My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 430 Salt Disease
"Oh? The cow is sick? Then we won't go inside, we'll go check on it first."

Upon hearing that there were other matters to attend to, Chen Ling wanted to pick up Rui Rui and leave.

"Hey, no, you go ahead first, I'll carry Rui Rui and follow behind, okay? I haven't seen the little guy in so long, I want to hold him a little longer."

"Rui Rui, would you like me to pour some more sugar water into your little water bottle? It's so sweet."

Zhong Xiaoyun was overjoyed to see Rui Rui and immediately hugged the baby tightly, not even bothering to say anything to Chen Ling.

Having no other choice, Chen Ling mounted his horse and headed towards Qin Qiumei's house.

The elderly couple, Liang Hongyu and her husband, have been dealing with the mess at home in Beijing for almost half a year and haven't been able to come back. The two yellow oxen, one big and one small, have been handed over to Qin Qiumei's family to raise.

It would have been fine to give them to Chen Ling's family to raise, but it was almost Chinese New Year and they had a lot of things to do. They had enough animals at home, so they didn't specifically bring them to the village.

They never expected that Chen Ling would later acquire a horse and three yellow oxen.

……

Qin Qiumei's house was only a few houses away from Liang Hongyu's house, and it was also just a few steps away from where Wang Zhenzhen went to school.

Chen Ling rode his little blue horse, clattering through the streets and alleys, arriving at a leisurely pace.

Since they were already quite familiar with each other, after entering the house and seeing Qin Qiumei there, he put down the donkey meat and, without saying anything else, went straight to asking about the cow.

Qin Qiumei then put the donkey meat away and took him to another courtyard to see the cattle.

"It wasn't two or three days as Xiaoyun mentioned, but just yesterday morning when my father-in-law was herding the cows, both cows seemed listless and stopped eating grass. For most of the day afterward, they either drank water or had diarrhea..."

"There are many cattle farms near the county town this year. People say it might be because they weren't vaccinated in the spring. I was thinking of asking you tomorrow if they should get a couple of shots."

In fact, the most common symptoms when livestock and poultry get sick are diarrhea, followed by vomiting, lethargy, and loss of appetite.

Knowing only the symptoms doesn't make it easy to determine the underlying disease.

For example, Jiang Xiaoqing's cow ate a nail after a flood, which damaged its stomach.

She also had diarrhea, lacked energy, and was getting thinner and thinner.

Qin Qiumei's family had never raised livestock before. After asking other cattle farmers in the county, they assumed it was because the animals hadn't been vaccinated and didn't think it was a big deal.

When Chen Ling arrived at her front yard, he took a look.

The two yellow oxen, one large and one small, suddenly stood up from the base of the wall, swishing their tails, looking terrified and trembling as they watched Chen Ling and his companion enter.

Seeing this, Qin Qiumei opened the door, loosely locked it, filled a bucket with fresh water, and went over: "What's wrong? Don't you recognize me? I'm always feeding and drinking you, why are you making such a fuss?"

"Here, have some water."

He then smiled at Chen Ling and said, "They haven't been eating grass or feed these past two days, so we've been giving them more water. In this hot weather, you can't go without water, and thankfully they're drinking it quite happily."

The mother and calf were indeed drinking water happily, crowding around the bucket and gulping it down.

Seeing this, Qin Qiumei filled another bucket with water and placed it there.

Chen Ling frowned slightly upon seeing this, but said nothing. He simply walked over to where the two cows were lying down to look at the cow dung they had produced.

"Qiu Mei, do these two cows just sleep and poop wherever they want in your house?"

"Huh? No, we didn't keep it in a enclosure. The yard is so big, it's obvious that it doesn't eat, sleep, or relieve itself in the same place. It knows how to keep things clean."

Qin Qiumei quickly said.

This cow is about the same size as a dog.

As long as you don't tie it up or confine it in a small place like a cattle pen, you can restrict its free movement.

The place where it defecates and urinates is usually not the same as the place where it sleeps and rests.

"Then they are definitely sick, it's not because they haven't been vaccinated... Look, when they were lying here just now, they pooped right here."

