Calf 1 - Day 2

Late this morning Donna came over to help me band/castrate my little boy calf.

The calf was laying next to the hay feeder while his mother ate hay.  The mother moved away from the feeder as I approached and then she called softly for her calf to join her.  I walked out of sight around the feeder and came up on the calf without him seeing me.  Then I was able to easily hold him down while Donna applied the band.  All this took only a few minutes and we were done.  No chasing of the calf was needed,

After the band has been applied.

The banding tool is laying in the hay below the calf.

Mom is asking the calf if he is ok after we banded him.

"Let's get out of here before they do something else to you!"

Then we placed temporary coral panels to prevent the cattle from reaching the river for water.  I am not worried about the cattle falling into the river; I am worried about a small calf being knocked into the river.  The river is high right now.  While the drinking area is not in the main current, I am concerned the flow is enough a calf would not be able to get out of the water.

Later in the afternoon Daisy walked out to the check on the cattle.  Then we walked to the river.  Below Daisy is guarding the corral panels to keep the cattle away.