Hilltop Farm Short Story

Hilltop Farm sat over looking Sugar Creek that sparkled in the sun as it wound its way through a verdant valley and on to the Susquehanna River. Ben had grown up on that farm situated atop 120 acres and worked the small dairy every day with his father before he died when Ben was only 23. His mom had died years before and being the only son he had inherited the house, barn, a few outbuildings and the mixed acres of pastures and woods. He lived alone on the farm since his older sister had already left home and was married to Warren, a farmer across the valley. She was 7 years older than Ben and they had a son Kasey making him an uncle. Ben had not only inherited the farm however, he was shocked by the debt he inherited from his Dad also. He …show more content…
Ben had named her Beauty because she was a perfect example of what a Holstein should look like with black and white patterns on her body, straight back bone and an ample udder. She had been restless all day so Ben put her in a clean stall by herself and was keeping an eye on her. They could even see the calf was being active by the bumps that would push out her sides once and awhile. Beauty would lie down and then get back up, move someplace else and do the same thing all over again, she just couldn’t seem to get …show more content…
Seven of the next calves born that spring all had the same problem. They couldn’t drink without foamy milk coming out of their nostrils and choking them. They got pneumonia and despite everything Doc Morris did to save them they died. The vet came right away when the second one got into trouble with rattling in its lungs and told Ben they could take it over to the Veternary College to see if they could save it, but it would probably cost him $5,000 or more for them to feed and monitor it and give it meds and then there was no guarantee it would live. That was way over what Ben felt he could manage for one calf so they waited and watched the second one but it died too. Only one heifer in that whole bunch of calves that were due survived. Doc Morris did a necropsy on 2 of them and told Ben that physically the calves were perfect and should have survived. Ben was devastated. This had never happened before and he couldn’t understand what could possibly be wrong. Those cows had dropped good healthy calves that lived before. Some had grown, been bred and he was milking them now. Why did almost this whole group of calves die the same