Post by Lannie on Dec 5, 2009 19:12:45 GMT -5
WHEW!!!!!! WHAT an afternoon this was!
But they say that challenges present opportunities for solutions. Or something like that. Today's challenge taught Rich and I that we need another gate in the cow pen. Right now there's only the one, that leads from the pen to the barn and the little "foyer" right in front of the barn door. From the foyer, you have to go out either through the gate into the horse corral, then out that gate (all the while shooing away horses when you're trying to lead a cow) OR, all the way around the outside of the cow pen to the other side, where there's another gate that leads out of the pasture. We decided not to mess with the horses, and Bandit leads well, so we thought there wouldn't be a problem. I even offered to let Rich lead Bandit because she behaves so well, and I knew Seven would play bucking bull all the way. Fortunately, he said no.
They were in the cow pen while we were getting the trailer backed up to the one pasture gate, and Cricket was in a stall in the barn, yelling her head off. That didn't help. I put the lead rope on Bandit, Rich snagged Seven and got his lead on, and we went out the pen and started around the outside. At which point Bandit evidently lost her nerve. Or her mind. I'm not sure which. She put her head down and started bulldozing toward the open pasture. I'm no wimp, but she weighs 1,400 POUNDS! Plus there's a scrim of snow on the ground and I had no traction, so I had to let her go. She ran all the way into the pasture and around the big berm and was hiding behind a row of plum trees when I finally caught up to her. I managed to get her lead and start back with her, but we'd only gone a few steps when Seven, who Rich had managed to get as far as the trailer, let out a mournful bellow. DOWN went the head, BULLDOZE went Bandit! She was running through the tree rows so fast, the lead rope didn't even touch the ground! LOL!
By the time I caught up to her, Rich had Seven tied to the gatepost and was trying to lure Bandit with some pellets. Uh-uh, no WAY, she wasn't having ANY of that nonsense. So she started mooing at Seven, which caused Cricket to start mooing LOUDER (I didn't think she could crank it up any more, but she did). Poor Cricket. I got hold of Bandit's lead again and started toward the trailer. Rich put some of the pellets on the floor inside the trailer and she was sniffing in that direction, when the wind moved the trailer door and it bonged against the other gatepost. POOF! There went Bandit again. I didn't even TRY to hold on that time.
I was just about gone by then. I took my gloves off and threw them violently to the ground (take THAT you dirty rotten gloves!) and told Rich that evidently we were NOT taking Bandit to the bull today. It takes about 48 hours for that Estrumate to kick in anyway, so I said we should just try again tomorrow when we were fresh. I was exhausted by that point from either running to keep up with Bandit, or trying to keep HER from running. Argh. So he started trying to get close to her and finally got her rope and started back toward the trailer. I sighed, picked up my gloves and untied Seven from the gatepost. I figured if I could get him in the trailer first, maybe Bandit would go in. He's never been in a trailer before, so naturally he balked, but after hauling on a 1,400 pound cow for the last 30 minutes (yes, we wrestled her for 30 minutes), an itty-bitty 300-pound bull was NO problem! I pulled on him until he fell face first into the trailer, and he had no choice but to get his front feet under him. Once his front was up, the back followed (I had good traction on the rubber mats in the trailer). Then he was in, and had to go look all around. Siwwy widdle bull.
Bandit at that point decided she should get in the trailer. She still looked kind of wall-eyed, so I decided I'd better not still be in there when she did. Against all my instincts, I tied Seven to one of the rings in the front of the trailer, but loose enough that if he fell down, he would still have enough leverage to get up. He didn't seem to mind, but I worried all the way to the Angus ranch. Anyway, as soon as he was tied, I got out and Rich got in, and I STILL had to whack Bandit on the butt to get her in there. Whew! Done!
We got to Lyle's place and backed up to the corral we were leaving them in, got everything situated so there was no escape routes, and opened the door. In spite of the fact that Bandit had crapped 17 times in the pasture on the way to the trailer, the trailer floor was covered in green goo. Oh, and of course, she was nervous, so it was very liquid green goo. Like pea soup. How appetizing.... And to make matters worse, she crapped all over Seven. He has so much poop on him, I don't think it will all come off until he sheds his coat in the spring.
Anyway, she's there, and Lyle will put the bull in with her tonight, in fact he probably already has. So maybe she'll be interested in him and forget about being scared or nervous.