Chen Ling pointed to several piles of cow dung at the base of the wall and said, "This is not only diarrhea, but it's also bloody. Luckily I came over today. If you had waited two more days to come see me, you would have had to pay Aunt Hongyu two cows in compensation."

The claim of losing two cows was obviously a joke.

But Qin Qiumei panicked when she heard him say it was so serious: "So serious? It's not like that cow you mentioned before, it ate something that damaged its intestines, is it?"

Chen Ling looked at the two yellow oxen, one large and one small, and said, "I'm not quite sure what's wrong with them yet. Let me take another look."

Qin Qiumei now understands him quite well.

Although outsiders often say he's unreliable and lazy, he's actually quite cautious and serious when it comes to things. If he's not sure, he won't easily voice his thoughts.

Chen Ling did indeed have a general idea and judgment in mind.

With his hands behind his back, he circled the two yellow oxen twice, carefully examining their mouths, noses, bellies, hooves, and tails.

His gaze lingered for a long time, especially on the muzzles of the two cows.

After drinking two buckets of water, the mother and calf were still clinging to the buckets, licking their lips, trying to find water from the tap. Their noses, which had just been in contact with water, quickly dried out.

My guess was pretty much confirmed.

Then he turned around and asked Qin Qiumei, who was worried and anxious, "There are signs of salt poisoning. Are your parents-in-law home? Call them over and ask if they fed the cow too much salt?"

"Eating too much salt?"

Qin Qiumei was clearly taken aback, and subconsciously brushed her hair back before asking, "Can salt poisoning occur? My father-in-law has been herding cattle by the river and in the forest with people from nearby villages lately. He saw them feeding their cattle coarse salt blocks, saying that the cattle grow strong from eating it, so he took some. Could it be that the salt they gave him is poisonous?"

Chen Ling was speechless upon hearing this: "It's not that the salt is poisonous, it's that you fed it too much. You should call your father-in-law over and ask him how much salt he fed the cow, and whether he fed it all at once."

"No need, no need to call them. I've been feeding the cows myself lately. Susu told me to sweat more and exercise more in the summer to get rid of the cold in my body..."

Qin Qiumei shook her head and gestured to Chen Ling with her hand: "The salt we brought back was about the size of a fist. They really liked it and licked it all up in two or three days."

Seeing Chen Ling's helpless expression, she asked with some puzzlement, "I don't think it's much. It's enough for two cows to eat together."

Chen Ling was even more speechless: "Have you ever fed them salt before?" "I rarely fed them salt, only in winter and early spring when it wasn't hot yet. I mixed some into their hay, as Aunt Hongyu instructed."

Qin Qiumei answered as a matter of course.

"Then let's not settle it."

Chen Ling rubbed his forehead: "Cows don't usually eat much salt. Feeding them so much salt all at once, especially in the middle of summer when they sweat a lot, will definitely cause them to get salt poisoning if they don't drink water in time."

Anyone who has raised cattle and sheep knows that these animals cannot do without salt. They need to be fed a little salt from time to time, or allowed to lick salt blocks or something similar.

Otherwise, if there is a lack of salt, livestock will also become weak in their limbs, just like humans, which will affect their growth and development.

However, you can't just feed salt to livestock indiscriminately.

Especially now, in the hot summer, livestock already sweat a lot. If they eat too much salt, they will lose water even faster. If they don't get enough water, they will definitely get salt poisoning.

"What are you two arguing about? We could hear you from outside the door."

But Zhong Xiaoyun pushed open the door and walked in carrying Rui Rui: "Come on, let's see what your dad and Aunt Qiu Mei are arguing about."

“We didn’t argue. Fugui complained that I didn’t know how to feed the cows, saying that I poisoned them.”

Qin Qiumei rolled her eyes at Chen Ling helplessly, then opened her arms to hug Rui Rui, "Come here, Rui Rui, let Auntie give you a kiss."

"poisoned?"

Zhong Xiaoyun was also stunned for a moment. After handing Rui Rui to her, she looked over and exclaimed, "Oh my, it really is! Fugui, look, that calf is foaming at the mouth!"

Chen Ling noticed that the calf was not only foaming at the mouth, but its body was also convulsing, as if it wanted to vomit something.

