Unforeseen predator on the farm takes out my cow....lesson learned!!

today's video is about the reality of farming it's about life and it's about death make no mistake that life and death happens every day whether you see it or not on a farm that's the reality today's video is a little bit shocking it's not nasty it's a lesson learned and I hope you guys can take home a message please don't point fingers and play the blame game here there was absolutely nothing that we could have found seen or done to keep this from happening here on the farm hey there folks this is Josh Stony Ridge farmer welcome back to another gloomy day it's a sad day here on the Stoney Ridge Farm we have a unique Predator problem that I've never heard of and I'm going to share this with you guys we lost a calf it's pretty much a total bummer and there are two things that could have caused this I'm going to show you guys what happened so maybe it won't happen on your farm or maybe you'll learn from this and not release balloons balloons believe it or not I ain't afraid of word I ain't afraid of flee I ain't afraid to get the job done to do with my own damn ways afraid of lie times like this if you've messed up my freedom my 10 is what you can kiss all right folks welcome back to the Stoney Ridge Farm is this your first time or your 50 millionth time here please hit that like button consider subscribing to the channel we do everything Farm related rural lifestyle and a little bit more here on the Stoney Ridge so we're on 150 acre first generation cattle farm right now we're going to be getting chickens and pigs and all kinds of fun stuff pretty soon but I had something pretty horrible happen and I wanted to talk to you guys about it so hopefully this doesn't happen to you if you're considering owning cattle okay there's a lesson to be learned here there is a predator on the farm that is different than any predator you've ever seen and that Predator is in my pocket right here I lost a calf it was a calf it was about I'm going to say five months old something like that and I lost them to these these are just run-of-the-mill acorns there was a calf up by the oak tree that's directly behind the camera here that was grazing on acorns all the cows were grazing on acorns but this calf seemed to really have an affinity for acorns and that's one Little Acorn right there they were small acorns just like this from a white oak a handful of acorns like this is not gonna harm the cows a five gallon bucket full of acorns is gonna harm the cows and this year it's been a bumper crop of acorns we have two things that could have taken this cow out it seemed to be I don't know how to say it it just seemed a little bit lethargic it seemed to be a little bit bloated but it was eating it was doing just fine and all of a sudden this calf just laid down and passed away it just laid down and that was it it looked like it was basking in the sun and it showed really hardly any sign of distress other than it being just a little bit slower than the rest of the cows the second thing that could have caused the death of this cow is in my back pocket it's right here this is what I find on my farm probably 15 times a year this is a balloon and that is where a cow has chewed on a balloon right there I'm just chewing on it right there that's what that is this is one of those balloons that you release at a party or you release at a wedding or you release at a Quinceanera this can cause a cow to die and there's a take-home message right now for every one of you guys if you're at a party if you're at a celebration birthday party I don't care what it is don't let people release balloons show them this video this will kill an animal it will kill livestock and you don't want that on here conscious so guys what I've learned by studying this is that the oak tree passes on a poison to the cow it doesn't necessarily harm a cow if it only eats a little bit of acorns it will harm a cow or a young calf or an older cow will be more susceptible to being harmed by Acorn it's Acorn poisoning is what it is it can cause kidney problems it can cause liver problems it can cause stomach problems and it can cause bloat in a cow had I caught this early enough which there were really no signs the cow was out here grazing doing just fine had I caught this earlier I would have been able to stop it I want you guys to know the lesson learned here in case you're deciding to raise animals and start a farm yourself acorns will kill cows acorns will kill cows and if you release another balloon I'm going to let it be on your conscious past this video on to those that you know that release balloons frequently this is the wrong thing to do guys you let your kid let go of a balloon oh watch it go away and then it kills an innocent animal that is the wrong thing to do like I said I find these in the woods all over my farm in the pastures all over my farm and this was literally 20 feet away from where the cow passed away and the cow was right here what happens when a calf passes away all the cows these are creatures they're herd animals they're creatures that that rely on each other so each cow came up and touched its nose to the dead calf each cow came through we have 33 cows here each one came up touched its nose to the dead calf and they had basically a funeral for this calf it was pretty sad it was a lesson learned here on the Stoney Ridge Farm and I'd normally come to you with a happy and upbeat video but there's something that we all need to learn here we all need to learn that cattle and livestock can be poisoned by eating too many acorns and we need to learn that letting balloons go like this is a bad thing to do and it can cause death it's not cool not at all guys that's it for today I just wanted to share this with you this little story it's pretty sad it's not a predator like you think it's not a coyote it's not a wolf it's not a fox it's not a bobcat it's a balloon and it's acorns it's a sad day here on the Stoney Ridge Farm I hate that I lost an animal but hopefully you guys can take this lesson with you and you'll learn from it just like I did thank you so much for joining me here on the Stony Ridge Farm guys I appreciate you coming to see me I've got a little bit more work to do with the cows gotta roll out a hay bale to them we'll see you on the next video be sure you hit that like button subscribe the channel I'd love to have you back here on the farm with me it's a beautiful place take care interview [Music] s