Cattle in the yard!

I let the cattle into my yard this morning. It was about time as the grass between the driveway's wheel tracks brushed the bottom of m y car as I drove on the driveway.

Most of the cattle were taking their late morning siesta but after the first few walked outside the gate the others got up and followed. There was no rush to get out as they took a step outside and immediately began to eat the grass.

*Rip*, *munch*, "rip*, *munch*

I love the sound of cattle eating grass. It seems so reassuring. It seems natural.

The cattle were interested in eating and did not run here and there to check the boundaries. They moved slowly and steadily throughout the yard. The first time a car drove by when they were near the road they all ran back to the house. By the afternoon cars passing on the road didn't faze them.

Dan called mid afternoon to say he was buying a few more cattle from Rich and would be out within the hour. As luck would have it all but one of the cattle were in the loafing shed taking their mid afternoon siesta and after getting the last steer into the corral I closed the gate.

I re-opened the gate to the road and moved my pickup. After last year when the heifer slipped her neck under the barb wire gate then her whole body, I now park my pickup in front of the gate as extra insurance. The last thing I want is for my cattle to get out onto the road.

Dan didn't buy two heifers but five. All look nice and are black Angus.

After Dan left I let the cattle back into the yard. After eating they took their early evening siesta under the big pine tree by the road. They all laid around the tree except for a few who continued to eat and the couple that stood as watchers for danger. The cattle sat and chewed their cud. They were so peaceful and happy.

I got them into the corral this evening fairly easily. (I don't let them roam in the yard overnight.) Half the herd came to see what I was doing when I added a hay bale to their feeder. The rest of the cattle I had to herd from the house.

They were all bunched around the flowering bush by the back corner. As I started to herd them I seen one heifer had the baling twine around her neck and was stretching it from the bush. I had used the twine to wrap the bush's branches up to prevent the cattle from abusing the bush.

I had to take care concerning the heifer with the twine. I wasn't worried about her neck as the twine would break before damaging her neck. I was concerned that if she ran off before getting her head from the twine she would break the bush.

I herded the cattle slowly and carefully. The heifer backed up and slipped her head from the twine. Success.

The bush seemed fine even though earlier I had seen the cattle using it as a scratching post. The same thing with an ornamental pine. Both of these plants are sharp and annoying to humans but the cattle like their sharpness to scratch their hide and fur.

Dan's new heifers are still skittish as they only recently arrived at their new home. They bolt when I walk anywhere nearby. My cattle are accustomed to me and only move when I get close to them. The first time a few of my cattle got shook when several of Dan's cattle bolted. After that they realized Dan's cattle were overreacting.

The cattle didn't act too naughty today. They mainly ate. Then, in past years, it was usually day two or three when the cattle switched from eating to curious mode. One steer did stand for a bit outside the tool shed window and looked everything over inside the tool shed. At the end of the day I found that the cattle had knocked stuff over inside the pole shed where I park my pickup. No grass or anything to eat in the pole shed but that didn't stop the cattle from checking it all out.

The cattle already trimmed the grass down some after one day. With 21 cattle now it shouldn't take long for them to trim the whole yard down.