... by the red bull look pretty good. Like him they are thick and muscular, big boned and growthy. Too bad he's related to most of the herd now and must move on. He is a red Limousin x Angus cross. About half of his calves were red since we have so many black baldy cows.
The calves are a nice uniform bunch.
I have studied them in detail because they've gotten out every day this week.
Showing posts with label Cows are out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cows are out. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
My morning ...
... as a writer:
I launched the kids to school, watched the news, had breakfast with The Hubster, fixed coffee and opened the file for my work-in-progress. For some reason being on the edge of sleepy helps me to just sit down and write then revise it later.
Started the dishwasher. Fixed a pot of coffee.
A neighbor came to buy eggs. I hadn't seen her for weeks so we caught up on her kids going to a new school and her husband recovering from a broken leg.
Poured my coffee.
Phone rings: "You know all that bellerin' we heard last night? The cows got out in the corn."
There went the morning. I'm back now but I'm soaking wet from chasing cows out of eight-foot-tall corn rows. In some places just a few plants were a little crooked.
In other places, the cornfield looked like a bull-dozer had gone through it. No wonder the pioneers used oxen for so much. They sure cleared a path through there!
Alls well that ends well. And I can microwave my coffee.
I launched the kids to school, watched the news, had breakfast with The Hubster, fixed coffee and opened the file for my work-in-progress. For some reason being on the edge of sleepy helps me to just sit down and write then revise it later.
Started the dishwasher. Fixed a pot of coffee.
A neighbor came to buy eggs. I hadn't seen her for weeks so we caught up on her kids going to a new school and her husband recovering from a broken leg.
Poured my coffee.
Phone rings: "You know all that bellerin' we heard last night? The cows got out in the corn."
There went the morning. I'm back now but I'm soaking wet from chasing cows out of eight-foot-tall corn rows. In some places just a few plants were a little crooked.
In other places, the cornfield looked like a bull-dozer had gone through it. No wonder the pioneers used oxen for so much. They sure cleared a path through there!
Alls well that ends well. And I can microwave my coffee.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Cowboy angels ...
DH called on the cell phone from the other farm. Never a good sign.
"Could you all come over here and give me a hand? The steers all got out. In the cow pasture. The bull's out there too. And one of the cows just had a calf."
Sounded like a rodeo to me. DS1 hopped on his bike and sped over there. I called Grandma and Grandpa and arranged to leave DS2 with Grandma and ride over there with Grandpa.
While we rode over there I was praying. The pastor talked about Peter and John healing the lame man at the Temple (you know, "Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I will give to thee ... in the name of Jesus rise and walk.") Pastor said they were going about their every day business, but prayed up and expected to receive an answer.
I was praying (an expecting) that the Lord would send cowboy angels to help us with separating the cattle and getting them all back in the right pen, and getting the new calf treated with no one getting hurt. The beef cows get pretty testy about anyone or anything messing with their calves.
I figured all the cowboys whoever lived must have had guardian angels so there must be some angels around that have worked cattle. If the Lord would send some of them along ...
When we got over to the other farm, DH and DS1 were just penning up the steers. The bull went into the other pasture and they locked him up, too. That left just the the cows and mama of the newborn calf to deal with. DH caught it and we tried to get the truck between the cow and calf. Grandpa banded it and gave it its shots quickly while the mama was standing by getting testy and snorty. I think she was within seconds of head-butting someone when they finished, but, you know, no harm, no foul. We just don't want anyone to get knocked down and stomped on.
DH said if he had known it was this easy he would not have called us. Wasn't easy, it was an answered prayer.
"Could you all come over here and give me a hand? The steers all got out. In the cow pasture. The bull's out there too. And one of the cows just had a calf."
Sounded like a rodeo to me. DS1 hopped on his bike and sped over there. I called Grandma and Grandpa and arranged to leave DS2 with Grandma and ride over there with Grandpa.
While we rode over there I was praying. The pastor talked about Peter and John healing the lame man at the Temple (you know, "Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I will give to thee ... in the name of Jesus rise and walk.") Pastor said they were going about their every day business, but prayed up and expected to receive an answer.
