Chapter 21 (continued)

"Thanks for all your help today." Shi Wen led Sikewell toward the livestock shed. "If you hadn't come, I'd have been in a real mess."

Sikewell smiled. "I think you'll need to put a roof over your pond."

"I was thinking the same thing," Shi Wen said. "With a roof, at least they won't be able to jump out anymore."

After a little more conversation, Sikewell quickly asked about the cows. "How have your cows been lately? Anything unusual?"

"Nothing I've noticed so far. They've been eating and sleeping well. I don't know if it's my imagination, but I feel like the two pregnant cows' bellies have gotten a little bigger."

"Some cows do start showing early in pregnancy. We'll know once I take a look."

The two walked into the cowshed.

All four of Shi Wen's cows were in the shed; he hadn't driven them out.

Sikewell checked Good Temper and Big One first, then focused on the two pregnant cows.

He listened to them with a stethoscope for quite a while, then gave them a physical examination. "No problems. The pregnancies are stable. You've raised your cattle and sheep well. They're plump and strong, and they look exceptional."

As he spoke, Sikewell casually patted a cow on the back.

He had visited so many herders, but very few of them had raised their cattle and sheep better than Shi Wen.

Thinking of that, Sikewell said, "Didn't you ask me to keep an ear out for sick cattle? I know three households looking to sell five cows altogether. They all have mucosal disease and are in the middle stage, but they're in better shape than the three you bought before. Want to take a look?"

Shi Wen was untying the halter of a cow that had just been examined. He gestured for Sikewell to continue. "Where are the households?"

"One is in our town, and two are in the next town over," Sikewell said. "If you're interested, I can take you to see them. You'll have to judge their condition for yourself. I'm just putting you in touch; you'll have to discuss the details yourselves."

Shi Wen promptly nodded to show he understood. "Thanks for the trouble."

There was no time like the present. Shi Wen let the four penned cows out and went with Sikewell to see the sick cattle.

They went first to the household with two sick cows.

It was a large operation, with over a hundred head of cattle.

The family had noticed as soon as the cattle showed signs of trouble. They had promptly isolated them and asked Sikewell to treat them.

In the end, only two had become seriously ill.

Now that the family had realized they might not be able to save the two cows, they wanted to sell them to Shi Wen and recover some of their losses.

When Shi Wen and Sikewell arrived, the man of the house came out to meet them, his face full of worry.

The man didn't speak Mandarin very well, so they relied mainly on Sikewell to interpret.

Sikewell gave Shi Wen a rough translation of the situation, and the man led them straight to the cowshed to see the sick cattle.

The sick cows were isolated in an insulated shed used in winter.

The shed's windows were only open a crack, and it was rather dim inside.

As soon as Shi Wen entered, he smelled the stench distinctive to mucosal disease, mixed with the odors of fodder and manure and urine.

He rubbed his nose and soon picked up another subtle smell among them, something like the sour smell of milk.

For a moment, he couldn't remember exactly what it was.

Turning a corner, Shi Wen saw a small light bulb hanging from an electric wire above the cattle pen.

The light was switched on, illuminating the small pen below.

A middle-aged or elderly woman wearing a headscarf was placing a large iron bucket beneath a cow's belly and squeezing its swollen udder. Thin streams of milk shot into the bucket.

It suddenly dawned on Shi Wen that the sour smell was the smell of milk.

Shi Wen was surprised. "The sick ones are dairy cows?"

Before the man could answer, Sikewell explained, "Yes. Dairy cows are the most commonly raised cattle around here, and these are already lactating."

The man said something earnestly to Sikewell in his native language.

Sikewell translated. "He says his cows give excellent milk. It's fragrant and rich, with a hint of sweetness, and tastes better than the milk from most other households."

Shi Wen looked at the woman milking the cow and hesitated. "Are they keeping that milk? Aren't the cows sick?"

Although mucosal disease was not transmissible between animals and humans, it was an acute, fever-causing infectious disease. The milk produced by an infected cow was bound to be contaminated.

According to the books, milk like that certainly couldn't be drunk.

Sikewell explained, "Even if you don't drink it, you still have to milk them. Leaving the milk in the udder can easily cause swelling and inflammation."

Only then did Shi Wen understand. "I see."

Sikewell also translated Shi Wen's words for the man.

The man said a few words to Shi Wen.

Sikewell told Shi Wen, "He says his dairy cows are excellent and only six years old. If you buy them and cure them, they can keep producing milk. And they're already pregnant. After a few more months of care, they'll give birth to calves."

Shi Wen had noticed that the man's cows were pregnant, and that they had likely been pregnant for some time.

But at the moment, pregnancy wasn't necessarily an advantage.

Being pregnant meant they would also be harder to care for.

Shi Wen was quite interested in the cows and stepped forward to examine them carefully.

Both were six-year-old dairy cows in their prime. They had also been artificially inseminated in May and would give birth around February of the following year.

That was assuming the two cows could still be cured of mucosal disease and the calves could be saved without a miscarriage.

With both cows this sick, it was hard to say whether the calves could be saved.

Shi Wen walked around the two cows, checking their builds, teeth, hooves, and frames. He examined everything he could.

Seeing him hesitate for so long, the man grew somewhat anxious. He kept saying his cows were good and that Shi Wen wouldn't lose out by buying them.

In the end, Shi Wen asked Sikewell to translate that he was willing to buy the two cows.

The man's brow relaxed a little, but when he heard that Shi Wen wanted to pay three thousand per cow, he objected.