Temporary corral 2

I set up another temporary corral on Thursday to let the cattle eat some more green grass.  This area was over the septic system drain field where the grass grows tall.  So tall that once the cattle are allowed into the hayfield later this year the grass over the drain field is so tall the grass stems bend when stepped on and do not recover.  The grass often goes to waste and is not eaten.  Last year I set up a temporary corral over this area and found the grass regrew to a decent height later and was eaten by the cattle.

At the start of the drain field the grass as almost as tall as the calves.

Learning from the previous temporary corral, I placed steel T posts outside of each panel "loop" instead of one post in the center of the panel.  I had no problems with heifers getting their head stuck even though they did put their head under the rest of the panels to reach grass on the other side.

For the fence with the yard I added temporary boards.  In the past the old top boards were broken by livestock leaning over the fence (usually by horses).

For one section of fence that have boards vertical instead of horizontal I tested the fence and it seemed solid.

Wrong.

All day the cattle behaved.  I decided to let them stay here overnight instead of herding them back into the corral.   Big mistake.

After dark I thought I heard cattle walking in the yard but put it down to hearing cattle along the fence with the yard.  A bit later I thought I heard a car honk on the road.  I put that down to deer.   But a few minutes later I turned the outside light on and looked outside to see some cattle walking in the driveway!

I ran to close the gate at the road  A pickup stopped to tell me they saw one of the cattle on the road.  They saw it run back towards my driveway but weren't sure if it turned into my driveway or ran down the road. It is hard to see a black cow in the dark, especially when there was no moon.

After I closed the gate I ran to open the corral gate.  Once that was open I found the cattle had gathered near the driveway gate.  I herded them to the corral.  They ran around the house and stopped.  I caught up to them and started to herd them again.  Rose, another independent calf from Momma like Baby was, went left and then towards me when the herd went right.  Momma was concerned.  And I was concerned about Momma getting over protective and I stepped aside to let them pass.  Once the herd was back towards the corral gate I went back and herded Momma and Rose.

Did Momma and Rose go rejoin the cattle?  No, they went back into the temporary corral over the broken fence.  I had Tammy watch that they didn't come back out while I got the rest of the cattle into the corral.  Then I got Momma and Rose from the temporary corral back into the corral.

*whew*

In the dark it was hard to see the black cattle.  Tammy and I looked around and discovered one heifer hiding among the logs waiting to be split.  I herded her into the corral.

The people in the pickup said they drove down the road but didn't see any cattle.  The cattle were still a little agitated so I didn't want to go in the corral to count heads.  But my flashlight wasn't strong enough to see the cattle from the fence.   Tammy's smartphone had a stronger light  than my flashlight.  I had to enter the corral.  I mainly stood in the empty wooden feeder and did a head count.  All cattle and calves were in the corral and were calming down.

The broken fence after I flipped it back into the temporary corral

My 'temporary' fix until I can rebuild all of this fence.

Friday afternoon I let the cattle back into the temporary corral to finish eating the grass.  After almost 18 hours later they immediately headed to where they broke the fence and they were disappointed to find it fixed.

This doesn't show well how much the grass was eaten down since the taller grass was at the far end, but in less than a day the grass was mostly eaten.

Here is a short video of the calves running around the temporary corral just after they entered it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAe5aAeGfUg&feature=youtu.be

Baby calf 3

I am behind as today is May 28 and I am only around to baby calf number 3 who was born on Wednesday afternoon May 7.  This calf is a girl.

Again I just missed the birth.  I did get to see her first attempts to stand and the first time she drank from her mother.

The video shows her first attempts to stand and her first time drinking.  Now a few weeks later she zooms around the corral like a rocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VsIu89AoAk&feature=youtu.be

Temporary corral 1

Monday afternoon I let the cattle have a treat: green grass.  I used six corral panels and 1 unused gate to make a temporary corral off the north side of the corral.  The grass north of the loafing shed is taller and I find the horses use this area as one of their bathrooms and tend not to eat much of the grass, "wasting" it.

I reinforced the temporary panels by driving a metal T post along each panel and I wired the panel to the post.  It was worth doing.

Several of the cattle - heifers - will go under the panels to get more grass.  They are too smart for their own good.

