Okay, That Didn’t Work
November 25th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in farming
Here’s our Jersey heifer Emily looking a bit sheepish after she thwarted our efforts to move her off the upper pasture and out of a particularly harsh bit of winter weather.
With temperatures supposed to drop into single digits overnight and a wind advisory predicting gusts up to 50 mph., we thought the permanent paddock with its three-sided shelter and heated water trough would be a safer place for the cow. We imagined leading her down the hill out of the pasture, but Emily picked this very moment to completely reject her rope halter. The best we could do was loop it around her neck (it’s supposed to fit over her nose and ears) and we were afraid of choking her.
After messing with the halter for a good part of the 10-degree morning, we finally decided to try enticing her down the hill with her feed bucket. Here’s a news flash: cows aren’t dogs. They don’t heel. As soon as we opened the fencing, Emily took off, wandering this way and that, not coming when we called her, trying every which way to avoid us, trotting in the wrong direction with us flailing behind in frantic pursuit.
At last, we were able to triangulate around her and get her pointed back toward the sheep, who were watching these goings on with great amusement from behind the electric netting. By this time, however, my wife had stomped off back to the house in utter frustration. “Why can’t we do this when it’s warm!?” were her parting words.
Actually, she had a few other things to say–something about getting a new cow. But daughter and I were delighted to have restored the status quo–Emily and the sheep peacefully ruinted inside their temporary paddock. And it could have been so much worse. It could have been snowing. Instead, we had a glorious, cloudless day. Even when the sun is low in the winter sky, it feels good. Even when you’ve failed utterly in your task.
We learned our lesson. We’ll just have to go back to the drawing board where the rope halter is concerned. Emily obviously needs a refresher course.
I did regret that Emily would have to spend such a cold, blustery night without shelter. But she has become such good friends with our five Friesian ewes, I imagined them all spending the frigid night curled up together for warmth.
The inconvenience for me is the certainty of the animals’ water freezing and me having to lug H2O around in buckets. Periodically, I break through the ice in the trough (or big plastic tub) so the animals can drink. And I imagine this morning I’ll be facing one big block of ice.
Oh, well. At least we now have a frost-free hydrant close by. It just means de-icing the trough and refilling it. There’s still plenty of grass on the pasture to eat, though it is starting to turn brown at this point. Eventually, though, Emily will have to face the music and allow herself to be moved to winter quarters.
I hope that’s not too soon. Average daytime temperatures in these parts are in the mid to upper 30s almost through Christmas. The rest of the weeks is supposed to alternate between very cold and somewhat balmy, sunny, rainy or snowing. Take your pick.
I guess we’ll muddle through somehow.
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