Cattle in the yard

Yesterday evening I let the cattle out of the corral and into my backyard so they can eat grass.  First I spent hours cattle proofing the entire yard.  Cattle panels and fence/wiring to protect trees and other areas in the yard. I also decided to put corral panels up in part of the hayfield.  A small area where the patio sticks out is an area I can't reach with the swather to cut hay.  To cut the grass I have to use a hand scythe.  There are two areas I can't reach due to the patio sticking out.  I put up corral panels from the gate to one of the areas.  I also split the yard in two.  I wanted the cattle to eat the back half first.

I let the cattle out between 8 and 9 pm. 

Because I don't trust the cattle, after midnight I herded the half who weren't in the corral, into the corral and closed the gate.  This morning after 8 am I let the cattle back into the backyard.

Around noon, since the grass in the hayfield section was mostly eaten, I closed the hayfield gate to keep the cattle from this area.  When the grass is really eaten the cattle will push on the corral panels and I didn't want anything to happen where I would have to herd the cattle out of the entire hayfield.

Before and after.

You can see how the cattle ate the grass.

I let the cattle spend the afternoon eating the grass in the backyard really down.  Around 6 pm I moved some corral panels around to protect the bushes in front of my house and then let the cattle into the entire yard.

Since I rebuilt the yard/hayfield fence last year I feel much more confident the cattle won't break through the fence and get into the hayfield.  So I will let the cattle stay in the yard overnight.

The house to the garage is where I previous had the corral panels to split the yard.  That is why the grass is short then taller.

After checking things out the calves all liked to lay in the tall grass.

Mama.