The problem with them going under the panel is that sometimes they put their head through the loop the panels sit on.   That is part of why I sat and watched as they ate and watched for trouble.  The first heifer put her head through the red loop then had trouble getting it back out.

Years ago when I was hosting some of Dan's cattle in my corral he put up a few temporary panels to block part of my corral off.  One of his cattle got its head stuck in a panel's loop.  I wasn't there to see it and discovered it many hours later after it had pulled the line of panels loose until it couldn't move the panels anymore.  Dan helped the animal get its head free.

When cattle get stuck sometimes they find it easier to move forward than back, even if it is the wrong move.  That is what my heifer started doing.  I had the panels wired to secure them but...    So I jumped on the panel above the heifer's head to weigh the panel down.  This also had the effect of discouraging the heifer from moving forward for the most part.  In the photo below you can see the line of panels are no longer straight as the heifer did try to move forward a couple of times to get out.

With my foot I tried to guide the heifer to turn her head slightly to get it back out and after a little while she did.

The loops on the red panel are a little larger than the green panel's loop.   Still, Dan's cattle got stuck in a green panel loop so it can happen.  Sure enough a little later another heifer got her head through a green panel loop before I could move to discourage her.

Again I jumped on the panel to weigh it down.  It was a challenge to get her loose and took quite some time.  Other cattle stood behind her watching which also encouraged her to try to move forward and she make several strong efforts to move forward.  I had to shoo the other cattle away.  I found that when the heifer tried to run forward, that if I put my foot on her head that would get her to stop.

Part of what stopped the heifer from getting her head back out is that her ears popped out once she got her head through the loop.  She had to have her head straight and ears back to get out of the loop.  Hanging onto the panels I reached down and slipped one ear back.  I had trouble with the other ear.  I didn't dare kneel down and use both hands in case she made a run forward.  So I pushed with my foot when she had head head straight and not turned to the side.  I pushed her when she pulled back and both of our efforts got her head out.  I expect she will have a sore head, neck and ears for a little while.

After a couple hours the grass was all eaten and I closed the corral gates and dismantled the temporary corral.

 

Momma got to eat some grass but she spent only half the time in the temporary corral.  I don't know if it was because she was full or the other cattle made her feel unwelcome.  Probably a little of both.

The bull calf's balls haven't fallen off yet.  They do look dried and leathery.

Momma merge and fight

This morning I let Momma and Rose out of the loading corral and back with the rest of the cattle in the corral.  The rest were eating fresh hay I had put out for them.  I am not positive but I think when Momma went to the feeder she either started a fight or pushed to get at the hay and, instead of making way for Momma, a big fight broke out.

Here is a short 18 second video of the fight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0rTaSiB__4&feature=youtu.be

Shortly after I stopped videoing and prepared to intervene Momma got up and ran off.

The cows fight dirty.  Each cow tries to reach the other cow's udder and drink milk.  Momma is at a little disadvantage is she is smaller than the other cows. When a cow latches on a nipple the other cow tries to kick it off before she can relax and just stand there.

Momma was outnumbered for a little bit as a second cow joined to fight her.  Mostly an all black cow fought Momma.  Momma gave up and tried to leave as she was outmatched by the large cow.  But the black cow was having none of it.  She followed Momma all around the corral and tried to pick a fight.

Then Momma made the mistake of going into the loading ramp part of the corral, which was a dead end.  I got a stick and from outside the fence waved it at the black cow who then turned around and left. Once Momma and Rose left I closed the gate to the loading ramp so no one could get trapped in a dead end again.

The fighting was for the most part over, but Momma wasn't able to join in to eat hay as some other cow would push her away from both feeders when she tried to join in.  Momma didn't get much hay.

Later I pulled some tall green grass and fed some to the cattle.  To ensure Momma got some green grass I closed the gate by the barn to temporarily separate Momma from the other cattle.  Her calf was nearby and Momma charged towards me as I worked the gate.  She backed off when I shouted at her to back off and tapped her on the head.

I then went and got more grass and gave it to her.

Rose ran around and around the corral and got some of the other calves to run with her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-o3XzZSo38&feature=youtu.be


Rose got into a few fights with some of the other calves which got the other mothers upset. I'm not sure if Rose or the other calves started it. For a minute I thought Beulah was going to hurt Rose when Beulah bawled, jumped and bucked and ran towards Rose.  When Rose moved away from Beulah's calf Beulah settled down.

