By Tyler Trieglaff

Notes from the Chief

Notes from the Farm…The count is 38 calves on the ground as of press time. We have had one day with five calves and three days with four calves. That leaves us with about 30 to go from the main herd and we have 12 that will be calving in the fall.  

We also had a couple of losses this week. One calf was about nine days old and it was not acting right, looking sickly. I had noticed this calf a couple times, that something just wasn’t right. I was able to get the calf into the corral and mom followed. The baby’s nose was ice cold, a telltale sign that the calf is not getting the nourishment it needs.

We put mama in the head gate and found out that all four of her teats were plugged.  There is a keratin plug that seals the teat to prevent infection when the cow is not milking. We have seen this happen in the past. The trick is to get the plug out and hopefully the milk will still be good.  

There are some veterinary tools that we used to have on hand when we had the dairy cows, but I don’t think those would have worked in this case. The best way we found to get into the teat is with a tiny drill bit. By the time we had tried this little trick, mama was pretty amped up and kicking the snot out of us. We decided that mama would be best served with a side order of fries and a Coke, and we picked up a bag of milk replacer for the baby. Unfortunately, the calf had been starved for too long, and even though I was able to get some warm milk in her belly, she still didn’t make it.  

The other loss we had happened when we were actually watching a live calf birth. I was on the Ranger with my cousin and the DA was on her side-by-side with his DA. We were 50-yards away and mama was up and down, slowly pushing her baby out. All of a sudden there it was, a new baby on the ground. Mama got up and started licking right away and I saw some movement from the calf so we just watched from afar.  

After a few minutes I decided to drive closer, and the darn calf had its head tucked under the body and it was not breathing. I tried the finger in the nose and mouth trick and even chest compressions for several minutes. Even trying to blow air into a slimy amniotic fluid covered nostril while covering the other nostril. Despite the best effort, this beautiful bull calf did not make it. We left mama to lick off her baby and we took the cousins back to the house.  

An hour later, mama had the baby licked clean so we needed to bring her to the corral.  The easiest way to do this is to drag the baby behind the Ranger and mama will follow right behind. This is about the saddest thing a person will witness on the farm in my opinion. As I was bringing the calf to the corral, dad had the gate open and mama followed us right in. We brought the other mama with twins into the corral and put the bull baby with the other mama. He seemed a little interested in drinking from the adoptive mom, but she was not having it.  

As soon as we took a piece of skin from the dead baby and tied it to the twin calf, that mama took him instantly! We kept them in their own pen for several days so they would fall in love with each other. We turned them out to the main herd and soon after, they were curled up next to each other, a match made in heaven.

Have a nice week!

Friday, April 24

4:42 p.m. Suspicious activity on Cherry Ave with a female getting items from a vehicle.  The owner of the vehicle was in jail and gave permission for the female to retrieve the items.

9:05 p.m. Assist with a medical.

9:50 p.m. Report of juvenile kids riding bikes around the elementary. Unable to locate.

Saturday, April 25

10:39 p.m. Assist with a resident who was having a mental health crisis.

10:41 p.m. Report of a female with suicidal ideations. Becker County deputies handled this call as the Frazee officer was busy on another call.

Sunday, April 26

3:24 p.m. A group of four were about to begin bowfishing from the RR bridge area. The officer let them know that the season did not start until May 1.

Monday, April 27

7:25 a.m. Report of a beaver at door 19 at the elementary school. Officer and school staff were trying to coax the beaver to head back to the river.

7:39 a.m. Business reporting damage from a vehicle over the weekend.

9:48 a.m. Female reporting being harassed by ex-boyfriends’ new girlfriend.

3:10 p.m. Background check for a transient vendor permit.

5:30 p.m. Assist with a 2 vehicle crash at Juniper and Lake St S.

11:51 p.m. Report of a vehicle parked at the golf course. A female was sleeping and reported that she was missing her cat and someone told her it was in this area.

Tuesday, April 28

1:46 p.m. Assist with a search warrant.

3:54 p.m. Assist with a medical.

10:27 p.m. Traffic stop for driving conduct and loud exhaust.

Wednesday, April 29

8:52 a.m. Welfare check on student who did not show up to school. Parents contacted also.

1:52 p.m. Report of loose dogs in the Cherry Ave area.

2:21 p.m. Assist with an unruly student at the high school.  

4:08 p.m. Resident asking about lights on Town Lake at three in the morning. Officer informed him of bowfishing that is about to start.

4:27 p.m. Report of a fender bender in a business parking lot.

Thursday, April 30

1:04 p.m. Assist with K9 search at the high school.  The school contracts with a K9 service several times a year to look for contraband on school property.

5:12 p.m. Traffic stop with warning for speed on Main Ave E.

5:25 p.m. 911 hang-up on Rivercrest Drive. Officer found some kids with phones and no signs of a disturbance.