Life among the Tall Pines: "Hamburger" is what I'll call you

"Elvis has left the building."

Well, the cattle anyway. After an eventful and annoying day I let the cattle into the north pasture.

The morning began with the cattle gathered outside the gate to the fruit tree and garden area. They bellowed at me when I came outside. Even after I let them into the yard they complained to me.

We played more "tip over the board" and see if he comes running. I was not amused. Some of the cattle also were determined to eat the small tree growing under the pine tree. I know I should just cut that tree down, but I hate cutting trees down. Maybe I can shape it into a bush. That is if I can keep the cattle from eating it.

It seemed as if every time I turned around one of them had their tongue out to grab a branch else had leaves sticking in their teeth. To make matters worse a half dozen cattle went left when the rest went right, and the "gang of six" ended up in the NE pasture. Then - finally! - they found the pile of trimmed box elder branches and decided to munch on them. The herd - not liking to be apart and missing something the others were doing - gathered along the fence in the yard wanting to be with the "gang of six".

Naturally where they all gathered was by the well shed. And the tree I was trying to protect was nearby. So, not understanding how to get where the "gang of six" were, some of the herd decided to try to reach the tree. I chased them off but they returned. They knocked the fence over; I put it back up. Eventually two heifers got their head through the field fence and then got them stuck. I fastened the fence better since yesterday's episode of "head in the fence". And the two didn't exactly pull in the same direction. The same heifer soon got her head out but heifer #20 (naturally it would be her) has a big head and couldn't get free. I watched as there wasn't much one can do when a heifer is getting wild, is over 600 lbs, and can move about.

Eventually she twisted her head enough and pulled free. I put the fence back up. *sigh*

Eventually the herd came back together. I think I helped facilitate that, but by now I can't remember how I did it. It seems like such a long time ago.

As I was making my late afternoon lunch I looked out the window and saw two cattle in the hayfield. What?!

Heifer #20 (her again!) and another heifer were in the hayfield having broken through the fence I had on my agenda to rebuild this Spring. The rest of the herd was by the house and unaware. I ran out and opened the gate. I quickly chased the other heifer back into the yard and turned my attention to #20. She was of an independent mind and not so easily herded. She ran to where the rest of the herd was located by the house, but on the hayfield side of the fence. That got the herd's attention! And that's not what one wants.

I herded #20 back towards the open gate. By now she was in a tizzy and running very fast. The herd ran to meet her. #20 ran by the open gate and I ran to shut the gate before the herd came through it. I reached the gate just as the herd approached but I was able to close the gate.

#20 ran west and the herd ran into the corral to follow her along the fence. I closed the corral gate locking them inside. Now I could leave the hayfield gate open. After a little and a slower pace #20 ran back into the yard. I closed the gate.

#20 was still in a lather as the corral gate was closed and she couldn't get in. She ran here and there along the fence. I went to open the gate and she ran in the opposite direction and way over to the front yard entrance. She was as far away form as she could get. Even all that distance across the yard I could see her wild eyes and her defensive stance.

Please don't jump a fence and get on the road!

The herd thundered in the corral and I left the corral gate closed so they ran over to the NE pasture so they could get closer to the road and see #20. Funny, when they want to, the herd can figure out right from left and get to where they want in the NE pasture.

I needed to get #20 to the herd before she or they did something crazy in their effort to rejoin one another. I don't need more broken fences.

I left the corral gate open and walked around the house to the front yard. #20 was watching me wide-eyed and decided to cross on the other side of the house and made her to the corral and eventually around to the NE pasture. Lots of bellowing at their reunion and I let them be to settle down.

I then found that to get into the hayfield the cattle had pushed through the fence and a few boards gave way. I got a couple steel posts and pounded them into the ground to prevent that from happening again.

Looking out at them a few minutes later I noticed most of the cattle were in the middle of the pasture watching the neighbor's son by the fence. He was holding a small child in his arms. Both them and the cattle stood and watched one another.

After lunch I opened the corral gate to let the cattle back into the yard. Most of the yard was eaten down but I wanted them to work on a few more areas.

