June 1, 2007

tupid cow.. Yes.. I am talking about "Daisy". She is still an ungrateful urchin. We got everything together and I went down to catch her up last night and she ran like a deer away from me, huge udder swaying back and forth like a ball wrecker which knocks down buildings. So we did not milk her last night.

"Mudbog" however... As usual, I grabbed her udder to see if she was bagging up and I got milk out of her. It is clear yet, but she is getting closer. Sooo.. if "Muddy" does give enough milk, I will bottle feed "Blossom" from milk I get from "Muddy" and take "Blossom" away from her mom. I will put "Daisy" in the round pen as per my "FIL" instructions as he was raised on a dairy farm. "Daisy" will get hand walked to water 2-3 times a day and hand fed only until she figures she needs to deal with people. In my thinking.. if I can tame a wild African Dama gazelle, which is supposedly impossible to do, but I did it in 62 days and be able to ultrasound her... I should be able to deal with a domestic cow!! But I may get mad enough at her that she can become the range cow she wants to be and "Muddy" will have a special spot and place of honor in the households until "Blossom" can be a milk cow.

Again.. stay tuned as Mary is coming over in a few to attempt this mornings milking with "Daisy". Keep your fingers crossed.

Afternoon Update:

It was brutally hot by the time Mary got here, so we decided not to even attempt to get "Daisy" until we are ready to put her into the round pen after "Muddy" has her calf. Instead we got the cattle to their new pasture. "Mudbog" was easy. My rule is.. All cattle shall be halterbroken. A bit of a bribe with grain and all 1,900 pounds of "Mudbog" went right where we wanted her to go, easy as pie.

"Tractor" was a wee bit more difficult. Bribery only went so far and so fast. Then the guys got involved and thought the process should go faster. Two ropes, pushing and prodding and lifting of feet, we got "Tractor" in. I got to grab her udder and milk squirted out. So she may calve yet.

Picture Above: "Mudbog" (head up) and "Tractor" (grazing) in their new digs. They are very happy cows.

Picture Above: The pain-in-the-rear-end red calf of "Daisy's" from last year decided to take the hard way option of getting to the new pasture. Dodge power!! We took his yoke off today.

Picture Above and Below: I was getting sick from the heat.  As the truck was coming back from the pasture, I yelled "STOP" and I crawled over the tailgate, ditched my boots and went into the creek, blue jeans and all, sans socks.

Picture Below: Mary was more ladylike about cooling off in the water.