Post by Selden on Jun 23, 2006 5:05:54 GMT -5
Talking about learning from bum experience.... Well, I never halter-trained Spanky and he's paying for it now.
Somehow I managed to overlook the reality that I've repeated over and over, which is that given my set-up (small barn, small turn-out, pasture within walking distance) I have to be able to handle and lead my animals. Spanky has always been shy but it hasn't mattered over the long winter because just by opening and closing doors and gates he always has gone wherever I've wanted. In fact I was congratulating myself because he WASN'T so comfortable with me. (Remember Ferdinand was so comfortable he became a problem teenager as a yearling and thought he might want to grind me into the wall to teach me my new place.)
But I spent an hour the other day trying to get a halter on Spanky (over the rail of his small stall, which he barely fits in anymore, but went into obediently). No way I could do that. He is about 700 lbs and much stronger than I am. He decided to put his head down by the floor and there was no way I could lift it. I'd had a vague idea of tying him to the bumper of my truck and leading him to summer pasture that way.
Then I realized none of it would work. Spanky is also a fence tester. I have been given free use of 15 acres of fairly good pasture but the fences are not in great shape and there is no one living there. He could force his way out if he chose and I wouldn't know. I am so close to a highway that if anything happened and he got out in the road, he could easily cause the death of several drivers (I am on an almost blind corner) who wouldn't see him until they were on top of him.
So the butcher is coming on Monday morning. It was a hard decision to make. He's only 11 months. I had wanted him to have a summer of grazing and growing. But I realized this past week that I can't take the risk.
I am picking up a week-old Jersey bull calf on Sunday after church. After the butcher comes and goes the next day -- which will be problematic enough because Spanky is not as tame as Ferdinand and won't necessarily come to the fence -- I will take Katika and Ferdinand II (my family votes we call all Jersey bull calves Ferdinand) down to the summer pasture. I am hoping the vast expanse of new grass and the calf will distract her from missing Spanky too much.
So many things to think about and remember with animals! And I still have to figure out a way to get Katika bred! But I feel bad that during the long, long winter I didn't recall my own dictum of leading. Mistakes are so easy to make.
Somehow I managed to overlook the reality that I've repeated over and over, which is that given my set-up (small barn, small turn-out, pasture within walking distance) I have to be able to handle and lead my animals. Spanky has always been shy but it hasn't mattered over the long winter because just by opening and closing doors and gates he always has gone wherever I've wanted. In fact I was congratulating myself because he WASN'T so comfortable with me. (Remember Ferdinand was so comfortable he became a problem teenager as a yearling and thought he might want to grind me into the wall to teach me my new place.)
But I spent an hour the other day trying to get a halter on Spanky (over the rail of his small stall, which he barely fits in anymore, but went into obediently). No way I could do that. He is about 700 lbs and much stronger than I am. He decided to put his head down by the floor and there was no way I could lift it. I'd had a vague idea of tying him to the bumper of my truck and leading him to summer pasture that way.
Then I realized none of it would work. Spanky is also a fence tester. I have been given free use of 15 acres of fairly good pasture but the fences are not in great shape and there is no one living there. He could force his way out if he chose and I wouldn't know. I am so close to a highway that if anything happened and he got out in the road, he could easily cause the death of several drivers (I am on an almost blind corner) who wouldn't see him until they were on top of him.
So the butcher is coming on Monday morning. It was a hard decision to make. He's only 11 months. I had wanted him to have a summer of grazing and growing. But I realized this past week that I can't take the risk.
I am picking up a week-old Jersey bull calf on Sunday after church. After the butcher comes and goes the next day -- which will be problematic enough because Spanky is not as tame as Ferdinand and won't necessarily come to the fence -- I will take Katika and Ferdinand II (my family votes we call all Jersey bull calves Ferdinand) down to the summer pasture. I am hoping the vast expanse of new grass and the calf will distract her from missing Spanky too much.
So many things to think about and remember with animals! And I still have to figure out a way to get Katika bred! But I feel bad that during the long, long winter I didn't recall my own dictum of leading. Mistakes are so easy to make.