Cattle shuffle

Time to rotate the cattle to the south pasture from the north pasture.  Before doing so I wanted to swap Mama cow and her calf out to the herd and one of the heifers into the corral to keep Diamond company until she has her calf.  Whenever that will be!   I want Mama to be near Toby as starting today this is the earliest she could come into heat.  I don't want Toby to miss Mama's heat cycle.  The sooner she gets impregnated the better.

Donna helped.  We put Diamond in the loading corral to have her out of the way.  Mama and her calf were in the NE pasture by the cock-eyed gate.  So I closed the corral gate to keep them out of the corral.

Toby again was in the corral.  I had let him in the corral in the morning when moving pipes as he was hanging out at the gate looking for Mama and Diamond.   He became interested in my moving pipes and when I crossed from the hayfield into the north pasture he came over.  Then he moved down the fence to near the gate with the hayfield.  I have temporary green corral panels along the fence to fortify the fence as it is old and crappy.  The corral panels end one post short of the gate.  Toby walked over there and initially reached through the fence to the end of the last pipe I had moved.  Then he thought about eating what grass he could reach in the hayfield.  He was bulging against the fence.  I could see him breaking through.  So I opened the gate to the corral and called for him.  After thinking about it for the longest time he sauntered over and through the gate.

Before I let Toby out of the corral in the afternoon I sprayed him with some insecticide to help with the flies and bugs.  He wasn't too keen on being sprayed and would walk away when I tried to spray him.

Once he was out of the corral the herd came from the far side of the pasture to where I have the irrigation pipes spraying water.  When they want something they walk through the water.  But when they don't want something...

Around and around Donna and I herded the cattle and each time they turned from the spraying water and ran past us. Finally I got some hay and set on the ground just outside the corral.  Then all the cattle walked through the water.  I got Beulah's heifer into the corral.  With that done I then let Mama and her calf out of the corral.

The cattle ate the little hay quickly.  I opened the gate to the middle pasture and called.  As I walked to the south pasture gate they knew what was up and came running past me.  Occasionally I had to turn and look to make sure a cow wasn't going to run me over.  A little before I reached the gate I saw Mama's calf run past.  Uh, oh!  Where's Mama?  I turned to see Mama speeding like a missile past the other cows to reach her calf.  In the confusion of cattle she overshot her calf.  When her calf called out she stopped and turned to look to see where she was.  Maria was coming and was unhappy Mama stopped in front of her.  Those two got into a fight pushing head to head.  As Maria is half again (at least) as large as Mama she pushed Mama backward.  By the time I opened the gate their fight was over and the cattle poured through the gate to the south pasture.

Enough excitement for the day.