Hopscotch

Since I was gone Sunday from dusk to dark I never saw my "girls" until Monday morning. I always have a worry this time of year that they will get the itch to roam and will get out.

Yup. Kind of.

I found them in the middle pasture. They had crossed the river to the peninsula and then over to the middle pasture.

*sigh*

I debated what to do. Maybe they'll go back the same way.

Nope. After wandering around to eat they settled in under their favorite large trees near the salt blocks holders. The salt blocks were in the south pasture but no matter they settled in for their siesta.

After breakfast I went out to do a headcount on them and to move the salt blocks to the middle pasture. I had been thinking of moving the cattle back to the middle pasture and hayfield anyway on Monday or Tuesday. I opened the gate to the hayfield and then got the salt blocks from the south pasture.

After I put the salt blocks in the middle pasture's holder most of the cattle got up and checked me out. No one licked my shoes this time but one tried to untie my shoelaces and a few others wanted to rub their head against me.

I did notice two that looked different. One was drooling a lot when she got up. She looked healthy and eventually stopped drooling. Pink made faces. Looking closer her hip bones looked like they were sticking out more than the other cattle. She looked a little thin in her back part. I watched her and she was vigorous and not lethargic. She even head butted a nearby heifer who irked her. She appears to be fine and not sick.

After most of the cattle settled back into their siesta I crossed to the south pasture and went to check out their past doings at the river. Plenty of green grass along the river and on the island. By the time I reached the middle pasture I found the cattle had come to the river to drink.

Then some of them crossed over to the peninsula. The others followed except for #55. She stayed behind. I sat and watched how and where the herd crossed over. A few took different tacks in crossing and not all chose the shallow area. Some are pretty calm in walking in water well above the bottom of their belly.

55 came by me and along the middle pasture section that was fenced. She called to the others but they ignored her. She ate some grass. She looked at the others all now on the peninsula. She tried to step over my simple two-strand barb wire fence but changed her mind as it was just a bit too high to step over. She bellowed. She ate some grass.

As she was the only one left, and I didn't want her to break my fence, I told her to come up the rise past me and over to where there was no fence. She listened but still would look across to the ones on the peninsula. I talked to her some more and came down from the high point. When she started to come towards me I walked back up the rise and then over to the area with no fence and where it was shallow to cross.

55 followed me to the area but still gave me a wide berth and picked her own spot where to cross. I wonder if her crossing last month to visit the bull put a fear of water in her as it looked like she didn't want to cross. But she did and hopped up on the river bank to join the others.

Alright then. I left them as I had other stuff to do.

Later in the afternoon I saw the herd in the south pasture. I went out to open the south/middle pasture gate. They ignored the open gate and stayed in the south pasture where I think they still are.

I think the cattle are having fun messing with me.

Other than that I watered my garden since it never rained. My one surviving pumpkin plant looks to be at the stage it needed to be in June. I am not going to get any pumpkins this year, a first since I started planting pumpkin plants. Still I didn't have the heart to pull the plant and instead watered, which was a waste of time.

It looks to be a typical year for tomato plants. By that I mean I have very large bushy plants but little in the way of tomatoes. I watered them also.

I hadn't watered the strawberry plants since my last weeding. I could tell the difference in leaf color between the ones I recently weeded and the ones I weeded in July when Tammy was here. So I watered all my weeded strawberry plants.

Speaking of weeds I mowed all evening the bad area of yarrow in the middle pasture and got two thirds of the bad section mowed. I'll finish it tomorrow. Then it will be on to attacking the thistle. Some of the thistle in the south pasture has started to open their seed heads.

This warm and dry weather is moving the weed seeds right along. I can tell the yarrow is getting tougher to cut today than last week. The stems are wiry to begin with but now some pass unscathed under and through the lawn mower.