Heifer in ditch

This hot weather is tiring me out. 85 F today. It is even warm when I get up - 60s. That is what our high temperature was last week and we were glad to be that warm.

Jan stopped by while out for her morning walk. We went over to see my "girls". They all freaked out when they saw Jan and quickly moved back from the fence to the middle of the corral. Who is this?! I forgot I was the only person they've seen up close since coming to the ranch.

Jan said, "Here Boss. Here Boss." After a bit, and with some hesitation, the braver ones came closer and one stretched her neck and head to reach Jan's outstretched hand. Both Jan and the heifer got a surprise when the heifer tried to lick Jan's hand and Jan reacted.

I got lots more bread from the Food Bank. They were happy to give me what they call "the bricks" - the old hard bread no one else takes. They even gave me an extra cake; which was not old or hard. I am keeping the cake for myself.

With the hot weather I lost all ambition. I didn't dig any more on my garden. I planned to plant seeds in the already dug part, but didn't get to it. First I watered my fruit trees and bushes. Bob had told me to add a half gallon of Miracle Grow water to each of my thornless triple crown blackberry bushes to get them going. I noticed that one of the bushes was starting from the roots. The other one - nothing.

Even running the water full blast it took quite a time to water all the trees and bushes. One plum tree was planted where another tree used to be as I found a rotted stump when I dug the hole to plant the tree a few years ago. Consequently when I water the tree the water never fills the ditch around the tree. One of my pear trees is the same. It was planted over/near a pocket gopher tunnel and I suspect the water found a quick way to get down into the tunnel.

Before noon I let the cattle out of the corral and into the yard. They were pretty well behaved... I noticed that two smaller to mid-sized heifers don't like each other. The rest of the herd would be off on the side of the yard and these two would be in the middle of the yard fighting over the same few inches of grass. Nothing special about that grass - it just that the other one wanted it.

Later they would fight near the big tree, or elsewhere. Head to head pushing one back. Or head to side. Or one would drop to her knees and fight. And when one would give up and move on, the other would stand and glare at the departing heifer. None of the steers last year took their disagreements as personally as these heifers. And here I thought having female cattle would mean better tempered cattle. Was I wrong!

For the most part my fencing worked to keep the cattle from areas where they shouldn't be. I did find the fence by the well to tipped over. I got another fence post and more wire and straightened it up. When watering my fruit trees I discovered why the fence as tipped on its side earlier - one heifer used the top of the fence to scratch her neck. This time my fence stayed up.

After a late afternoon catnap I decided to check my pocket gopher traps. The cattle were in the back yard near the stock trailer. As the cattle had behaved themselves all day I let them be and walked out into the hayfield and pasture. I only planned to be away from the yard a short time. Little did I know I would be away for an hour.

I had caught a few gophers and it took a little time to finds new tunnels. Then it took a few minutes to find the last trap. Before finding the last trap I found yet another "iceberg" stump. *sigh* I dug around it to dry it out for later burning. It was early evening now and even working in the shade I completely soaked my tshirt and sweat ran from my face. My blood must still be thick from the recent cooler weather - this is why I sweat so easily and am lethargic and sleepy.

I decided to bring my wheel barrow and tools back to the house as it looks like I won't be burning more stumps anytime soon. As I pushed the wheel barrow through the hayfield I noticed the cattle where in the front yard near the road. Wait a minute... is one or more heifers outside the fence in the ditch?! Can't be... but it looks like it. This is not good as this spot is on the bend in the road and many cars zoom by faster than the speed limit of 35 mph. If the heifer got hit my profit for the year would be gone.

I started to run back to the house pushing the wheel barrow. Wouldn't you know it... after having the wheel barrow all this time with no problems, today the front wheel came off. Ya got to be kidding me! Now of all time for this to happen!

I left the wheel barrow and rushed back to the yard. Sure enough one heifer was standing in the ditch eating the grass while the others were inside the fence watching her and trying to figure out how to join her. I shoo'ed them away from the fence and back towards the house taking care not to excite the heifer outside the fence. Last thing I needed was for her to get excited and run out into the road.

Once the rest of the herd was far enough away I opened the gate. A car came up the road at this time and one of the two women in the car asked if I needed help. Sure. But before she could park the car and get out to help me I was able to herd the heifer back towards the gate and she ran inside and over to join the herd. *whew* My profit is saved.

How she got out of the yard is a mystery. This was a medium to large heifer, not some small ballerina type of heifer. The gate was attached and in good condition. I had made the gate tall enough to not jump over - or so I believe. I attached boards and have the wires tight so the cattle can't push up and crawl underneath the gate - which I seen several years ago after being puzzled how one heifer would consistently get out of a locked pasture. The fence seems to be high enough the cattle should not be able to jump over it - especially a decent sized heifer. So unless someone driving by stopped to open the gate to let the heifer out, she must have jumped the fence somehow.

I herded the cattle back into the corral. They didn't try hiding behind the stock trailer tonight and went into the corral after realizing they couldn't fake me out by running around the house. I chewed the cattle out telling them they were to stay in the yard for their own safety. We'll see if this sticks with them.

Darn kids!