Hopefully, she'll get pregnant!
~Lannie
But they say that challenges present opportunities for solutions. Or something like that. Today's challenge taught Rich and I that we need another gate in the cow pen. Right now there's only the one, that leads from the pen to the barn and the little "foyer" right in front of the barn door. From the foyer, you have to go out either through the gate into the horse corral, then out that gate (all the while shooing away horses when you're trying to lead a cow) OR, all the way around the outside of the cow pen to the other side, where there's another gate that leads out of the pasture. We decided not to mess with the horses, and Bandit leads well, so we thought there wouldn't be a problem. I even offered to let Rich lead Bandit because she behaves so well, and I knew Seven would play bucking bull all the way. Fortunately, he said no.
They were in the cow pen while we were getting the trailer backed up to the one pasture gate, and Cricket was in a stall in the barn, yelling her head off. That didn't help. I put the lead rope on Bandit, Rich snagged Seven and got his lead on, and we went out the pen and started around the outside. At which point Bandit evidently lost her nerve. Or her mind. I'm not sure which. She put her head down and started bulldozing toward the open pasture. I'm no wimp, but she weighs 1,400 POUNDS! Plus there's a scrim of snow on the ground and I had no traction, so I had to let her go. She ran all the way into the pasture and around the big berm and was hiding behind a row of plum trees when I finally caught up to her. I managed to get her lead and start back with her, but we'd only gone a few steps when Seven, who Rich had managed to get as far as the trailer, let out a mournful bellow. DOWN went the head, BULLDOZE went Bandit! She was running through the tree rows so fast, the lead rope didn't even touch the ground! LOL!
By the time I caught up to her, Rich had Seven tied to the gatepost and was trying to lure Bandit with some pellets. Uh-uh, no WAY, she wasn't having ANY of that nonsense. So she started mooing at Seven, which caused Cricket to start mooing LOUDER (I didn't think she could crank it up any more, but she did). Poor Cricket. I got hold of Bandit's lead again and started toward the trailer. Rich put some of the pellets on the floor inside the trailer and she was sniffing in that direction, when the wind moved the trailer door and it bonged against the other gatepost. POOF! There went Bandit again. I didn't even TRY to hold on that time.
I was just about gone by then. I took my gloves off and threw them violently to the ground (take THAT you dirty rotten gloves!) and told Rich that evidently we were NOT taking Bandit to the bull today. It takes about 48 hours for that Estrumate to kick in anyway, so I said we should just try again tomorrow when we were fresh. I was exhausted by that point from either running to keep up with Bandit, or trying to keep HER from running. Argh. So he started trying to get close to her and finally got her rope and started back toward the trailer. I sighed, picked up my gloves and untied Seven from the gatepost. I figured if I could get him in the trailer first, maybe Bandit would go in. He's never been in a trailer before, so naturally he balked, but after hauling on a 1,400 pound cow for the last 30 minutes (yes, we wrestled her for 30 minutes), an itty-bitty 300-pound bull was NO problem! I pulled on him until he fell face first into the trailer, and he had no choice but to get his front feet under him. Once his front was up, the back followed (I had good traction on the rubber mats in the trailer). Then he was in, and had to go look all around. Siwwy widdle bull.
Bandit at that point decided she should get in the trailer. She still looked kind of wall-eyed, so I decided I'd better not still be in there when she did. Against all my instincts, I tied Seven to one of the rings in the front of the trailer, but loose enough that if he fell down, he would still have enough leverage to get up. He didn't seem to mind, but I worried all the way to the Angus ranch. Anyway, as soon as he was tied, I got out and Rich got in, and I STILL had to whack Bandit on the butt to get her in there. Whew! Done!
We got to Lyle's place and backed up to the corral we were leaving them in, got everything situated so there was no escape routes, and opened the door. In spite of the fact that Bandit had crapped 17 times in the pasture on the way to the trailer, the trailer floor was covered in green goo. Oh, and of course, she was nervous, so it was very liquid green goo. Like pea soup. How appetizing.... And to make matters worse, she crapped all over Seven. He has so much poop on him, I don't think it will all come off until he sheds his coat in the spring.
Anyway, she's there, and Lyle will put the bull in with her tonight, in fact he probably already has. So maybe she'll be interested in him and forget about being scared or nervous.
Hopefully, she'll get pregnant!
~Lannie