Cows with bull

Yesterday morning I let the cows into the bull's part of the corral so they can eat his hay.  This is the last hay bale for the Spring, and after the bale is eaten they will be let out into the yard to eat grass.   I knew the cows would have eaten their hay bale by morning so when I woke up at 7 am I went outside to let the cows into the bull's part of the corral.  Then I went back to sleep as 7 am is early for me.

The calves loved being in the new part of the corral.  They ran around like wildfire and would jump and kick and twist and turn as they raced each other.  The bull immediately found that cow 20 was in heat.  He wanted to mount her.  She wasn't in standing heat and just wanted to eat some hay.   Around and around she moved to eat hay and the bull followed.  Cow 20 is a big cow.  While Fritz the bull has been getting bigger and taller this Spring, he still is smaller than cow 20.  But Fritz stood tall.  Where there is a will there is a way.  In the afternoon I saw that Fritz was eating on one side of the hay bale and cow 20 was eating on the other side.  I saw cow 20 had her tail sticking out a little bit as she ate.  Not normal when cows eat.  I think the tail stuck out slightly since the bull recently bred her.

The hay bale before I let the cows into this part of the corral.

One calf had decided to climb into the wooden feeder to pick at the leftover grass I had placed in there the evening before.

Photos of Fritz in action.

Once the calves settled down from running around, a number of them stuck their head through the fence to eat grass in the hayfield.

A few videos of the cattle.

Cows to hay bale.   23 seconds long.  https://youtu.be/GHk4SCDVMgg

Bull checking cow 20 out.   The camera's battery was getting low so I didn't get a video of him trying to mount the cow.  14 seconds long.   https://youtu.be/I9PdyQt-bzk

Ditch grass all mowed

This afternoon I got all the grass of what I wanted to mow in the ditch across the road done.  I got two more wheelbarrow loads of grass.  The cattle loved it.  No cows stepped on my foot today.

Ditch grass mowed

Several days left before the cattle are let out onto grass.  Today I decided to mow the grass in some of the ditch outside the ranch.    Last year I mowed the ditch grass, then raked it and fed it to the cattle.  This year I remembered my lawn mower has a bag attachment to catch the grass.  I never used it before.  Some ways easier.  Some ways not.  I don't have to rake the mowed grass.  But as tall as the grass is I had to stop quite a number of times and empty the bag.  And the grass filled now-heavy bag make pushing the lawn mower harder.  About four bags to fill the wheelbarrow.  I filled the wheelbarrow nine or ten times - I lost count.

The cattle loved the grass. They were acting like the grass was a drug.  I figured that after several wheelbarrows of grass they would get satisfied.  Nope.   I had to act fast as they would knock the wheelbarrow over by going for the grass.  Several times a cow half-climbed into the wooden feeder to reach the grass as I wasn't putting it into the feeder fast enough and spreading it out.   And one time a cow was so anxious to eat the grass she stepped on my right foot her front left hoof.  I had to hit her repeatedly with my hands on her side to get her to move and step off my foot.  A big cow but surprisingly my foot is fine.

 

And I mowed the ditch across the road and near my mailbox.  I didn't quite get it done before dark, and therefore didn't get a photo of it.  It was a larger area to mow.

Bull. Wooden feeder.

This morning Fritz put his head through the corral fence.  First to scratch an inch on the back of his neck.  Then to reach down to eat some grass.

Time to put out another large hay bale for the cows.  First I had to put the wooden floor back into the wooden feeder.  With it being drier lately the boards have shrunk a little bit. So I was able to put in another small board to make the floor tight.  Only a handful of days left before the cattle are let out on grass.  I think the floor will hold until then.

Lilacs, Walnut trees, turkeys

Hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend.

Lilacs are blooming now.

English walnut trees are leafing out.  Of the two trees, here is the younger tree.

This is the older tree that went through a few rough Winters. It is coming back again this year.

The hayfield grass is growing good.  It is making it harder for the wild turkeys to move around it.  There are three turkeys that can be seen.  Mainly just their heads sticking up.

Bull puts his head through a fence

Recently I saw Fritz the bull push his head through a fence by the water trough while a cow was drinking.  Fritz wanted to check the cow out to see if she needed some of his loving.  This fence has wire attached to it to stop the cattle from putting their head through the fence.  Fritz pushed the wire back.  I was concerned since the wire has pointed ends and I didn't want the wire ends to poke Fritz's head.  The wire didn't when Fritz withdrew his head.  To fix this problem I added some more wire to this wire and wrapped it around a pole to hold the wire in place.  So far this is working.   We are only days away from me letting Fritz join the ladies.

Cattle second vaccination shot

This evening Michael, Kari and I did the second vaccination shot for the cattle.  We had planned on doing this tomorrow but our schedules changed and it was easy to do today and get it over with.   Earlier I had helped Michael and Kari unload hay bales at Donna's place for Kari's and Michael's horses that they just brought there yesterday for the Summer.

Since this was our second time for the vaccination shots I thought it would be easier now that we know what we are doing.  Yes and no.

Earlier I got all the cattle into the corral as I planned this evening to put out another large hay bale for the cattle in the extended corral.  When Michael and Kari arrived we easily got the cattle into the loading corral.  Since the loading corral had growing grass the cattle quickly went in there.  Then I put the large hay bale out into the extended corral.  I left the gate shut.  This was good as one cow got out of the loading runway into the corral during out vaccinations.