I don't know if the black cattle are discriminating against Momma because she is red and not one of them.  Or if Momma got too over protective after her calf was born and got 'bitchy' and wanted to fight and now the other cattle don't want much to do with her.  I'm looking forward to releasing the cattle to the pasture within the week. Maybe with more room there will be less fighting. I don't know.  I remember heifers in the past who held a grudge with other heifers and would fight and fight for the longest time.


I watched the activities from the top of the loading corral fence.  Daisy came and joined me.  Here Daisy is watching Rose.

This is how Daisy got up to me and then back down.  From the stack of railroad ties she climbed to the top of the fence then walked the narrow fence - without falling.  She made me nervous though.

Yard sale done

I survived day two of the yard sale. Tammy read the weather forecast for Friday night and said it was going to rain.  So we covered the tables with tarps.  Tammy was right. It rained overnight.  Fortunately the rain stopped by the start of the yard sale at 9 am.

The weather varied during the day. Over and over of: sunny, warm, cloudy, cool, windy, several instances of light rain which meant I moved some tables under the pine tree and covered others.  It could have been worse.  People told me it was raining hard in town and some garage sales were canceled.

We sold more stuff on Saturday.  Not as much stuff as on Friday, but still worth it.  Tammy spend a few hours this noontime at  baby shower for her "daughter" here in the Flathead so I was on my own.

In the end we got rid of lots of stuff. Over $200 worth of stuff.  Lots of .25 and .50 cent items. Tammy didn't want to store most of  her remaining stuff to try again at another yard sale so she loaded it up in her minivan for donation.   My neighbor Jan had some of her stuff at our sale and she didn't want anything back.  Her stuff went into Tammy's minivan for donation.  I donated some stuff, tossed some stuff  in the burn pile, and put some boxes of stuff back into the bunk house for a future yard sale some years down the line.

Now to put the future yard sale stuff back into the bunk house and clean and organize the inside of the bunk house.

Cattle, corral, well, yard sale

Busy. Busy.

Six calves born.  Waiting on the seventh.  The previous owner said the cow gave birth last year much later than the others.  I hope it is not too much later this year.

I rebuilt the west and south sides of the corral and hung two gates in the corral.  30 railroad ties and lots of boards and nails.  More to do but I am at a point where I can take a break from fence work.

The livestock well is in.  More complicated and more expensive.  More to do to get the pump(s) working.

Friday (yesterday) and Saturday (today) Tammy and I are holding a yard sale.  Got rid of lots on Friday.  Lots more to get rid of.

How the sale looked Friday morning a few hours after the sale started.  Note: the windmill is not for sale.  We had several people ask if they could buy it.

I hope to get caught up soon where I can post more photos of calves, corral and the well.

Cattle headaches

On Saturday the cattle broke the round metal feeder again.  The hay bale was almost gone and Beulah pushed to reach the last of the hay in the middle and broke the feeder.  The feeder is tough but it is showing its age.  And Beulah is big and strong.   Wyatt welded it for me with his new welder.  I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for another feeder this summer.

When I returned from Wyatt's house I only saw Beulah and her calf in the corral.  Momma and Rose were in the loading corral but the rest of the herd was gone.  I looked around and the gates were closed and the temporary corral panels were all standing.  Then I saw the open barn door.   Earlier when I saw the broken feeder I got the hay fork from the barn.  I forgot to close the barn door all the way shut.  One of the cattle must have gotten her head inside the opening and pushed the heavy barn door sideways to open it.

The barn was crowded inside with cattle and it was a mess.   The cattle had pulled some of the hay bales down and broke them and spread them around the barn floor. And crapped on the floor and hay.  A major mess.  I yelled at the cattle to get out and they did.   After I closed the door and left, they came and hung around outside the door trying to figure out how to get back inside until I got the metal feeder put back together and a new bale in it.

Tonight I worked on the hay in the loading corral with Momma and Rose.  I had a small large bale in there for them to eat.  I hadn't planned on them being in there so long.  When the bale got smaller Momma started to spread the hay around. Then she and Rose stood on it.  Of course Momma preferred to eat the hay not spread about or crapped on.  I don't have extra hay to waste.