These symptoms are similar to those of dehydration; once you eat or drink a lot of water, you can't help but vomit and have diarrhea.

"It's definitely salt poisoning now. The calf is young, so it's more serious. If it's left untreated any longer, it will die."

Chen Ling said with a smirk.

"Since they got sick from eating too much salt, why don't we give them more water?" The two women hadn't realized the seriousness of the illness.

Hearing that it's salt poisoning makes me think that salt isn't toxic at all, so I don't take it very seriously.

"Absolutely not. Salt poisoning is still poisoning. In severe cases, the cow will die from dehydration. In an acute case, the cow will be gone in just one hour."

Chen Ling was too lazy to explain further, and only said, "It's not too serious yet. I'll go outside and buy some medicine injections and raw soy milk. I'll give them a couple of injections later and feed them something to soothe their stomachs and dilute the salt."

Qin Qiumei quickly said, "I'll go. You stay here and watch over them. Just tell me what medicine to buy."

Liang Hongyu entrusted her family to raise cattle, but they almost died. Now they have to trouble Chen Ling to treat the cattle, and she feels very bad about it, so she insists on going to buy them.

"No need, I can ride a horse fast. I don't even know if the veterinary station here has all the medicines. If they don't have veterinary medicine, we'll have to buy human medicine. And you don't know which one to use if one is unavailable. I'll go instead."

Chen Ling shook her head and said to her son, "Rui Rui, be a good boy and stay with your two aunties. Daddy will be back in a little while."

Then he rode his horse to the veterinary station first, then to the tofu shop, and bought the medicine needles and raw soy milk.

After returning, first give the cow an injection, then feed it cooking oil and raw soy milk. The oil and soy milk need to be fed to the cow at intervals.

It took me two hours to get it done.

The two women couldn't help much; they just looked after Rui Rui, giving him things to play with one moment and going out to buy him something to eat the next.

They made the brat so happy that he forgot all about home.

He kept clamoring for his aunt to kiss him and hug him, and his voice filled the whole yard. He was so noisy that Chen Ling kept glaring at him, while he just grinned at Chen Ling without a care in the world.

Nearly an hour later, the two oxen finally recovered from their symptoms and started to eat grass.

I haven't eaten for two days, only drunk water, and I'm starving.

Indeed, as long as they are willing to eat, it proves that their salt poisoning symptoms are almost gone.

After this incident, Chen Ling's reputation as a veterinarian became even more renowned in the county.

Although there aren't many obvious benefits, with this reputation, his cats, dogs, and livestock are raised better than others and sell for more money, and no one will think there's anything wrong with that.

They'll just take it as his skill.

……

"Huh? My godfather and godmother are going to stay here? What are they thinking?"

"Well, they said they wanted to live a secluded life in the countryside and wanted to stay in the mountains, so we didn't let them go. In the afternoon, they went with our village secretary to choose a place."

After treating the ox, it was just time for the elementary school to let out.

Chen Ling took her son to the school gate to wait for the little girl to get out of school.

After Qin Qiumei and her husband finished tidying up the house, they came over to keep the father and son company. When they heard Chen Ling mention Zhao Dahai's family, they said they would go and visit them in the next couple of days.

"Oh, right, I forgot to ask you, I heard there was some trouble in your village, and quite a few people were arrested?"

"Yeah, it's still those cunning guys causing trouble in the mountains... No wonder, things have been so chaotic in the mountains lately, and they don't want Uncle Zhao and the others to build houses there."

Chen Ling briefly recounted what had happened in the village, eliciting gasps of surprise from the two women, who were astonished that such a dangerous incident had occurred in their village.

Qin Qiumei's feelings were complicated: "So this is what happened. They even used explosives. No wonder Chunyuan was arrested and Dongmei didn't ask me to find someone to plead for her."

Before I knew it, a number of parents picking up their children from school and street vendors had gathered around me, and I was listening intently.

Every now and then, they would also exclaim in surprise.

Chen Ling then realized that someone was listening. He looked around and his face immediately turned red. He thought to himself: Oh no, I was careless. This matter has been leaked out of my mouth.

I never thought I'd be such a gossip.

(End of this chapter)