal up I am ready to move on. Had a load of calves die at around 8 days old this spring, nothing the vet could suggest or do.

I had that 15 years ago , no reason for it , but f**kin soul destroying .
Made me change the operation .

 

[milkloss]

I tend to be far more optimistic when there is a bit of money in the bank to be honest. Doesn't happen too often mind.

 

[egbert]

As above...keep your chin up. you'll get years like it, then others when it all goes along easy.

how do we simply keep bobbing up and doing it all over again?
Good question.

My own tale of woe has mostly been with the pedigree bulls in one herd.
(I've 3 different breeds)
I've had 3 go wrong out of the last 4 (1 real beaut lamed after one season, another really smart youngster lost to TB before he ever served a cow, and another youngster found to be infertile)
The 4th was a stopgap from a pal down the road, in a hurry. He wasn't very auspicious, but went to work at 15 months and worked and worked without problems.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

It's an extremely delicate balance between caring enough to be a good stockman but not too much so that you can move on from such a bad turn of events.
As long as I have confidence that I made the right call for the right reasons given the information I had, I can usually switch off as soon as the knackerman's paid.

 

[yellow belly]

Farming is about life and death and new born ,growing stuff
we get used to losses however hard either death or crop failure
new Life born or seeing a seed produce rows is always One of the rewarding pleasures of farming

 

[icanshootwell]

Have lost 3 cows in 8 months (10% of my herd).

2 to red water and 1 to twisted calf bed (rotten calf) - had to put her down.

I am usually 120% optimistic about my small commercial suckler herd. Like i mean it consumes 90% of my mind & time - but after losing 2 cows in quick succession there i was completely down beat. Was going to cut the cattle down to 12 cows and invest no more money into them. Was completely fudgeed off.

3 weeks later and i have regained all enthuiasm and all seems bright again - i have a plan to replace the 3 and all.

Question is, how long do you all normally be downbeat after a loss or a set back, and do you always regain the same level of enthuiasm?

Very strange isnt it - in what other walk of life would you accept being continually beat with a big stick only to keep going forward smiling?

I too have lost 2 cows this year, both hard calving and both probably to old, I am guilty of keeping mine to long but the way i see it as long as they rear a calf there not to old.

 

[Tarw Coch]

It's an extremely delicate balance between caring enough to be a good stockman but not too much so that you can move on from such a bad turn of events.
As long as I have confidence that I made the right call for the right reasons given the information I had, I can usually switch off as soon as the knackerman's paid.

We had an American vet a few years back and he said his pappy used to say you should allways do your best.
He went on to quantify that by saying your best might not be the same every day depending on many external factors but so long as you’d done your best within the conditions at the time there wasn’t really any more you could realistically have done.

A late friend of fathers allways used to say “ better her than me”, never could get my head around that when I was younger but often say it myself now.

 

[Dave6170]

Thats what livestock does to you. Breaks your heart! Then when you are walking round your cows and calves all happy there is nothing better!

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Thats what livestock does to you. Breaks your heart! Then when you are walking round your cows and calves all happy there is nothing better!

I agree.
It's when you get hit by some problem and you start finding ill / dying animals and that pleasure is taken away and is replaced by a feeling of dread when you 'do your rounds'.
I've just been hit by a haemonchus problem and for the last week or so have picked up several otherwise good looking lambs, dead with anaemia. Everything is treated and seems ok but I'm still a bit nervous.
I was always told; "better your problems are outside than in".
If you've got both you must make the effort to ask for help as it's too much for anyone to cope.

 

[czechmate]

Not just farming. In our family engineering company there were/are just as many soul destroying occurrences. Customers not paying/going bust, employees cutting up that special sheet of stainless all wrong, machinery breaking down (don’t talk to me about fudging light guards).....

 

[jondear]

Have lost 3 cows in 8 months (10% of my herd).

2 to red water and 1 to twisted calf bed (rotten calf) - had to put her down.

I am usually 120% optimistic about my small commercial suckler herd. Like i mean it consumes 90% of my mind & time - but after losing 2 cows in quick succession there i was completely down beat. Was going to cut the cattle down to 12 cows and invest no more money into them. Was completely fudgeed off.

3 weeks later and i have regained all enthuiasm and all seems bright again - i have a plan to replace the 3 and all.

Question is, how long do you all normally be downbeat after a loss or a set back, and do you always regain the same level of enthuiasm?

Very strange isnt it - in what other walk of life would you accept being continually beat with a big stick only to keep going forward smiling?

Usually downward spiral after tb test up again till after the next!

 

[Ribble]

I think it was Michael Palin had a bit in his book about crossing the Sahara with some Bedouin.

After a sandstorm they emerged from the tents to find several camels from the train dead, half buried or otherwise missing.

The Bedouin herdsmen were joyful and smiling, embracing one another. The confused Englishman was informed by the interpreter that the Bedouin were grateful, as they expected to have lost more, and could have lost the whole herd if the storm lasted any longer.

 

[uztrac]

I think it was Michael Palin had a bit in his book about crossing the Sahara with some Bedouin.

After a sandstorm they emerged from the tents to find several camels from the train dead, half buried or otherwise missing.

The Bedouin herdsmen were joyful and smiling, embracing one another. The confused Englishman was informed by the interpreter that the Bedouin were grateful, as they expected to have lost more, and could have lost the whole herd if the storm lasted any longer.

Yes, that trip he made was about 40 years ago.What he was told was very much the Arab mindset.They apply it to all manner of incidents e.g. crop failure,tractors broken down,goats wandering off etc.