Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Cattle jailbreak and manure

This morning it was time for another large hay bale for the cattle.  But when I went out to the corral I found the cattle out in the north pasture eating grass.  They had pushed against the temporary corral panels and created an opening.

One panel was bent into a U shape.  One metal t-post was pushed out of the ground.  The wires holding the last panel to the railroad tie were loose.  The cattle moved three corral panels to create an opening.




I put out a new large hay bale. Then I had Donna drive the tractor to help herd the cattle and I herded the cattle on foot and we herded the cattle back into the temporary panels enclosure.  It went much easier than I expected.

I am sure it was cow #7 who pushed against the panels to reach grass on the other side.  While the other cattle were at the hay bale, cow #7 came over to watch me as I replaced the U shaped panel and pounded more metal t-posts to hold the panels in place.  #7 wasn't too happy with my work.

With the cattle back in the corral area I let Sugar and her calf out of the loading corral.  Her calf ran around meeting the other calves.

That was my morning.  In the afternoon it began to rain as I was refilling the cattle's water trough.  I decided to get a rake and try to clear some manure out of the loafing shed.  Sugar had given birth in there and I wasn't fond of her choice to do so.

The manure and straw mixture is still wet under the surface and it was difficult to rake more than just the surface.  The manure just sticks to the rake.

The rain continued and I couldn't do much else outside so I concentrated on the loafing shed section with the smallest thickness of manure.  Hours later I got a lot of the manure and straw out of that loafing shed section.



Here are a few photos of the cattle from yesterday when the sun shone and the cattle were behaving.




Now a days it seems like every time I turn around Buster is drinking from Big Red.


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