Out of the corral

The weather was nice today so I got another large bale of hay for the cattle.  I planned on dragging the bale into the corral but I could not gently get the cattle to leave the corral.  If I yelled and made a fuss perhaps I could have done so.  Most of the cattle moved to the open gate but Buddy the bull just stood and watched me walk back and forth herding the cows around him.  Then Beulah and Momma - the two smartest cows - kept circling around Buddy to get back to the wooden feeder.  They thought I planned on tossing more hay into that feeder.

So I gave up after a light bulb went on in my mind.  I don't need for the cattle to be locked in the corral right now.  Why not put the bale in the north pasture?

That's what I did.  I shut the corral gate locking the cattle inside the corral and then drug the bale into the north pasture through the NE pasture gate.

The temperature was slightly above freezing. Even though the ground was frozen, the top layer was muddy/icy.  It took some jerking to get the bale to move.  Once it moved I kept going.  All four wheels spun mud as you can see below.

Having the bale in the north pasture also helps with the manure problem.  Right now, after six bales in the corral the area around the feeder is a big mess of mud and manure.  Dispersing manure in the north pasture will be easier than removing manure from the corral.

I had to roll the metal feeder from the corral to the north pasture and the bale.  I thought getting the feeder through the gate without the cattle would be a problem but the cattle hung around the wooden feeder and some checked out the spot where the metal feeder had sat earlier.  So I was able to roll the feeder through the gate without dodging cattle.


Once I had everything ready I opened the gate and had to encourage the cattle to come.  They stood around the wooden feeder until the red heifer came out.  Once she neared the bale the other cattle noticed and came out too.

The cattle stood at the bale feeding all afternoon.  Late afternoon I checked and saw they had made a mess as some hay lay on the ground around the feeder. I don't like it when they waste hay.


Here is a short video of the cattle coming out to the hay bale: http://youtu.be/EcsGEK6jX0U