Post by Lannie on Jun 19, 2010 16:53:57 GMT -5
And not one minute too soon! I'm telling you, I have had more trouble with her last 3 or 4 heats than in all the time I've had her combined. I don't know what's gotten into her, but she's totally a BUTTHEAD when she's going into heat.
I finally decided to just go ahead and quit milking her as of this morning, because I'm getting way less than a gallon a day now on once a day, and I wish I'd thought of it yesterday, so we could have loaded her up and taken her to Lyle's bull then. But noooooo, I had to wait until the last minute (she's due in heat tomorrow), so she was working up a righteous PMS snit today.
I got her in the barn, we got the trailer backed up to the gate, and I brought her out of the barn. OFF she went! It doesn't help that just yesterday Joe moved his cows to the adjoining property, so she has all these buddies over on the other side of the fence. Rich and I chased her twice all the way around the pasture. The first time, she circled around and came back to the barn, and when I tried bringing her out again, she put her head down AGAIN and yanked the lead rope out of my hands. I'm just no match for a 1,400 pound cow. Of course, it was today that I remembered we forgot to put that extra gate in the other corner of the pen right where the trailer is parked.
And we have way too many trees. You can't herd something in trees. They go around the tree and back the way they came, and if you try to head them off, you just end up playing ring around the rosie.
After an hour of trying to keep up with her (in my Muck boots, which are not light), I was exhausted. Rich was barely able to walk by then (God bless him, he was keeping up with us pretty well, considering his condition), so the next time Bandit went back to the barn, I shut her in, went back to the house and called Lyle. I told him that we'd been chasing her around for the last hour, and she would NOT be caught, so I didn't know how long it would be before we got there. I was seriously considering just cutting the fence in the cow pen and shoving her butt straight into the trailer through the hole, then fixing the fence later... Lyle just laughed and said there was no problem, and he'd be over in the few minutes to help. What a guy!
So he showed up about 20 minutes later, we went out to the pen where Bandit was standing chewing her cud, I clipped the lead back onto her halter, and LYLE took her out of the pen. She was a little wary of him at first, but once we got out in the open, she took off AGAIN! I could NOT believe it! Between me and Lyle, we managed to catch her up again before she got too far, and actually she helped us out by catching the trailing rope between the toes of one back foot, and the knot in the end of the rope held it there, so she couldn't actually RUN. LOL! We got the knot out from between her toes, and he took the end of the lead, and I got in the middle, closer to Bandit, and then she followed us. Lyle's not a real big guy, but he sure is strong. The extra leverage really helped. She threw a hissy fit halfway to the trailer and went down on both knees. She SAID she tripped, but I didn't believe that for a second, because then she wouldn't get up. By then Rich had caught up, so he whacked her smartly on the behind with the riding crop and she got up quick enough.
She stalled again getting into the trailer, but Rich gave her another whack and she stepped in. WHEW! She wallpapered the inside of the trailer, though. So typical of her.
Now she's safely ensconced in one of Lyle's corrals with a big tractor tire full of hay and a full water trough, and when we left, Lyle went to bring the bull over. He's going to use the same bull he used on Cricket, which is nice, because he throws lower birthweight calves. Seven was a little large. The confusing part is now when Bandit calves, will the calf be a half brother or sister to Samantha? Or an aunt or uncle? OH, THE CONFUSION! But I don't think they'll care, one way or another.
I'm almost relieved Bandit's gone for a few days. I really didn't want to put up with another one of those psycho-heats of hers. She'd BETTER breed tomorrow!
Now I'd like to go take a nap. I feel like I've been drug through a knothole backwards! LOL! Just another day here at Love Acres.
~Lannie
I finally decided to just go ahead and quit milking her as of this morning, because I'm getting way less than a gallon a day now on once a day, and I wish I'd thought of it yesterday, so we could have loaded her up and taken her to Lyle's bull then. But noooooo, I had to wait until the last minute (she's due in heat tomorrow), so she was working up a righteous PMS snit today.
I got her in the barn, we got the trailer backed up to the gate, and I brought her out of the barn. OFF she went! It doesn't help that just yesterday Joe moved his cows to the adjoining property, so she has all these buddies over on the other side of the fence. Rich and I chased her twice all the way around the pasture. The first time, she circled around and came back to the barn, and when I tried bringing her out again, she put her head down AGAIN and yanked the lead rope out of my hands. I'm just no match for a 1,400 pound cow. Of course, it was today that I remembered we forgot to put that extra gate in the other corner of the pen right where the trailer is parked.
And we have way too many trees. You can't herd something in trees. They go around the tree and back the way they came, and if you try to head them off, you just end up playing ring around the rosie.
After an hour of trying to keep up with her (in my Muck boots, which are not light), I was exhausted. Rich was barely able to walk by then (God bless him, he was keeping up with us pretty well, considering his condition), so the next time Bandit went back to the barn, I shut her in, went back to the house and called Lyle. I told him that we'd been chasing her around for the last hour, and she would NOT be caught, so I didn't know how long it would be before we got there. I was seriously considering just cutting the fence in the cow pen and shoving her butt straight into the trailer through the hole, then fixing the fence later... Lyle just laughed and said there was no problem, and he'd be over in the few minutes to help. What a guy!
So he showed up about 20 minutes later, we went out to the pen where Bandit was standing chewing her cud, I clipped the lead back onto her halter, and LYLE took her out of the pen. She was a little wary of him at first, but once we got out in the open, she took off AGAIN! I could NOT believe it! Between me and Lyle, we managed to catch her up again before she got too far, and actually she helped us out by catching the trailing rope between the toes of one back foot, and the knot in the end of the rope held it there, so she couldn't actually RUN. LOL! We got the knot out from between her toes, and he took the end of the lead, and I got in the middle, closer to Bandit, and then she followed us. Lyle's not a real big guy, but he sure is strong. The extra leverage really helped. She threw a hissy fit halfway to the trailer and went down on both knees. She SAID she tripped, but I didn't believe that for a second, because then she wouldn't get up. By then Rich had caught up, so he whacked her smartly on the behind with the riding crop and she got up quick enough.
She stalled again getting into the trailer, but Rich gave her another whack and she stepped in. WHEW! She wallpapered the inside of the trailer, though. So typical of her.
Now she's safely ensconced in one of Lyle's corrals with a big tractor tire full of hay and a full water trough, and when we left, Lyle went to bring the bull over. He's going to use the same bull he used on Cricket, which is nice, because he throws lower birthweight calves. Seven was a little large. The confusing part is now when Bandit calves, will the calf be a half brother or sister to Samantha? Or an aunt or uncle? OH, THE CONFUSION! But I don't think they'll care, one way or another.
I'm almost relieved Bandit's gone for a few days. I really didn't want to put up with another one of those psycho-heats of hers. She'd BETTER breed tomorrow!
Now I'd like to go take a nap. I feel like I've been drug through a knothole backwards! LOL! Just another day here at Love Acres.
~Lannie