Cows on grass. Bull stuck.

Last evening I let the cows out to grass.  The grass in the back half of my yard.  First I had to cattle-proof the yard.  I split the yard in half.  That is because the cattle prefer the front half grass over the middle part grass that is under the box elder trees. I think the grass tastes different from under the trees.  So I have the cattle eat the front half grass last. Otherwise they eat and eat the front half and try to avoid the grass under the box elder trees.

I put up temporary corral panels to split the yard in half.  I also protect the flowers, leafy trees and patio area.  I didn't start early therefore didn't get done until dark.  The last so many hours the cattle mooed at me to let them out of the corral as I worked on protecting the yard.

After I opened the corral gate to let the cattle out, I went to check on the cattle still in the south part of the corral and the hay feeder area.  I herded the few cows and calves out.  Fritz the bull... Well... he was standing in and out of the metal feeder.  A couple of cows like to stand on the hay in the feeder when eating hay.  Fritz must have decided to copy those cows.  The hay was now all gone and Fritz was now stuck.

A few years ago a replacement heifer did the same thing and got stuck and I had to help her get unstuck.  The way I did it then was to encourage the heifer to completely go into the feeder as she didn't want to backup,  She was then able to get out of the feeder on her own.  I tried to encourage Fritz to completely go into the feeder but he wouldn't move.  I tried to encourage him to back out of the feeder but he wouldn't move.  And I couldn't push him as he is too big for me to move.

I spent over a half hour trying to get Fritz to move.  It was now almost 11 pm and now dark.  I let Fritz be.  Maybe he will figure it out on his own.  I went to bed.  I woke up at 6 am and went out to check on Fritz.  He was still standing there in the same position.  At least 7 hours of standing there.  He was mooing lowly for me to help him as all night he had to stand and watch the cows eat grass in my backyard.

In the daylight I could see he couldn't lift his legs high enough to get over the side of the feeder.  I got a wooden pallet and a number of boards.  I put the pallet down and then worked on getting him to step one leg at a time on the pallet.  Then a level of boards, one for each leg.  Then another level of boards.  Then a third level.  To get him to step on the boards I would have to grab a leg and get him to lift the leg up.  One leg at a time.  And I move slow and watched that he wouldn't try to kick me.  He never did.

With the third level of boards I tried to get Fritz to step over the feeder side.  By now he didn't want to move much.  I helped him lift his leg all the way up and then over the side of the feeder.  I then tried to get Fritz to step into the feeder with his other leg.  Yet again I had to lift his leg up and over while pushing against his backside to squeeze his hips through the upright rungs.

Finally Fritz was in the feeder.  He could move around.  The feeder is an old, repaired feeder.  The distance between some rungs were a little wider than others.  I tried to guide Fritz.  He found a spot and got out of the feeder on his own.  Finally.  Yay!

At 6 am a turkey was watching over things in the corral.

Where Fritz was stuck overnight.

In the feeder now looking for a way out of the feeder.

Success!  Now to find the cows.

When I thought of taking this photo I had already taken over half of the boards back to my stack of boards.

Since the hay bale in this part of the corral takes longer for the bull or replacement heifers to eat I place the hay bale on several wooden pallets.  The pallet in the previous photo survived the Winter.  The two pallets in the photo below didn't.

There was a lot more grass out here last night at 10 pm.  The view after 7 am.

There was still grass available but now the cows - and Fritz here - had to work at eating the grass.  I wanted to watch Fritz to make sure he was okay after being stuck in the feeder.  He was.

Of course Beulah had to stick her head through a fence.  I did more work to further cattle proof the area.

Lower lilac bush leaves.  Overnight the cows had pushed the fence around and ate over half the leaves.  I did more work to protect the rest of the leaves.

The bottom rail was already damaged.  Overnight the cows completely broke the board in an effort to reach the grass in the hayfield.  Another thing for me to fix another day.

I had chicken-wire fencing to protect this English walnut tree's lower branches.  Of course the cows pushed and moved the fencing and got some of the leaves.

Since I had trimmed these box elder trees last year, this year the trunks sprouted lots of new branches.  I didn't mind the cows eating these branches and leaves.  Less for me to trim later. 

Once I got up after noon and had breakfast I noticed Panada was in heat.  Standing heat.   She wanted some action by Fritz.  Poor Fritz.  After standing all night and not eating he wanted to rest.  Panda was not having that.  Often when Fritz mounted Panda she would then take a step or two forward due to his weight.  Since Fritz is a little smaller he needs her to not move so he can get it done.  When he took a rest sometimes Panda would try to mount Fritz.  Often Fritz would lick her back hip while he rested up for the next mount so Panda would stand still and wouldn't try to mount Fritz. It took Fritz an hour or two to satisfy Panda.   After that they went their own ways.  Fritz to eat some more grass.  Panda stood for a little while with her tail stuck out a bit.

I spent part of the afternoon cattle proofing the front half of the yard.  Not as much work was needed.  Some cattle are waiting for me to be done.

The dividing line.  Last night at 10 pm the grass was the same on each side of the fence.

Time to let the cattle out into the front half of the yard.  It is 4 pm.

Last night at 10 pm this area was thick with tall grass.  Not much for me to mow now with a lawnmower.

By dark tonight I noticed the cattle had spent lot more time laying and chewing their cud.  With their bellies full from last night the cattle were eating a little less.  The front half may last more than 18 hours for the cattle to eat.  We'll see.