Post by Lannie on Nov 18, 2009 11:09:37 GMT -5
To the pasture! Boy, did he have a BLAST!
Rich has been having more than the usual pain in his back lately (been overdoing it a bit...) so I've been trying to pick up all the poop in the cow barn (normally Rich does that for me). It is considerable. The way we've been handling things is to put Seven in the pen during the day, then bring him in at milking time in the afternoon to help with letdown, then leaving all three of them (Bandit, Cricket, and Seven) in the barn/pen at night. But we've been having fabulous Autumn weather lately, and I hate leaving the girls locked up all night without access to the pasture, such as it is. So last night I decided to let them ALL go outside.
Rich said, "But what if Seven doesn't want to come back in in the morning?" And I said, "Oh, that's no problem, he'll follow Bandit, and she'll come in for her breakfast." So I opened the pasture gate.
OUT went Seven! He didn't even hesitate! Kiara was out there, and he wanted to PLAY!!!! He chased her all around for a couple of minutes, until she could work her way back around and escape through the Poochie Portal into the horses' side of the pasture. He stood there for a minute looking sad... like, "Hey, wait a minute, I thought we were going to PLAY!" But Kiara said, "Uh-uh, no way, you're too BIG!" and wouldn't go back in.
So Seven decided to see how fast he could run. And you know what? He's a born and bred RACECOW! Rich and I were standing there watching him race all over the pasture, this way and that, stopping only to headbutt a stump on the way. ROFL! He was having such a great time. I don't think Bandit even noticed he was gone - she had her head buried in a pile of hay.
Then Rich said, "What if he forgets how to get back in here and gets lost?" Nah, the pasture's not that big, and he won't get "lost" when he gets hungry again. Just about then he came tearing back to the barn at full speed. He only slightly missed the gate... Fortunately, he skidded to a stop and just gently bumped the fence, then figured out what he'd done wrong and came bounding into the barn. He ran straight through into one of the stalls, and then stood there, panting, with his little black tongue hanging out about 6 inches! OMG, WHY do I never bring the camera??? After a 30 second rest and a slurp out of the water trough, OFF he went again! I figured he'd be fine, and was obviously too big to fit through the Poochie Portal (that had been one of my worries previously), and it was pretty dark by then, so we went in.
This morning, all three of them were up on the hill grazing. I picked up two (only TWO!!!!) cow-pies, then put hay in the feeder and walked to the door of the barn to see if anyone was coming. They weren't, but Bandit was looking my direction, so I waved my arm at her and went back in to top off the water trough. Before I'd finished, all three of them barged into the barn (they must have run full speed), and I thought, OK, THAT worked! But before I could get out to shut the pasture gate, Seven ran back OUT to the pasture. Apparently he wasn't done running yet. Hmmm.... I went out to try to shoosh him back into the pen, but he wanted to play tag with Gramma. Then I tried some pellets (he steals what Bandit drops when I'm milking her), but he wasn't interested. It was too much fun being OUTSIDE. Fleetingly, I thought this might have been a mistake, but I have enough milk in the fridge to last in case I didn't get to milk tonight, so it wasn't the end of the world.
Finally, I decided to try getting the lead rope on him, so I went back and got that and walked toward him. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, or if he thought maybe he would get to nurse (the leadrope means milk when he's hungry), but he ran straight into the barn, at which point I shut the pasture gate and herded him into the pen. Easy-peasy.
I think I might switch from afternoon to morning milking now, so that the three of them can spend the day out, and he'll only have to be locked up at night. I'll get more milk that way, too, since it's more hours between afternoon chores (and locking him up) and morning milking than it is between morning chores and afternoon milking. So it's a win/win for both me and Seven.
Oh, and I taped him last week when he turned 2 months old, and he was 270 pounds. He's such a chunky fella. And that COAT! OMG, he feels like a sheep! He has the thickest, nicest winter coat on him!
~Lannie
Rich has been having more than the usual pain in his back lately (been overdoing it a bit...) so I've been trying to pick up all the poop in the cow barn (normally Rich does that for me). It is considerable. The way we've been handling things is to put Seven in the pen during the day, then bring him in at milking time in the afternoon to help with letdown, then leaving all three of them (Bandit, Cricket, and Seven) in the barn/pen at night. But we've been having fabulous Autumn weather lately, and I hate leaving the girls locked up all night without access to the pasture, such as it is. So last night I decided to let them ALL go outside.
Rich said, "But what if Seven doesn't want to come back in in the morning?" And I said, "Oh, that's no problem, he'll follow Bandit, and she'll come in for her breakfast." So I opened the pasture gate.
OUT went Seven! He didn't even hesitate! Kiara was out there, and he wanted to PLAY!!!! He chased her all around for a couple of minutes, until she could work her way back around and escape through the Poochie Portal into the horses' side of the pasture. He stood there for a minute looking sad... like, "Hey, wait a minute, I thought we were going to PLAY!" But Kiara said, "Uh-uh, no way, you're too BIG!" and wouldn't go back in.
So Seven decided to see how fast he could run. And you know what? He's a born and bred RACECOW! Rich and I were standing there watching him race all over the pasture, this way and that, stopping only to headbutt a stump on the way. ROFL! He was having such a great time. I don't think Bandit even noticed he was gone - she had her head buried in a pile of hay.
Then Rich said, "What if he forgets how to get back in here and gets lost?" Nah, the pasture's not that big, and he won't get "lost" when he gets hungry again. Just about then he came tearing back to the barn at full speed. He only slightly missed the gate... Fortunately, he skidded to a stop and just gently bumped the fence, then figured out what he'd done wrong and came bounding into the barn. He ran straight through into one of the stalls, and then stood there, panting, with his little black tongue hanging out about 6 inches! OMG, WHY do I never bring the camera??? After a 30 second rest and a slurp out of the water trough, OFF he went again! I figured he'd be fine, and was obviously too big to fit through the Poochie Portal (that had been one of my worries previously), and it was pretty dark by then, so we went in.
This morning, all three of them were up on the hill grazing. I picked up two (only TWO!!!!) cow-pies, then put hay in the feeder and walked to the door of the barn to see if anyone was coming. They weren't, but Bandit was looking my direction, so I waved my arm at her and went back in to top off the water trough. Before I'd finished, all three of them barged into the barn (they must have run full speed), and I thought, OK, THAT worked! But before I could get out to shut the pasture gate, Seven ran back OUT to the pasture. Apparently he wasn't done running yet. Hmmm.... I went out to try to shoosh him back into the pen, but he wanted to play tag with Gramma. Then I tried some pellets (he steals what Bandit drops when I'm milking her), but he wasn't interested. It was too much fun being OUTSIDE. Fleetingly, I thought this might have been a mistake, but I have enough milk in the fridge to last in case I didn't get to milk tonight, so it wasn't the end of the world.
Finally, I decided to try getting the lead rope on him, so I went back and got that and walked toward him. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, or if he thought maybe he would get to nurse (the leadrope means milk when he's hungry), but he ran straight into the barn, at which point I shut the pasture gate and herded him into the pen. Easy-peasy.
I think I might switch from afternoon to morning milking now, so that the three of them can spend the day out, and he'll only have to be locked up at night. I'll get more milk that way, too, since it's more hours between afternoon chores (and locking him up) and morning milking than it is between morning chores and afternoon milking. So it's a win/win for both me and Seven.
Oh, and I taped him last week when he turned 2 months old, and he was 270 pounds. He's such a chunky fella. And that COAT! OMG, he feels like a sheep! He has the thickest, nicest winter coat on him!
~Lannie