Thursday, October 29, 2009

And I like cows because... ummmm

The vet came out this morning to blood test and vaccinate Jack the bull. The plan went slightly awry as the little begger had broken out during the night along with the red cow Aurora and while he wasn't an issue to round up again he was feeling less than cheerful about being told where to go and was standing in the yards growling at us. So the vet showed and sorted her stuff out and we put him in the crush. All was well and we thought he would behave (he's a placid lad usually) until she offended his dignity by grasping him firmly by the tail so he practiced his showjumping and left (great scope Jack - you really should have been a horse, you'd be Olympic level for sure). So we had to do what we should have done in the first place which was grab him by the nose ring. Once that was done he behaved and it was all over in less than a minute (maybe he listened to the pep talk I gave him - "It's like this Jack - have the test, get to meet more cows, on the other hand if you don't have the test, you'll be upside down on a hook")

The rain held off until that was over.

I have been keeping an eye on the neighbours heifers who I feel are closer to calving than the neighbours do (they reckoned they weren't in calf and put them back with the bull two months later). So this morning from my window I noticed one girl flat out in their paddock. An hour later she hadn't moved and was still completely prone. I decide to investigate so out I go in the rain, over a couple of fences (complete with hotwires so needing careful negotiation) towards the heifer who hadn't moved. She waited until I was within 5 metres before leaping up and running off. Definitely springing but not calving... At least I know now.

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