Keep your feet out and off

I have one heifer who is naughty. Number 449. She likes to stand in the cattle feeder with her front legs. Now I know why the floor of one side of one end is broken. The past few days I have caught her a few times standing in the feeder. Last night I had to shoo her out several times.

Later as I was cutting up a small log I looked over and saw she was standing in the middle of the feeder. Front and back legs.

*augh!*

I don't like chasing her out as the other cattle get nervous at me shooing her out and then get a little anxious other times I approach them.

Tonight I seen that another heifer has learned from #449 and started to put her front legs into the feeder as I was spreading a fresh bale of hay in the feeder. Out!

I have now used up the old, old hay from two years ago and moved on to last year's hay which is better. The cattle agree as they eat more of it faster. This afternoon the hay level in the feeder was lower than usual and I could see the bottom in spots. I found three boards in the middle were off their supporting boards. The reason is that one of the supporting boards was a short board and the weight from the heifer in the feeder appears to have caused it to come off. I repaired it.

I also made a temporary fix to the end that was broken.

You can see #334 checking out my repair work. She seems to be one of the more intelligent heifers. It is still to be determined if she will use her intelligence for good or evil.

I usually keep the barn door closed at all times even though it is a pain to close it when holding a bale of hay. When working on my feeder repairs I forgot to close the door. The cattle had been sitting around the corral on their siesta. The next I knew a number of them were standing in the barn door and were eating a bale of hay I had just inside the door. Those sneaky ninja cattle! Out!

Between the cattle eating more, and my getting up late in the morning, each night I toss a fresh bale in the feeder at dark so they will have hay to eat in the morning. Tonight the cattle crowded around me as I spread the bale out in the feeder - you'd think they would be full as I had given them a full bale an hour and a half earlier . One heifer stepped on my foot. Fortunately I was wearing my heavy boots. Still I felt her weight on my foot and between moving my foot and yelling I got it out from under her as quick as possible. A 660+ lb heifer is heavy!