After giving a cow a shot Michael releases the head gate.  Sometimes a cow just stands there and doesn't move.  We would have to encourage the cow to move.  Once the cow is out Michael closes the head gate and get it ready for the next cow.  When the cows are in the loading coral runway we put a board between the cows so that the next cow doesn't make a dash for the open headgate.  Somehow one cow got through the headgate before Michael got it shut as the cow went under the board.  One can't stop a cow when it starts running against you.  So we had to get this cow back into the loading corral.   Around and around we went as this cow wanted to be with the other cows and we didn't want the other cows back into the loading corral.  To make it easier we switched to getting the other cows who already had their vaccination shot out to the hay bale in the extended corral.  The cows wanted to go to the hay bale so this was easier.  Then with only the one cow who needed the vaccination shot we got her back into the loading corral.

That done we vaccinated the remaining few cows and then got them all out into the extended corral and closed the gate.

Next step: the calves.  We got them all into the loading corral runway.  Then I got the tractor and lifted the calf table to get it into position at the gate between the loading corral and loading corral runway.  Now on to the calves.

This was harder than the first time. The calves are a month older and stronger.  Michael and I struggled to get a calf to go into the calf table. We had trouble holding and guiding them.  After two calves and a lot of effort I got my lasso.  I never used the lasso before.  In a small area I was able to get the lasso around a calf's neck.  Then the trouble started.  I thought I could pull the calf to the calf table.  No.  The calf would back up and pull me along.  I couldn't hold the calf in place.  Once the calf had nowhere to back up I tried pulling it forward.  The calf would lock his front legs and feet into the ground and wouldn't move.  Kari or Michael would have to get behind the calf and push it as I pulled.  After we got two calves into the calf table it was time for something else.  The calves had fought me and the lasso, and the lasso squeezed the calf's neck and its tongue would hang out as it cried out as it fought me.  We didn't like this method.  Isn't using lassos the way the cowboys did it?

Michael came up with the idea of using a temporary corral panel to narrow the approach to the calf  table.  I came up with two temporary corral panels so the calves couldn't get around the one panel.   This worked so much better.  We still had calves that fought and didn't want into the calf table but they couldn't verve left around the calf table.  One time we had a calf verve to the right.  The gate was tied to the calf table using twine but this one big calf pushed and pushed and got out.  Fortunately I had earlier closed the loading corral gate.  Now to get this calf back into the loading corral runway.  What a minute. Which calf was it?  We had a lot of discussion as to which calf it was and finally agreed to which calf it was. 

Getting this calf back into the loading corral runway was hard.  I then decided to let the calves already vaccinated out of the loading corral and Kari watched that the unvaccinated calf didn't run out also.  With only this one calf left we got it into the loading corral runway.

The second attempt to vaccinate this calf didn't go well.  We got the calf into the calf table but he backed out before we could close the table to hold the calf.  The third attempt worked.  Four calves left to vaccinate.  The less calves the easier it became.  Earlier with a larger group of calves they all pushed to the far end and it was a hassle to get one calf to turn around and leave the other calves.  The less calves the easier it was to us.

I was glad it wasn't warm today as we still worked up a sweat from all our effort.  Next year we will have to get Donna to help us with the calves.  A fourth person to handle the levers on the calf table would make it easier for Kari as she would go between the levers and vaccination and back to the lever.  She worked.

As one point when we were vaccinating the cows, as Michael and Kari were handling the head gate and vaccinations, I would move cows into and along the runway.  One time a cow turned herself around in the runway.  At the halfway point in the runway I have a gate.  I would close the gate and put a board across to hold the gate so it couldn't be opened.   This cow - I think a replacement heifer - kneeled down and put her head under the gate.  She then lifted herself up and though the gate.  She bent the gate upwards.  That has never happened before.  Not even close.  Later, before putting the calves into the loading corral runway, I had to use a sledgehammer to mostly straighten the gate and then rehang the gate in the loading corral runway.  Michael and I earlier tried jumping on the gate to straighten it but it wouldn't change.   Those cattle are much stronger than one thinks.   Bending a gate?  Really?!

Earlier in the afternoon the bull and the cattle were laying, relaxing, and sunning themselves.

So the vaccinations are done for the year.  Hurray!

Spring Fruit trees

Fruit trees are blossoming.   The photos were taken 11 days ago.   The first two photos of this apple tree were taken two days apart.

The apple tree's blossom photos were also taken two days apart.

The transparent apple tree.  Not as many blossoms on this tree.

These two photos were taken two days apart.

Pear trees.  The good pear tree.

The pear tree that is going backward.

Cherry trees.  Some blossoms on it.  I may get a couple of cherries this year if the birds don't get them first.

The cherry tree that is going backwards.

Apricot tree.  It did leaf out more days later with some more blossoms.

The apricot tree that grows each year, but doesn't grow larger.

English walnut tree.  It grows each year, but slowly.  The tree is over 10 years old.

Serviceberry bush.  Some blossoms on it.

Caragana bushes.

Box elder trees by the house.  I had trimmed them last Spring.  Looks like they are growing well this Spring and no more trimming needed for now.