Post by Tamara on Feb 9, 2016 6:04:12 GMT -5
A handsome dexter bull has come to visit Tallulah His name is Silky Oak. He'll be here until Saturday.
Actually I have to laugh every time I look at him, I find him utterly ugly! Those pink bulging eyes are awful, but Tallulah hooked up with a dexter bull that looked just like him last time so I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
If everything goes to plan I should expect a duplicate of her first calf by the end of the year. He is showing a lot of interest in her but so far she's only responded with 'GTFO', although I did see her try to mount him a couple of times today. I expect her to be in heat tomorrow.
Milking this morning was... interesting. A bit of a rodeo for sure, although it turned out okay. I am keeping the lovebirds in a small pen, about 1/2 - 1 acre in size. It directly adjoins another similar sized paddock which is where I milk. Since he's only here for such a short time, I didn't want them gallivanting off into the big paddock. The routine is they get access to both pens during the day, and get locked into the first small one at night. The plan was to just open the gate and call Tallulah through to be milked while the bull waited on the other side. The owner insisted that he's never gone over/through a fence, and that a bit of feed would be fine to distract him.
Well, he got pretty upset as I took Tallulah away so he just hopped right over the fence. Thankfully I have another small corral around the stanchion, but he was a pain in the butt and kept sticking his head through the bars. She held up a bit, I don't know whether that was because she's coming into season or because he was annoying her.
So I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to milk tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get her into the stanchion. I keep a good distance between me and the bull... he's quiet and halter trained but I still don't trust him ;P The photos just look close because I have a zoom lens.
Anyway, fingers crossed she takes, and hopefully he doesn't cause too much havoc while he's here!
Actually I have to laugh every time I look at him, I find him utterly ugly! Those pink bulging eyes are awful, but Tallulah hooked up with a dexter bull that looked just like him last time so I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
If everything goes to plan I should expect a duplicate of her first calf by the end of the year. He is showing a lot of interest in her but so far she's only responded with 'GTFO', although I did see her try to mount him a couple of times today. I expect her to be in heat tomorrow.
Milking this morning was... interesting. A bit of a rodeo for sure, although it turned out okay. I am keeping the lovebirds in a small pen, about 1/2 - 1 acre in size. It directly adjoins another similar sized paddock which is where I milk. Since he's only here for such a short time, I didn't want them gallivanting off into the big paddock. The routine is they get access to both pens during the day, and get locked into the first small one at night. The plan was to just open the gate and call Tallulah through to be milked while the bull waited on the other side. The owner insisted that he's never gone over/through a fence, and that a bit of feed would be fine to distract him.
Well, he got pretty upset as I took Tallulah away so he just hopped right over the fence. Thankfully I have another small corral around the stanchion, but he was a pain in the butt and kept sticking his head through the bars. She held up a bit, I don't know whether that was because she's coming into season or because he was annoying her.
So I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to milk tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get her into the stanchion. I keep a good distance between me and the bull... he's quiet and halter trained but I still don't trust him ;P The photos just look close because I have a zoom lens.
Anyway, fingers crossed she takes, and hopefully he doesn't cause too much havoc while he's here!