Post by Lannie on Sept 8, 2008 12:43:50 GMT -5
I had such a great morning, I have to share. ;D
I put Bandit in her outside pen last night, and she will stay there for the duration. I had been feeding her in there, and every once in a while I'd feed her in her stanchion in the barn, so she'd be used to that, but this morning I was thinking I really need to be able to LEAD her into the barn, rather than just tempting her with the food dish, because once she has her baby, she might not WANT to follow her food dish. Maybe. So our neighbor (my adopted sister who lives on the back of our property and hardly ever leaves her house) has decided to help me.
For the past several days, she's been getting up early and coming out with me to help with chores. Basically, I just wanted her to be there in the mornings in case I do something stupid and get hurt while trying to milk - that way, she could go get Rich up and have him drive me to the emergency room, you know? LOL! But this at least gives her something to do and makes her feel useful (she has a terrible self-esteem problem) and she seems to be enjoying helping out.
OK, so this morning, we went out to the barn, fed the horses, then I got some hay and put it in the stanchion feeder and set Bandit's pellet dish in on top of the hay. I opened up the stanchion so she could walk right in, and we went to get her from her pen. I got the halter on her then clipped the lead rope on and tugged. Nothing. But my "genius" idea was to have Julia (the sister-neighbor) rattle the pellet can and go in front, while I led Bandit. And it worked like a charm! I told her to start walking and rattling, and she did, then Bandit's ears perked up and off we went. She walked totally nicely right beside me all the way through the pen, out the gate, around the chicken run and into the barn. Julia dumped the pellets in her dish in the stanchion feeder box thing, and Bandit put herself in the stanchion. Well MOST of herself was in there, I still had to push her butt to get her back feet on the plywood floor. Then I put the bar across to keep her in and let her eat.
What's amazing about this is that this morning was only the 2nd time she'd seen Julia up close. Yesterday, she wouldn't let Julia anywhere near her, but today she let her pet her AND she ate some hay out of her hand. Of course, Julia fell completely in love (how can you not?). She said, "OMG, I never knew cows were like this! She's so SWEET!" Yeah, I know, it was a new thing for me to learn, too.
While Julia was petting her and talking to her, I sat down on my milking chair next to Bandit and massaged her udder for a while. It's getting really hard! And big! I'm sure not as big as some, but for my limited experience (i.e. NO experience), it feels huge! LOL! Anyway, I was so blissfully happy that she led so well, and didn't freak out about Julia being there, and that Julia was so entranced that maybe (just maybe) she'll keep coming out to help me, at least for a while.
When Bandit was almost done with her hay, I pulled her back and told her "Backup!" and she backed out of the stanchion, then I was going to have Julia carry the empty can in front of us so I could get her back to her pen, but I didn't need to. She walked with me with NO PROBLEM! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Such a polite little lady she was this morning. She balked a bit at going back into the pen (she misses her cow friends on the other side of the property fence), but I pulled and she finally gave, and I led her back into the pen, at which point I gave her another couple flakes of last years' ditch hay. She thought she was in heaven, getting a second breakfast! LOL! She's out there chewing her cud in the shade now.
I'm so excited, because I can see now that this is going to work! Provided I can figure out how to get the milk out of those teats, but that's another whole story! LOL!
~Lannie
I put Bandit in her outside pen last night, and she will stay there for the duration. I had been feeding her in there, and every once in a while I'd feed her in her stanchion in the barn, so she'd be used to that, but this morning I was thinking I really need to be able to LEAD her into the barn, rather than just tempting her with the food dish, because once she has her baby, she might not WANT to follow her food dish. Maybe. So our neighbor (my adopted sister who lives on the back of our property and hardly ever leaves her house) has decided to help me.
For the past several days, she's been getting up early and coming out with me to help with chores. Basically, I just wanted her to be there in the mornings in case I do something stupid and get hurt while trying to milk - that way, she could go get Rich up and have him drive me to the emergency room, you know? LOL! But this at least gives her something to do and makes her feel useful (she has a terrible self-esteem problem) and she seems to be enjoying helping out.
OK, so this morning, we went out to the barn, fed the horses, then I got some hay and put it in the stanchion feeder and set Bandit's pellet dish in on top of the hay. I opened up the stanchion so she could walk right in, and we went to get her from her pen. I got the halter on her then clipped the lead rope on and tugged. Nothing. But my "genius" idea was to have Julia (the sister-neighbor) rattle the pellet can and go in front, while I led Bandit. And it worked like a charm! I told her to start walking and rattling, and she did, then Bandit's ears perked up and off we went. She walked totally nicely right beside me all the way through the pen, out the gate, around the chicken run and into the barn. Julia dumped the pellets in her dish in the stanchion feeder box thing, and Bandit put herself in the stanchion. Well MOST of herself was in there, I still had to push her butt to get her back feet on the plywood floor. Then I put the bar across to keep her in and let her eat.
What's amazing about this is that this morning was only the 2nd time she'd seen Julia up close. Yesterday, she wouldn't let Julia anywhere near her, but today she let her pet her AND she ate some hay out of her hand. Of course, Julia fell completely in love (how can you not?). She said, "OMG, I never knew cows were like this! She's so SWEET!" Yeah, I know, it was a new thing for me to learn, too.
While Julia was petting her and talking to her, I sat down on my milking chair next to Bandit and massaged her udder for a while. It's getting really hard! And big! I'm sure not as big as some, but for my limited experience (i.e. NO experience), it feels huge! LOL! Anyway, I was so blissfully happy that she led so well, and didn't freak out about Julia being there, and that Julia was so entranced that maybe (just maybe) she'll keep coming out to help me, at least for a while.
When Bandit was almost done with her hay, I pulled her back and told her "Backup!" and she backed out of the stanchion, then I was going to have Julia carry the empty can in front of us so I could get her back to her pen, but I didn't need to. She walked with me with NO PROBLEM! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Such a polite little lady she was this morning. She balked a bit at going back into the pen (she misses her cow friends on the other side of the property fence), but I pulled and she finally gave, and I led her back into the pen, at which point I gave her another couple flakes of last years' ditch hay. She thought she was in heaven, getting a second breakfast! LOL! She's out there chewing her cud in the shade now.
I'm so excited, because I can see now that this is going to work! Provided I can figure out how to get the milk out of those teats, but that's another whole story! LOL!
~Lannie