Knowing and mowing

Cattle sixth sense

Sometimes I just know when the cattle have crossed the river. Thursday for example. I saw the cattle taking their siesta under one of their favorite trees until noon. When I looked out to the pasture around 1 pm they weren't there. Even though they are out of sight when they go to the river to drink, something told me they were doing more than drinking. I went to the river to see.

At the river I found two heifers in my pasture and acting 'kind of lost'. The reason? The rest of the herd was across the river on the peninsula. At least they were on the correct (my) side of the fence. The river level is getting low (136 CFS and dropping) so it is much easier to cross the river now.

I waited and watched and counted the cattle as they came out of the trees to and along the river bank. Eighteen. Good. As I waited the two cattle on my side of the river stood by me and one licked my shoes and hands.

Some of the cattle on the other side of the river stood and stared at me.

"No, you're not in trouble. Just stay on this side of the fence and come back soon once you're done exploring."

I returned back home. A short time later the herd all came back. They listen to me. As the herd crossed from the pasture to the hayfield one heifer stood and bellowed. Soon four heifers came from the trees near the river, the last heifer running to catch up.

With the herd back so soon I gave them apples as a reward. I had missed giving them the apples the previous night so I had half a pail ready for them.

Later that evening when I was mowing grass in the fruit tree and garden area the cattle came to the hayfield/yard fence. After I told them I was going to finish the mowing before getting them more apples they went back to eat, though they remained near the fence.

Some heifers are catching on how to take the apples from my hands. Over the years I've figured out that the cattle have to learn how to do this as it doesn't come naturally to take something from my hand.

At first they want to sniff and check it out before taking the apples. Then they have figure out how to use their tongue or mouth to take it from my hand. In the beginning they often drop the apples. Add in the jostling of other cattle around them and you can see why it takes time. The ones who do learn can vacuum up the apples well. I still watch that they don't bite my fingers though no cattle has ever done so. My hand can get slobbered all over though and sometimes my hand gets into their mouth a little more than I would like.

The benefits for the cattle taking the apples from my hand is that they do get the apple. When I toss it on the ground several cattle often go for it and the fastest and pushiest wins. When feeding apples to the cattle I remain on the opposite side of the fence as they can get into a frenzy and major shoving match in an effort to get all the apples they can.

The Eagle had landed

The other day, as I approached the river, I heard a loud splash before I could see the water. When I got to the river I saw a large bird splashing about in the river. Initially I thought it was a heron. That was until I saw the bird take off. It was an eagle. Apparently it tried to grab a fish. I didn't see anything in its claws but as I was a distance away it could have had a small fish that I couldn't see. I was spending more time trying to identify the bird than seeing what it carried.

Mowing a pasture

Earlier I mentioned mowing the grass. I mowed around the house and a little elsewhere in the yard. Then it was off to mow part of the pasture. I have been spraying the north pasture and got half of it done. There is an open area between two groves of trees, about a third of the north pasture.. The weeds are very bad there. Last year I spent lots of time and spray attacking the knapweed that grew there. That paid off as there is only about a quarter of the knapweed of last year. The yarrow is another story.

Last year it was so dry the yarrow was dormant when I sprayed this area and the herbicide had little to no effect on it. This year, being wetter, means the yarrow is not dormant. But it is heading in that direction with the recent heat and dry weather. Also I've noticed this year the knapweed and yarrow weeds that are just above ground are affected much much quicker by the herbicide than these weeds that have some height and are starting to form seeds.

My solution? Mow the weeds in this "third". The grass between the weeds has been eaten down by the cattle. There are enough weeds to make mowing worthwhile. And it will save me time and herbicide as I don't have to spray all the weeds' stalks.

I set the lawn mower on the highest height and started mowing. I got half this area mowed before I ran out of gas and it got dark. I found that these weeds' stalks and stems were wiry and tough and I had to take care not to mow too fast so as not to miss cutting some of the weeds.

Cattle broker

I should have no problem selling my cattle in September. Rich, a local cattle broker, called me this morning asking what I had to sell. He is putting a semi-load of cattle together for sale in September and he is looking for cattle in my weight range. Really looking. If you know me I don't easily commit, especially the longer the time line. Rich was pushing me to commit to selling him the cattle though I mentioned another party told me they are interested in buying a few heifers as replacement heifers, and I planned on checking with both Rich and the auction house in Missoula when it got closer to selling my cattle.