Post by Lannie on Aug 30, 2010 11:43:48 GMT -5
My sweet, lovely, calm Cricket (HA!) left yesterday, with Samantha in tow, to see the very nice bull that she visited last year. Samantha's daddy. I didn't think there would be any reason to take my camera, and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't. They posed for a PERFECT family portrait. Cricket and Sammi blasted out of the trailer once we got there, the bull wandered up, and the three of them were standing there in a row, all looking at us - daddy, mommy, and baby. WHAT a picture that would have been!
Anyway, I missed my guess on when Cricket would go into heat. I figured it would be Tuesday, so we decided to take her over there yesterday, BEFORE the hormones kicked in. But alas, she came in early, and it was miserable chasing her AND Bandit (they were mounting each other) all over the flippin' pasture in 90 degree heat. Cricket, who normally leads with just a hand on her halter, would put her head down and steamroll ahead, dragging me along until about 2 seconds before I would have landed on my face, at which point I had to let go of the leadrope. It took us TWO HOURS from the time I clipped the lead on her the first time until they were both in the trailer. That two hours was spent teaching Cricket that it was easy and fun to run off when I was trying to lead her. Every time she did it, she won. Samantha was easy, she followed right along with Rich and he tied her in the trailer. We were hoping that would encourage Cricket to follow, but NOOOOOOO. (Why is it again that I have cows? Oh, yeah, the MILK!) She wasn't the least bit interested in the can of pellets I was rattling, nor was she too concerned about her baby tied up in the trailer bawling her head off.
She kept running back into the cow pen, which still doesn't have the gate on the far side that we've been talking about. Then we could back the trailer right up to the pen and load through that gate. Finally, after huffing and puffing all over the pasture and Rich almost getting heat stroke, he went and got the wire cutters, moved the trailer over to that fence, and cut the wire. So we finally got her in the trailer.
Now we have a gaping hole in the cow pen, but it's raining today, so maybe the ground will be soft enough for Rich to auger a posthole and we can finally put the gate in there. That will make it SO much easier on us. It's ridiculous trying to chase a wild hormonal cow around 7 acres with trees. They get behind a tree, and no matter which way YOU go, THEY go the other way. There's no way one person can catch a cow when there's a tree in the way.
But the hard work is over now, and with any luck she went into standing heat last night or will sometime today, and after we bring her home, we don't have to worry about taking any cows ANYWHERE for a good long while.
~Lannie
Anyway, I missed my guess on when Cricket would go into heat. I figured it would be Tuesday, so we decided to take her over there yesterday, BEFORE the hormones kicked in. But alas, she came in early, and it was miserable chasing her AND Bandit (they were mounting each other) all over the flippin' pasture in 90 degree heat. Cricket, who normally leads with just a hand on her halter, would put her head down and steamroll ahead, dragging me along until about 2 seconds before I would have landed on my face, at which point I had to let go of the leadrope. It took us TWO HOURS from the time I clipped the lead on her the first time until they were both in the trailer. That two hours was spent teaching Cricket that it was easy and fun to run off when I was trying to lead her. Every time she did it, she won. Samantha was easy, she followed right along with Rich and he tied her in the trailer. We were hoping that would encourage Cricket to follow, but NOOOOOOO. (Why is it again that I have cows? Oh, yeah, the MILK!) She wasn't the least bit interested in the can of pellets I was rattling, nor was she too concerned about her baby tied up in the trailer bawling her head off.
She kept running back into the cow pen, which still doesn't have the gate on the far side that we've been talking about. Then we could back the trailer right up to the pen and load through that gate. Finally, after huffing and puffing all over the pasture and Rich almost getting heat stroke, he went and got the wire cutters, moved the trailer over to that fence, and cut the wire. So we finally got her in the trailer.
Now we have a gaping hole in the cow pen, but it's raining today, so maybe the ground will be soft enough for Rich to auger a posthole and we can finally put the gate in there. That will make it SO much easier on us. It's ridiculous trying to chase a wild hormonal cow around 7 acres with trees. They get behind a tree, and no matter which way YOU go, THEY go the other way. There's no way one person can catch a cow when there's a tree in the way.
But the hard work is over now, and with any luck she went into standing heat last night or will sometime today, and after we bring her home, we don't have to worry about taking any cows ANYWHERE for a good long while.
~Lannie