Post by Lannie on Oct 16, 2007 17:12:28 GMT -5
Bandit's pregnant! Woohooo! Doing the happy dance! She's so pregnant, she should be calving in the next 2 weeks!
Our neighbor came over just now to preg check her. What a rodeo! (This milking thing is going to be a real challenge...) He actually brought over a portable chute, but we don't have any panels or any way to get her IN the chute, so Gary (the neighbor) said just stick her in the milking stanchion and that would be fine. So I got her in there with some pellets, locked the headgate, put the 2x4 up across the front (her side) and she pulled right out of the headgate when she saw Gary. OK, so we made a slight miscalculation on the measurements. So Rich went to the shop to get a piece of 2x4 to make it tighter, and while we were waiting, Gary decided to just go ahead and probe her. She was peacefully eating her pellets...
I held the movable piece of the headgate so it was tight enough she couldn't back out of it and in he went with jellied glove. Bandit pulled her head back as hard as she could, but I pushed on the board and managed to keep her head still, so she danced away from Gary, toward the wall, Gary gamely hanging on, leaning out over the 2x4 to keep his hand in there. When Bandit ran into the wall, she decided she'd had ENOUGH and just blasted out of there. Popped the big heavy-duty bracket that was holding the 2x4 right OFF the post. The 2x4 went flying, Gary jumped back, and I had to let go of the headgate piece so as not to be run over. Nobody got hurt, but Bandit was a little shaky. She forgot all about her pellets. Instead of running out of the barn, she ran into Aiesha's stall, and stood there looking at Gary like he was the boogy-man. I guess I don't blame her.
Anyway, Gary didn't get far enough in to feel anything, but he said just looking at her that she was at least 8 months pregnant, and possibly more. I know a lot of you thought from looking at the pictures that she wasn't, but I just couldn't get the angle right, and looking at a 2-D picture is really not the same as seeing it with your own eyes. She's bulging like a water balloon. I asked Gary if there was any possible way it could just be fat, and he said no way. If she was just fat, she'd be fatter along the topline, and besides, unless she was standing in a small corral and eating a round bale a day, she couldn't get that fat. All she's eating is what's left out in the pasture, and her 1/2 can of pellets in the morning (sometimes in the afternoon if she can be bothered to come in from chewing her cud).
So Gary thinks we'll probably have a calf by the end of October, and at the latest by the middle of November. I really would have preferred she calve earlier, when the weather was a bit warmer, but at least I know there's a calf in there that should be along soon. I'm SO happy now! ;D
~Lannie
Our neighbor came over just now to preg check her. What a rodeo! (This milking thing is going to be a real challenge...) He actually brought over a portable chute, but we don't have any panels or any way to get her IN the chute, so Gary (the neighbor) said just stick her in the milking stanchion and that would be fine. So I got her in there with some pellets, locked the headgate, put the 2x4 up across the front (her side) and she pulled right out of the headgate when she saw Gary. OK, so we made a slight miscalculation on the measurements. So Rich went to the shop to get a piece of 2x4 to make it tighter, and while we were waiting, Gary decided to just go ahead and probe her. She was peacefully eating her pellets...
I held the movable piece of the headgate so it was tight enough she couldn't back out of it and in he went with jellied glove. Bandit pulled her head back as hard as she could, but I pushed on the board and managed to keep her head still, so she danced away from Gary, toward the wall, Gary gamely hanging on, leaning out over the 2x4 to keep his hand in there. When Bandit ran into the wall, she decided she'd had ENOUGH and just blasted out of there. Popped the big heavy-duty bracket that was holding the 2x4 right OFF the post. The 2x4 went flying, Gary jumped back, and I had to let go of the headgate piece so as not to be run over. Nobody got hurt, but Bandit was a little shaky. She forgot all about her pellets. Instead of running out of the barn, she ran into Aiesha's stall, and stood there looking at Gary like he was the boogy-man. I guess I don't blame her.
Anyway, Gary didn't get far enough in to feel anything, but he said just looking at her that she was at least 8 months pregnant, and possibly more. I know a lot of you thought from looking at the pictures that she wasn't, but I just couldn't get the angle right, and looking at a 2-D picture is really not the same as seeing it with your own eyes. She's bulging like a water balloon. I asked Gary if there was any possible way it could just be fat, and he said no way. If she was just fat, she'd be fatter along the topline, and besides, unless she was standing in a small corral and eating a round bale a day, she couldn't get that fat. All she's eating is what's left out in the pasture, and her 1/2 can of pellets in the morning (sometimes in the afternoon if she can be bothered to come in from chewing her cud).
So Gary thinks we'll probably have a calf by the end of October, and at the latest by the middle of November. I really would have preferred she calve earlier, when the weather was a bit warmer, but at least I know there's a calf in there that should be along soon. I'm SO happy now! ;D
~Lannie