Post by parndt on Aug 9, 2011 2:56:07 GMT -5
My night started off great. Bonnie, after her first 12 hour separation of this lactation, did great in the stanchion. She knows that I make the pain go away so she stood very still for me like a good girl. She even ignored LeBeouf when she got loose and went to join Daisy and Sweet Pea. If she had gone to him I would have lost 11 hours of milk!
Then, my dad went out to help me get Daisy and Sweet Pea in so I didn't have to do walk out there twice but he took Sweet Pea around the top while I wrestled with Daisy around the bottom. First, Daisy has absolutely NO manners. She has no idea where her place is and while she's freaking out about her baby being kidnapped by a strange beast is not the easiest time to teach her. We're working on the running ahead and pulling me. I snap the lead, holler "NO" and if she doesn't stop immediately I turn her in a circle to get her slowed down. If she tries to shove ahead of me I yank her back and stand until she's watching for when I start walking. But, there's a narrow walkway beside the house and I HATE having the horns behind me on the end of a pushy cow so I let her go first tonight. When Daisy got to the front door our dogs started barking and she bolted backwards, shoving me over and stomping all over me. I am not a small woman and just my bulk was able to keep her from going completely over me (YAY for those extra pounds!!!). I jumped up and she was still trying to get over me so I started screaming in her face and whacking her nose, trying to get her to snap out of it. She is impervious to screaming because the previous owners only communicated with her that way. Bonnie gets bug-eyed and still when I raise my voice at her, Daisy just ignores it. Anyway, I got her to pay attention to me instead of the dogs and we worked on establishing my boundaries. When she started to bull into me she got whacked on the nose with the lead rope. When we got to the barn I led her inside where my dad had helpfully tied up Sweet Pea so that she was bellowing where Daisy couldn't see her. We got in the stanchion just fine, she got her cubes and life returned to normal... Until I tried to move her foot back. It ended up in my bucket. I jumped up and pushed her foot back but she pulled the other three feet up so that she was balanced on that one and refused to budge. Finally, I kicked her shin hard enough that she moved it. I grabbed my nasty bucket, plopped down on my stool and milked her into it, grumbling and grousing the whole time. I even let Sweet Pea on to get a letdown and had to milk my sweet, creamy, Dexter milk into a poopy bucket! Because I was in a foul mood by this time I left Daisy in the stanchion for half an hour while I finished doing my chores. However, this time of reflection where the naughty cow is supposed to get bored and decide that maybe misbehaving in the stanchion isn't fun became the perfect opportunity for Daisy to lift the chain holding the stanchion bar with her tail and SCRATCH HER BUTT!!! When that itch was satisfied she started dozing and chewing her cud, perfectly content to stand there for the rest of the night. When I started undoing the stanchion she tried to shove out of it but I refused to let her out until she stood still. I am going to buy lumber to build a head catch with my next paycheck and maybe talk my father into building a temporary platform for the stanchion. We have a million pallets that we can put plywood on. It shouldn't be too hard.
Thanks for "listening" to my pity party.
Then, my dad went out to help me get Daisy and Sweet Pea in so I didn't have to do walk out there twice but he took Sweet Pea around the top while I wrestled with Daisy around the bottom. First, Daisy has absolutely NO manners. She has no idea where her place is and while she's freaking out about her baby being kidnapped by a strange beast is not the easiest time to teach her. We're working on the running ahead and pulling me. I snap the lead, holler "NO" and if she doesn't stop immediately I turn her in a circle to get her slowed down. If she tries to shove ahead of me I yank her back and stand until she's watching for when I start walking. But, there's a narrow walkway beside the house and I HATE having the horns behind me on the end of a pushy cow so I let her go first tonight. When Daisy got to the front door our dogs started barking and she bolted backwards, shoving me over and stomping all over me. I am not a small woman and just my bulk was able to keep her from going completely over me (YAY for those extra pounds!!!). I jumped up and she was still trying to get over me so I started screaming in her face and whacking her nose, trying to get her to snap out of it. She is impervious to screaming because the previous owners only communicated with her that way. Bonnie gets bug-eyed and still when I raise my voice at her, Daisy just ignores it. Anyway, I got her to pay attention to me instead of the dogs and we worked on establishing my boundaries. When she started to bull into me she got whacked on the nose with the lead rope. When we got to the barn I led her inside where my dad had helpfully tied up Sweet Pea so that she was bellowing where Daisy couldn't see her. We got in the stanchion just fine, she got her cubes and life returned to normal... Until I tried to move her foot back. It ended up in my bucket. I jumped up and pushed her foot back but she pulled the other three feet up so that she was balanced on that one and refused to budge. Finally, I kicked her shin hard enough that she moved it. I grabbed my nasty bucket, plopped down on my stool and milked her into it, grumbling and grousing the whole time. I even let Sweet Pea on to get a letdown and had to milk my sweet, creamy, Dexter milk into a poopy bucket! Because I was in a foul mood by this time I left Daisy in the stanchion for half an hour while I finished doing my chores. However, this time of reflection where the naughty cow is supposed to get bored and decide that maybe misbehaving in the stanchion isn't fun became the perfect opportunity for Daisy to lift the chain holding the stanchion bar with her tail and SCRATCH HER BUTT!!! When that itch was satisfied she started dozing and chewing her cud, perfectly content to stand there for the rest of the night. When I started undoing the stanchion she tried to shove out of it but I refused to let her out until she stood still. I am going to buy lumber to build a head catch with my next paycheck and maybe talk my father into building a temporary platform for the stanchion. We have a million pallets that we can put plywood on. It shouldn't be too hard.
Thanks for "listening" to my pity party.