Walking

Today I got some big news so I went for a looong walk to process it. I went to the bottom of the driveway (1.5 km) and turned right and went past the next door neighbours house and wandered along thinking about stuff.

After a considerable distance I was thirsty so I turned back, as I walked along I noticed a calf in the paddock. In springtime in beef cattle country this is not unusual, however this calf was really small and wet and the cow standing nearby had afterbirth (sorry for grossness, maybe it is good I did not have my camera) hanging down between her legs. It appears that I had wandered past a cow in labour and not noticed and missed watching a calf be born by about 10 minutes.

This was one of my more pleasant experiences with cows, partly because of the calf but mainly because apparently it is only dumb steers that feel the need to rush up to you and stare at you like you have an extra head. Cows seem not to have this need.

More Cows

For a while now we have had a respite from pesky cows. Yesterday though, I had to remove stable muck that had piled up and for that it is easier to have gates open. I shut Major in a temporary paddock and opened the necessary gates. The temporary paddock was in the big paddock and made of unelectrified electric fencing tape. Horses don't go through it but cows appear to have no difficulties with them. I came out with a load and saw that Major was now sharing his 12 or so square meters with about 10 cows who had knocked the fence down to make more room.

As I approached, the cows bolted and Major, sensing his opportunity, went with them. This was really annoying because Choice was already out in the big paddock and if more then one is out there they buddy up and vanish instead of hanging around the house.

I went out and caught Choice and tied her up in the shed paddock and gave her some hay to entertain herself with. I got the wheel barrow and then went to dump it on the pile and had to chase more cows from the area with a long piece of hose.

The rest from cows was nice but it is over now.

Red Light Green Light

I reckon that whoever it was who invented the little kids game red light green light must have lived on a farm. I think this because the other day I was walking up the paddock and encountered a group of about 50 cattle. I turned and headed home and 50 cows followed some 30 metres behind coughing and grunting and thundering through the grass. I turned around and stopped and then group of bovine stalkers came to a halt and stared at me until I continued my walk. This scene repeated itself several times before reaching the house and I had time to reflect that a) cows are not subtle, though they do have an air of "who me? I don't know what you mean by following you, I was just heading this way anyway" and b) whoever invented red light green light must have been stalked by cows at some point.