Lightning Picasso in heat

Around noon I seen Lightning Picasso was in heat and Fritz the bull was attentive.  Around and around they went.  Fritz tried to satisfy her but Lightning wasn't in the right spot or would move a bit.  Lightning wanted 'action' now and when Fritz took a rest before trying again Lightning would mount Fritz.

The action took place in the corral.   Lightning and Fritz are behind cow 31.

Fritz is standing in first photo behind Lightning.  Second photo shows Lightning getting impatient and then getting on Fritz.

Beulah who was watching came over to Lightning as she just rode Fritz.

Fritz is trying but Lightning is standing too close to the barn and Fritz can't right behind Lighnting.

Fritz took a break from the previous attempt; Lightning can't wait and then she got on Fritz again.

Now Fritz is back at it.

Here is a 15 second video of Lightning on top of Fritz for a bit.  https://youtu.be/5vC25lFNxZg

I checked an hour later and Lightning and Fritz were laying in the corral.  At different spots.  I think Fritz got the job done.  I never saw them together the rest of the day.

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.

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

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.

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!

Cattle

The cows seem to be no longer fighting with Fritz.  But this morning I seen Fritz standing near the feeder but by himself.

Here is a cow next to the feeder.

The heifers are now being weaned.   They are two months older than the other heifers that were weaned this year, and these heifers are not making as much of a fuss.  But they still do cry out for their mothers occasionally as seen below.   The mothers look over at the heifers but they are not crying out like the other mothers did two months ago.  These mothers probably are glad they no longer have to feed their kids.