Last night as I was finishing up chores, I kept hearing some of the range cattle yelling back & forth. One sounded like a calf either real close or with a really loud voice. I looked up & here comes a little black calf across the wash running as fast as his little "week" old legs would carry him, headed towards where the mooing was coming from. Obviously he had taken a wrong turn & managed to get thru the fence onto our property, while momma continued down the road. I think I might have been the first human he had seen, because he certainly wasn't impressed & upped the speed a bit, with bucking thrown in. It's hard enough to "herd" cows thru the mesquite when they get on the property. But he was so small I lost track of him almost immediately, so headed thru the brush in the same direction he was headed, when I last saw him. Never saw him again, by the time I got to the corner fence, I guess he had figured out how to go thru & hook up with momma. They had disappeared on down the road.
It's always a challenge to get cows out. You would think if we manage to get ahead of them, open the gate & head them in that direction they would see the 16 foot wide opening & figure out that's the path to freedom. Cows don't seem to be able to assimilate that information & use it wisely, without many abortive attempts. Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often.
Poor little Justin has a sore leg right now. I don't know what he did, it looks OK, no swelling or painful areas. But he's not putting a lot of weight on it. He probably stepped wrong. His Mom is a firm believer in exercise. She says that as a flight animal unless there is some good reason to keep them penned up, they are better off being able to move around. Yesterday I tried to look at it & you would have thought I was trying to cut it off with a dull knife from the way he acted. Finally had to halter him & put him in the squeeze we made from 2 corral panels. It's amazing how they figure out when the fight is over, & give up quickly. At least most of them do, & he was no exception. Of course he wouldn't have anything to do with us when we let him out for awhile. We had to pay for getting the best of him I guess.
It's always a challenge to get cows out. You would think if we manage to get ahead of them, open the gate & head them in that direction they would see the 16 foot wide opening & figure out that's the path to freedom. Cows don't seem to be able to assimilate that information & use it wisely, without many abortive attempts. Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often.
Poor little Justin has a sore leg right now. I don't know what he did, it looks OK, no swelling or painful areas. But he's not putting a lot of weight on it. He probably stepped wrong. His Mom is a firm believer in exercise. She says that as a flight animal unless there is some good reason to keep them penned up, they are better off being able to move around. Yesterday I tried to look at it & you would have thought I was trying to cut it off with a dull knife from the way he acted. Finally had to halter him & put him in the squeeze we made from 2 corral panels. It's amazing how they figure out when the fight is over, & give up quickly. At least most of them do, & he was no exception. Of course he wouldn't have anything to do with us when we let him out for awhile. We had to pay for getting the best of him I guess.
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