Momma seems calmer and doesn't charge me when I stand just outside the fence.  Still I don't trust her.  So I enticed her and Rose into another part of the loading corral and closed the gate.  I got an extra water trough, placed it in the loading corral and put some of the good hay in there.  The rest of the hay I threw outside the loading corral where no cattle can reach it and I'll feed it to Momma as needed.

The rest of the cattle have hay but they stood outside the other part of the loading corral by Momma and Rose and bellowed their insistence on joining Momma and Rose.  When I finished with the hay and water trough and let Momma and Rose back to the hay the cattle then stood outside the gate and bellowed and complained at not being allowed to the water trough and hay.  As I said they have plenty of hay in the metal feeder so I was annoyed at their complaining that "the grass was greener on the other side".

Two calves in loading corral

For their first couple of days I placed the first two calves and their mothers in the loading corral so the calves wouldn't get accidentally stepped on by the other cattle.

Momma and Rose the first night before moving to the corral.

The cattle learn real young that getting the chain loose is a key to a jailbreak.

After a couple days I let the black mother and calf back into the corral to be with the rest of the cattle.  The calf ran here and there checking stuff out with her mother trailing behind.  They settled down quick.  In the evening I let Momma and Rose out into the corral.  Rose ran around here and there with Momma trailing behind mooing her concern.

The next morning I had to enter the corral to go the the barn to get my hay fork.  Rose was laying by the wood feeder and Momma was by the water trough next to the corral fence and gate.  I got halfway to the barn when Momma charged me and chased me out of the corral.  She then went over to stand by Rose.

Later in the morning Momma was fighting with other cows.  Mean fights.  I could hear when their heads knocked together.  Then they fought pushing again their sides.  The other cow then started to suck on Momma's udder.  After kicking a few times Momma calm down while the other cow drank and drank.

I went into the corral with a stick and tapped the other cow on her behind to get her to stop.  She did.  Then Momma ran towards me and pushed into me before I could get out of the corral and she lifted me off the ground.  I got out of the corral without falling down.  Momma then went back to fighting other cattle.

From the fence I was able to wave a long stick when they got nearby and got them to stop fighting.

An hour later Momma was fighting with another cow.  Same thing: knocking heads together, then pushing on their sides until the other cow got ahold of Momma's udder and began to drink.

It took a while but I finally enticed Momma back into the loading corral.  Daisy and Tammy helped.  Then I carried Rose into the loading corral.  For a few days Momma would charge me whenever I approached the fence.  Tammy had better luck as Momma only occasionally charged her when she stood near the fence.

Momma and Rose are still in the loading corral.  I think Momma has calmed down some, but I am waiting a little longer before releasing her into the overall corral.


Here is a video of the calves.   The last few seconds shows Momma fighting another cow.  My camera's batteries quit so I only captured a few seconds of a long fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-npJlTNzY&feature=youtu.be

Baby calf 2 video

Here is a video of Momma's baby calf's (Rose) first attempts at standing shortly after being born.   Notice that once Rose is standing Momma walks around so that her udder is next to Rose's face.  Poor Rose is too focused on standing to find the milk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSctgqI5vV0&feature=youtu.be

Baby calf 2

Back on May 5 two calves were born.  The first calf (which I mentioned in an earlier post) was born around noon.  Momma's calf was born just after 6 pm.  I just missed seeing the birth.  The calf was still "gooey" when I saw her.

Momma was protective of her calf.  She shook her head at me and snorted when I tried to approach the calf.  So I was unable to spray some gentle iodine on her navel.  Yes, the calf is a girl.  And while my Aunt Diane wanted to name Momma's calf, we'll let her name another calf as Tammy and I have named this calf: "Rose".

First attempt at getting up.

A very brief rain shower

Licking the goo off Rose.

Trying to stand for the first time.

Daisy was fascinated with the new calf.  But she decided not to go into the corral to get a closer look.  Instead she laid by a little tree just outside the corral and watched Momma and the new calf.

And did a little grooming.

And a little scratching.

Later in the evening as I worked on a corral gate Daisy checked out Momma and Rose.

Later when Tammy came back outside to see Rose, Daisy posed for Tammy.