Most of the snow has melted in the main corral. The corral is still mostly a messy mix of mud, manure and water. About a third of the corral is starting to dry. The areas around the feeders are still the wettest. The standalone feeder stands in a 'lake'. Over the Winter the heat from the cattle melted the snow under where the cattle stood around the feeder. Beyond, the manure from the cattle covered the snow and created a berm around the feeder. I tried digging paths to drain the 'lake'. I found a sheet of ice under the four inches of mud and manure.
Tobey the bull has started to stand in the feeder when he eats. With the two cows off in the NE pasture he has room to step into the feeder. The problem is that he can break the boards that make up the feeder's floor. This morning I found another broken board. The third broken board the past few weeks. Half of the other boards were knocked down into the water below. The floor boards are held up by boards that make a small ledge all the way around the feeder. Some of the ledge's boards are partially broken. Also the cattle pushing against the feeder's side are making the feeder cock-eyed. I placed cement blocks under one side of half the feeder to keep the boards up. That enabled the cattle to eat from the feeder this morning.
While feeding from large hay bales appears to be allowing me to stretch my hay through the Winter, this afternoon I placed a large hay bale out in the north pasture. This hay was from Calvin's field of tall grass. In the past hay from these bales was hard to separate and load into the pickup. So I will let the cattle eat from another one of these hay bales directly. Hopefully in four days the corral will be drier and I can get back to twice-a-day feeding. (Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow morning.)
Speaking of bulls standing on their hay, I've noticed on my bicycle riding route that Chris's three bulls push their metal feeder off a large hay bale so they can stand on the hay and eat it. Chris's metal feeder is a lightweight collapsible feeder more suited for feeding horses. Over and over many different hay bales the bulls push the feeder off the hay and end up running a good portion of the hay. Yesterday and today I seen the feeder tipped over onto its side and two of the bulls standing on the hay with their heads inside the feeder eating the little hay still left inside the feeder. Chris needs to get rid of that feeder and get a heavy duty non-collapsible feeder.
While the feeder has a spot for each of the eleven cows and one bull, the cows went around and around when I let them out of the corral to eat the hay bale. Some wanted what the other cows were eating in case it was better. Other cows refuse to eat next to another cow. Around and around. Eventually they will get it settled.
Cow #110 is still being nice to her calf. In the afternoon she lays next to her calf as the calf sleeps. When the cows went to eat from the hay bale she called the calf to come closer. Unfortunately with the 'go arounds' the calf had to be alert so as not to get stepped on.
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| Cow #110 with two ear tags and hay in her mouth, and her calf. |
Mama usually get pushed around so often she stands back until the other cows settle down.
For some reason Red doesn't like the bull. A number of times she butts heads with Tobey. Here they made loud noises banging their heads together. It seems like Red is the one who wants to fight. Tobey usually just wants to get back to eating hay.
Even though they have a large bale of hay of their own, the three heifers were jealous of the cows and their new hay bale.
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