Temporary corral

Even with the three large bales of hay I had bought, it looks like the hay for the cattle will not last until June 1.  They have healthy appetites.

I juggled feeding small hay bales with the time I would be in Las Vegas.  I needed the last large bale for those four days to make sure the hay would last while I was gone.

Remember the corral panels I bought last month (early April?  My, how time flies!), I used them - along with gates I have not hung yet - to make a temporary area for the cattle to get to grass.  I had to use five gates to reach from a corral gate over to the yard fence.  Note to self: buy more corral panels.

Even though the corral panels hook together I ended up driving some steel t-posts in the ground to keep the panels upright.  The uneven ground may be why the panels wanted to tip over.  As cattle push against stuff, the t-posts also prevented the cattle from pushing the panels over.

I had an area of grass next to the corral that would be perfect for the cattle.  Much of this area is the drain field for one of my septic tanks.  Usually by the time the cattle are moved to the hayfield this area's grass is fence high.  What happens is that the cattle walk and lay on this grass and since is tall and stemy the grass gets flattened and not much is eaten.

Letting the cattle take an initial bite of the grass may reduce its height later and it won't get flattened so easily.  I'll see later this Summer.

I attached extra gates to the corral panels when I ran out of panels.

This grass lasted exactly two days before the cattle mowed it down to golf course height.  At least it bought me two days and gave the cattle a change of pace from eating hay.  With all the rain we got since then the grass is coming back nicely.


Here is a 7:42 video of when I let the cattle into the temporary corral.  Some cattle more than others understood what an open gate to a new area meant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5F-p_ECTR8