Broken fence into the hayfield

*Sigh*

Maria and Diamond are always getting into trouble. They are still eating the grass in the yard. To make sure they concentrate on the yard I closed the gate to the NE pasture.  This also prevents them from trying to get back to the hay bales.  In the afternoon they all were eating in the front yard.  Late afternoon I went out to the south pasture to check my pocket gopher traps.  Then I began to put away the pipes from one of the irrigation lines.  I was halfway through the line when I noticed Maria, Diamond and their calves in the hayfield over by the house.  They - meaning Maria - broke through the fence in the backyard.  They were still near the broken fence so they had just gotten through the fence.

I opened the gate to the yard.  I herded Diamond's calf to the gate and Diamond followed.  They went back into the corral and I closed that gate to keep them in.  Maria's calf ran further into the hayfield when I tried to herd her to the gate.  Maria then followed.  They kept running when I tried to herd them.  They were super excited to be in the hayfield and did not want to go back into the yard. They ran over to the gate to the middle pasture.  I stopped them from running further into the hayfield and they turned and ran to the gate to the north pasture.  Toby saw what was happening and he got all excited.  His head was up high and he was running along the north/middle pasture fence and heading to the gate.

As I got closer Maria and her calf took off along the fence and went back towards the house. Once they got to the open gate to the backyard the calf looked like she was going to veer away and back into the hayfield.  But Maria went through the gate so the calf turned and went through also.

*Whew*

I got some extra gates and blocked the broken fence and more of the fence that wasn't broken.  Maria and her calf were not too happy with this.  They came back and wanted through the broken fence and into the hayfield.  They studied the fence but so far have not found a way through my barrier.

It is good I caught them when I did as the alfalfa is growing and having been cut two times this year is really rich now.  Pigs that Maria and Diamond are they would overeat and bloat and die.  I was looking at Diamond this afternoon and she is so fat she looks pregnant with a calf.  They have about a days worth of grass left to eat in the yard and then I can let them out into the north pasture.

So my work priorities have once again been altered by the cattle.  Putting in a newer gate and rebuilding this fence was on my to-do list for later.  It is now higher on my to-do list.