This morning I finished my preparations to protect my flowers and trees in the yard.
And, yes, I have to protect the shingles on my well shed. The first year I had cattle biting and tearing shingles off. I also have to tie the pallets together as the first year I had pallets the cattle tried to pull the pallets off. Good thing I tied the pallets this year as one heifer tried to move the pallets to get to the shingles underneath.
At noon today I let the cattle into my yard to eat the grass down. They've been doing an excellent job. It is kind of cute as some of the cattle have small birds that follow along side the cattle and eating like the cattle are doing.
As I look outside my front window the herd is taking a siesta break.
Let's see... 15... 16... 17... 17.... 17! Where are the other three?
Oh No!! Just a minute! Jailbreak!
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I'm back.
Three cattle bent the latch on my little walk through gate that is between my back yard and the hayfield and they pushed open the gate. Even though they were just inside the hayfield, judging from the eaten grass they had been there for some minutes. I opened the large gate and quickly herded them back into the yard. This field has alfalfa and without the prep of a bloat block the cattle can bloat from eating lots of alfalfa. I believe I got them out in time.
I bent the latch back into shape and closed the gate. I found a small chain and wrapped it around the latch. That done the cattle came over to check it out. Curses! Foiled again!
I got my camera and came out to discover one of the cattle studying the latch on the large gate. "How did he open it?" *sigh*
Some cattle are too smart. The large gate latch can be seen on the second from the ground board in the above photo on the left. Doesn't she have a guilty look below?
Just a minute... I hear a noise outside.
I'm back. One heifer was pushing a large rock around my porch. This is the rock I got when Tammy and I were returning from the nursery near Plains, MT. My "Tammy Rock". The heifer was scratching her forehead on the rock and pushed it here and there until she tipped it over. The rock didn't break but she got a guilty look on her face when the other heifers stopped to look at her and the noise she made when the rock fell.
The "Tammy Rock". Standing... laying.
*sigh* Kids!
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Okay... I am back again. The cattle would prefer to stay in the yard overnight. But while I may be crazy enough to have cattle in my yard, I am not crazy enough to leave them there overnight. I decided to use a carrot instead of a stick and I put a bale of hay in the corral's feeder. I got the attention of a couple nearby cattle; they alerted the others and they all came running. I just had to get out the way. Well... there were a couple cattle that lingered by the gate. They were suspicious it was a trap but eventually they moved inside and I closed the gate.
*whew*
Another day at the Tall Pines Ranch.
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