I went back to rotor-tilling my garden (late, I know, but what can I do?).

I wasn't but a few minutes into rotor-tilling when I saw two cattle in the hayfield again.

What?!

My steel post fix had worked but now the cattle pushed on another post breaking it and then the fence by lifting it up.

Guess who was in the hayfield? Yup, #20. Earlier I had toyed with calling her "High maintenance" due to her demeanor, but now I was calling her "Hamburger". She and another heifer were in the hayfield standing in the tall grass munching away. Four other cattle stood in the yard next to the broken fence, but as they were steers and therefore dumb, they hadn't figured out how to push/crawl through the fence.

Same drill. I herded the herd into the corral. Not too hard when #20 moved in the hayfield to be outside of the corral. Open the hayfield gate. When I went to herd the two into the corral they ran to the west end of the hayfield. As I herded them back to the gate #20 turned and ran right through the barb wire fence and into the north pasture. *argh!* I wasn't even that close to them and I knew better than run as that means they run faster.

And #20 is one of the larger cattle and she slipped through fences. She is a pain.

I herded the other heifer through the gate and then back into the corral while #20 ran to the west side of the corral, then the west side of the NE pasture. The herd in corral ran to the NE pasture. I locked them in the NE pasture and opened the corral to get #20 back inside.

Did she go nicely? Of course not. Rather than go through the gate she ran through the barb wire fence between the north and NE pastures. Yes, this is another fence on my list of rebuilds.

The whole herd then ran to the east end of the NE pasture. I let them be to settle down.

*sigh*

I fixed the NE pasture fence, then fixed the other barb wire fence. The yard/hayfield fence wasn't worth the effort to fix for a few more hours of having the cattle in the yard.

I had planned on having the cattle in the yard the rest of the day, in the corral overnight, then let them into the north pasture Monday morning. I wanted the cattle to have daylight to get used to the new pasture. The river bounds the pasture and it is still running very high. I've not lost any cattle to a high river but this herd has done stuff the past few weeks no other herd has done.

Also, my north neighbor has two cattle in his pasture. He bought them this Spring from Dan, whose herd is in my pasture. So in addition to cattle naturally wanting to be part of one big herd, these cattle have an extra incentive: they know one another. I wanted a full day to watch and see how they handle being on opposite sides of a fence.

I checked my fences and while I had patched up and fixed them last Fall, Winter caused some posts to pop out a few nails and I had to re-nail barb wire strands to some posts. Also a top strand was broken closer to the river and an apple tree. Darn deer!

Once the fence was fixed I let the cattle into the pasture. Earlier they had bellowed at me but now they were happy. They ran here and there in the tall grass checking out their new 'digs'.

I went back to my rotor-tilling and finally finished my garden. Before coming in for the night I could see some of the herd at the far end. I was too tired to go check on them. Tomorrow I will check up on them and do a headcount. There is shallow access to water so I hope none do anything crazy and try to cross the simple fence along the higher banks. We'll see.

Oh. And to top of my day... when checking the north pasture fences I found the regular gophers are all back. Last year I trapped them all out of the north pasture and sealed their holes. All holes seem to be open, and I found new holes too. In the tall grass I could see trails between holes and heard the warning whistles. I haven't been able to trap the gophers this Spring and they exploded out of the middle pasture where I was still trapping them when they went underground of the year last July. Now they are all over the north pasture.

*sigh*

And I'm tired. Between chasing cattle and rotor-tilling my garden I can feel it. Else I am getting older faster than I think. My garden's size is 32' by 76' (2432 sq ft) so that's a lot of work even with a rotor-tiller. And I made two passes around the garden. Also, I suppose the cattle walking over the garden area early and packing it down didn't make things easier to dig.

I plan to sleep in tomorrow.

Photo 1: fence protecting my tulips
Photo 2: stretched fence (and I didn't do it!)
Photo 3: example of field fence where one of the cattle got their head stuck yesterday. hard to see in the photo but in the middle is a larger opening. (cliclk on the photo to get a larger view)