I typed all this out and then lost it :( So Try try again.
This week was a week full of bovine and bovine mishaps..... Starting Monday morning and ending Friday! And we still have a trip to the vet to make tomorrow morning for some preg checks, vaccinations, and lutalizing (that's giving dope to some young heifers to make sure if they are bred the flush the baby, these particular heifers are too young and small to be bred)
These two girls started my Monday off with a ton of work! They were on the wrong side of the fence with a big black neighbor bull. What in the world are you heifers thinking! They are way too young and small to be bred but they are old enough to be cycling.... So, after finding them on the wrong side of the fence Mr. H and I decided to do some bovine shuffling. . . .
I went to the other lease to check everyone there and noticed that Cosmo the First has grown a TON this spring! He's pushing 4 years old and is massive!
He's almost as big as my car! (PS Notice my pretty little chauffeur)
So, after checking everyone I went home to get things ready for the bovine shuffle. Hooking the trailer up to the pickup is always easier when someone is helping guide you but I'm getting pretty good at doing it by myself.....
Just a little brute force and uglieness and I got it right where it needed to be!
Awww, Pistol Annie. She thinks anytime a door opens to a vehicle she needs to get in and go. It doesn't matter if it's a door to one of our vehicles or someone else's. She likes to go!
Here they are on the right side of the fence! A feed bucket does wonders! Now that they are where they're suppose to be I took off walking towards the pens, got all the bovine in that pasture to follow me and got them pinned up so we could move them. 7 total, 5 heifers and 2 steers.... The 5 heifers get the long trip to the house, the 2 steers got dumped in the pasture with our older cows, their calves, and Cosmo the First.
Now, I had to move all the bovine that was at the house to the north lease.... That's why I was hooking up the trailer. I got them pinned up and got the trailer backed to the chute and tried running them in the trailer, except they didn't want to go. :( We do not have the best set up at home for loading. So after a bit I decided to leave that job for Mr. H when he got home. I went a head and went out to the home place lease and got everyone situated there and pulled into the north lease to wait on Mr. H. It was a beautiful spring day and my view was amazing! I'm pretty sure the Lord made this view just for me to enjoy after a trying day! Thanks Lord!
Here he is with a load of heifers, a cow, a calf, and Cosmo the Second.
Let us out of here! We want solid ground!!!!!
A lot happened between the pic of unloading cows and the pic above..... But it included a bit of raised voices, bovine beatings, and frustration. We got the heifers loaded in the front of the trailer with no trouble, then the steers loaded in the back half, easy peasy. Got to the other lease about 5ish miles away and unloaded the steers, got all 25 head of bovine at that place in the lots and separated out the 5 we needed to take home and finally after much stress got them loaded. Jerseys are stubborn! Once we got 2 of the cows loaded one of the older Jerseys decided she didn't want anyone else in the trailer so she stood at the door head butting the others that needed loaded. BAH! Finally got it done and got them home and unloaded in the pasture at the house. The pic above is my old Jersey with her heifer who is a jersey/angus cross and her adopted jersey bull calf..... They need weened and momma needs preg checked. I can't believe it's already been 6 months since she calved, time flies!
Little cow poo never hurt anyone. Made them stink a little but cow poo is the smell of money, right?
The only casualty for the day. :( My work jeans. I'm running out of work jeans. I'm going to have to buy new good jeans so I can make some of my good jeans into work jeans..... Farming is tough on a wardrobe!
While we were loading cows at the other lease the guy who owns it was cleaning crappie! He tossed me a bag when we were leaving. I'm grateful because I had nothing thawed for supper! It's pretty awesome when you can cook a meal that is all home grown or harvested. The only thing that was "bought" was the corn meal on the fish, the seasoning, and the oil to cook it in. :D that makes me happy!
While dining on fish the lease guy called and asked if we made it home okay, he found a chunk of trailer floor in his driveway. Sure enough a piece had rotted out and left a couple holes. Thankfully I'm married to a handy man who got it fixed up so we can use it tomorrow for the trip to the vet...... And so ended Monday......
Yep, that's an open gate that goes into a hay field with no fences that is right next to where my cows were pastured.....Wednesday 9ish am..... The lease guy calls, your cows are out at the north lease. UGH! So, I put my shoes on, gather fence fixing material in case I need it, a bucket of feed, and head that way. Yep, those are my cows, and they are 3/4 of a mile from where they were suppose to be. Thanks to Pumper Joe for making the call and waiting with them so they didn't run off any further. They were on a fairly busy paved road so it could have been bad.....
Pumper Joe asked how I was going to get them back in..... A feed bucket of course. I jumped in the car, the bovine were gathered around me because I have them spoiled, I hung my hand out the window with the feed bucket it in and shook it a bit to get their attention and then started driving. They followed just like I hoped!
I got them in the pasture at the home place lease because it was closer than the north lease, and I didn't know what kind of fence work I was going to have to do..... They finished the bucket of cubes and started on the yummy green grass... I checked them yesterday and they were still where they were suppose to be, Praise the Lord!
This is the closed and wired shut gate. Cows are on a different lease but if I put anything else here they won't be able to get through that gate again unless they grow opposable thumbs.
Fast forward to Friday at home.... Got out of bed, got dressed, walked outside before my cup of coffee was ready, and had 2 calves out. #67 and #70. The gate looked like it was opened a little bit so I assumed they got out there. Got them ran back in and shut the gate, went in got my coffee and a bowl of cereal and sat on the front porch and had breakfast. I was finishing up my coffee and noticed that #66 was out of the pasture and after walking towards her saw #67 out again. :( What in the world? Well, I found a fence wire that was broke, that is probably how they got out the first time but I just didn't notice it, remember I hadn't had coffee at that time, I was a little more alert the 2nd time I had to run calves back in the pasture.....
So, I got the fence fixing stuff and used my newly acquired fence fixing skill. It's not pretty but it's back together and I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it done!
And thus ends the week of working with cows. Tomorrows trip to the vet should be a breeze, at least I'm praying it is. I always enjoy getting to visit with Mr. and Mrs. Doc, there's a lot I can learn from just a short visit with them. Doc has been doing this longer than I have been alive and it's always a learning experience for me! We are really blessed to have a good vet!
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