I was praying (an expecting) that the Lord would send cowboy angels to help us with separating the cattle and getting them all back in the right pen, and getting the new calf treated with no one getting hurt. The beef cows get pretty testy about anyone or anything messing with their calves.
I figured all the cowboys whoever lived must have had guardian angels so there must be some angels around that have worked cattle. If the Lord would send some of them along ...
When we got over to the other farm, DH and DS1 were just penning up the steers. The bull went into the other pasture and they locked him up, too. That left just the the cows and mama of the newborn calf to deal with. DH caught it and we tried to get the truck between the cow and calf. Grandpa banded it and gave it its shots quickly while the mama was standing by getting testy and snorty. I think she was within seconds of head-butting someone when they finished, but, you know, no harm, no foul. We just don't want anyone to get knocked down and stomped on.
DH said if he had known it was this easy he would not have called us. Wasn't easy, it was an answered prayer.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Cow Are Out ...
... In a good way. We finally got them out into the pasture. Three of the cows calved in the barn, not the best environment.
It's picture perfect breezy day, not a cloud in the sky. The wind in the long grass makes it look lives waves on Lake Michigan, alternating bright green with silver green.
Note to self ... Panda's two daughters have calved; the first had a bull; second had a heifer.
Button calved today with a big red bull calf. She's walking like she's three sheets to the wind, probably partly paralyzed from that big calf.
I hope this does not mean the heifers will have a hard time.
It's picture perfect breezy day, not a cloud in the sky. The wind in the long grass makes it look lives waves on Lake Michigan, alternating bright green with silver green.
Note to self ... Panda's two daughters have calved; the first had a bull; second had a heifer.
Button calved today with a big red bull calf. She's walking like she's three sheets to the wind, probably partly paralyzed from that big calf.
I hope this does not mean the heifers will have a hard time.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Harvesting
Over the weekend, the cows got out at 2 a.m. Saturday. A big bunch of them -- all the black ones, of course -- were runnign down the road in the middle of the night. So as we are driving them through the neighbor's yard and trying to get them back in their pasture, I was noticing the sound of their hooves, how the moon looked golden as its nearly setting, how scary DH looked silhouetted against the night sky.
That was because we had to push them back up a cut-bank they had fallen off as they came through the broken fence. Cows have no depth perception. I think that's why the whole bunch did not get out -- as soon as their herdmates began to drop off the edge of the world they had second thoughts. None of them were hurt. Cattle are remarkably resilient.
We did all this by the light of the moon, camping lanterns, our flashlight with barely any battery left and a lot by ear. Although the neighbors have a three-acre yard they only mow a patch around the house. The rest is, well, a biologist would say something about succession, from grasses to brush to small trees and back to forest.
At 2 a.m., the middle step of that -- brush and small trees -- is hard to thrash through and keep up with running calves.
As we met the neighbors, who came out and tried to help and finished up getting all the cows and calves back in the sheriff showed up. He could have spot-lighted the whole situation but arrived too late.
By the time we got home it was past 4 a.m.
I still had to get up and open the restaurant. Needless to say, I did not cashier any all day -- I was too clumsy and confused to handle money.
That was because we had to push them back up a cut-bank they had fallen off as they came through the broken fence. Cows have no depth perception. I think that's why the whole bunch did not get out -- as soon as their herdmates began to drop off the edge of the world they had second thoughts. None of them were hurt. Cattle are remarkably resilient.
We did all this by the light of the moon, camping lanterns, our flashlight with barely any battery left and a lot by ear. Although the neighbors have a three-acre yard they only mow a patch around the house. The rest is, well, a biologist would say something about succession, from grasses to brush to small trees and back to forest.
At 2 a.m., the middle step of that -- brush and small trees -- is hard to thrash through and keep up with running calves.
As we met the neighbors, who came out and tried to help and finished up getting all the cows and calves back in the sheriff showed up. He could have spot-lighted the whole situation but arrived too late.
By the time we got home it was past 4 a.m.
I still had to get up and open the restaurant. Needless to say, I did not cashier any all day -- I was too clumsy and confused to handle money.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
