Post by Lannie on Dec 24, 2009 14:13:35 GMT -5
Why did I always hear that my whole life? It leaves me completely unprepared for the reality that COWS ARE NOT STUPID.
Just lately I've been having trouble keeping Seven separated from Bandit. And after he chewed on her teats so bad, I guess the fact that she still wants him with her is kinda stupid, but the WAY she does it is brilliant.
Yesterday morning, the latch on Seven's stall broke. It's the one that was bent so badly in a previous escape attempt. Rich pounded it back out, but it was apparently weak, and the metal crystallized, and broke. So I put him in the other stall, which by the way, doesn't have a safety snap on the latch. I have plenty of milk in the fridge at the moment, and I figured if she broke him out, it would be no great loss to not get my gallon of milk yesterday afternoon. And she did break him out, in record time. We have to put safety snaps on all the latches, or combination locks, or something... not quite sure what will work.
(Just to clarify, I haven't weaned him yet, but I've been keeping them separate except for supervised nursing during milking, so he can't mess her teats up any more.)
So last night, I left them together because of the bad weather, and I wasn't sure if I'd feel like coming out to milk in the morning, anyway. Bandit's teats are all healed up now, so I figured one day and night together wouldn't do too much damage. This morning, I went out and fed everybody and checked Bandit's udder - mostly empty, no big gashes - all was good. I put Seven in the other stall again (Rich is going to replace the broken latch today) because it was so cold this morning, intending to go out about noonish or so and let him out into the outside pen. I was very crafty when I locked him up, though, and I took one of the baby halters and wrapped it around the post and the gate, after latching it, snugging it up tight and buckling the halter. I even moved it so the buckle wasn't facing either one of them (I am getting smarter as I spend more time with cows), but I didn't think it would matter because they can't unbuckle a halter. Yeah, riiiiight...
So I went out about half an hour ago to check for eggs and let Seven out, and I see all three of them out in the pasture. Seven was running in the snow and kicking up spray and having a jolly good time. But HOW did he get out? I figured he must have jumped, because that stall was closed up tight, but noooooooo, SOMEONE (and truthfully, I don't know if it was Seven or Bandit) UNBUCKLED the halter. Even I can't do that if I have my gloves on, and they don't even have thumbs! The latch is by now a piece of cake for Bandit, which is why we need to get more safety clips or different latches. But the halter was lying on the floor, stomped rudely into the poop, of course, completely undamaged apart from having been shat upon.
I would give ANYTHING to have witnessed that jailbreak. I have no clue how either one of them could have done that with just teeth and tongue.
So the next time someone refers to a "stupid cow," I'm going to slap them. They've obviously never been anywhere near a cow.
~Lannie
Just lately I've been having trouble keeping Seven separated from Bandit. And after he chewed on her teats so bad, I guess the fact that she still wants him with her is kinda stupid, but the WAY she does it is brilliant.
Yesterday morning, the latch on Seven's stall broke. It's the one that was bent so badly in a previous escape attempt. Rich pounded it back out, but it was apparently weak, and the metal crystallized, and broke. So I put him in the other stall, which by the way, doesn't have a safety snap on the latch. I have plenty of milk in the fridge at the moment, and I figured if she broke him out, it would be no great loss to not get my gallon of milk yesterday afternoon. And she did break him out, in record time. We have to put safety snaps on all the latches, or combination locks, or something... not quite sure what will work.
(Just to clarify, I haven't weaned him yet, but I've been keeping them separate except for supervised nursing during milking, so he can't mess her teats up any more.)
So last night, I left them together because of the bad weather, and I wasn't sure if I'd feel like coming out to milk in the morning, anyway. Bandit's teats are all healed up now, so I figured one day and night together wouldn't do too much damage. This morning, I went out and fed everybody and checked Bandit's udder - mostly empty, no big gashes - all was good. I put Seven in the other stall again (Rich is going to replace the broken latch today) because it was so cold this morning, intending to go out about noonish or so and let him out into the outside pen. I was very crafty when I locked him up, though, and I took one of the baby halters and wrapped it around the post and the gate, after latching it, snugging it up tight and buckling the halter. I even moved it so the buckle wasn't facing either one of them (I am getting smarter as I spend more time with cows), but I didn't think it would matter because they can't unbuckle a halter. Yeah, riiiiight...
So I went out about half an hour ago to check for eggs and let Seven out, and I see all three of them out in the pasture. Seven was running in the snow and kicking up spray and having a jolly good time. But HOW did he get out? I figured he must have jumped, because that stall was closed up tight, but noooooooo, SOMEONE (and truthfully, I don't know if it was Seven or Bandit) UNBUCKLED the halter. Even I can't do that if I have my gloves on, and they don't even have thumbs! The latch is by now a piece of cake for Bandit, which is why we need to get more safety clips or different latches. But the halter was lying on the floor, stomped rudely into the poop, of course, completely undamaged apart from having been shat upon.
I would give ANYTHING to have witnessed that jailbreak. I have no clue how either one of them could have done that with just teeth and tongue.
So the next time someone refers to a "stupid cow," I'm going to slap them. They've obviously never been anywhere near a cow.
~Lannie