Tuesday, September 7, 2010

No bull

The 6 heifers mysteriously showed up in our corrals that night, DH was quite surprised to see them locked down with Meg when he got home. We decided that a kind neighbor must have thought they were ours and not seeing any vehicles home, had penned them for us. We call the Sheriff back to let them know that we now had them so that their owner could be found.

The next day (yesterday), Dh worked 1st and almost an hour after he got home we got a call from someone claiming to own the heifers. It seems they are his "problem" children, lol. He brought his tractor down and even pulled our car out of the ditch :) While we waited for him to come back with his trailer I asked dh to find out if he has a bull we could use. Turns out he lost his bull earlier this year :( As the two continued talking it suddenly dawned on him that that might be why his heifers have been breaking out, I know my girls are sure getting antsy waiting to be bred back. Cows aren't as bad as cats when they are in heat but they aren't too far off, lol.

Our neighbor in the smaller town has promised to loan us one of his bulls next month when he pulls them out of the cow pasture, so it will not be too much longer. Once they are settled they will calm down and settle into their winter routine. That will be a pleasant change of pace. I am now further convinced that a bull is a good investment, even if you just keep him for a short time. As of right now our girls are back to their barn, oh, chip turned out to have been behind the barn the whole time, lol. We'll see what a handsome bull he turns out to be next year and hopefully won't need to buy a bull.

Oh, as for the fencing issue, it turns out that the deer in the area seem to like to jump the hot wire, which they never seem to fully get over so it knocks it down and/or breaks the insulators. Many thanks to the farmer who picked up his rogue heifers as we would have never figured this one out. I don't know that there is a whole lot of alternative but we'll sure be looking.

Meg is also doing much better now that the heat has moved on and she can graze freely all day. It is amazing how the heat can affect cows. He calf is still kicking, as we eagerly await her (yes I'm optimistic) arrival :) Cow buying Tip: it is not wise to go cow shopping alone (if you are inexperienced) and assume pictures will be very good for the person who advises you. Even the best expert should at least see a cow in person before deciding one way or another. Shadows can play far too many tricks on the eyes.

1 comment:

Lori said...

ABSOLUTE amen to that! That's how we ended up with a dairy heifer that calved 3 months later than we were told...ahhh the lessons to learn, huh?